We’ll take an educated guess that you are a person who likes to learn. And learning requires memorization of details and facts, associating things, and using that information so that you can keep using it, remember it, and memorize it.
What we don’t often think about is whether or not we have memorized emotions. We are good at memorizing details, certainly, along with facts, figures, techniques, and procedures. But when it comes to emotions, we can also unknowingly memorize those as well.
Many of us are not aware of unconsciously memorizing emotions such as worry, fear, frustration, anger, or pessimism. On the converse, we can also memorize emotions such as joy, gratitude, happiness, compassion, and some of the things that expand the way we feel and think.
So give some consideration to the question: “What emotions have I memorized in my world?”
What Emotions Have You Memorized?
If you happen to notice that some of the emotions you have memorized are a little more contracting in nature, treat yourself self-compassionately. Then think about what emotions you’d like to memorize for your world.
The molecular biologist Candace Pert was a key figure in the discovery of the endorphin molecule. In her book, Molecules of Emotion, she speaks of how there are cell receptors that want more and more of the emotion that you have been feeding it. So if your cell receptors are used to receiving cortisol, adrenaline, and epinephrine as a result of feeling stressed, they’ll just want more of that.
If your cell receptors start to say, “Hey, I like the feeling of this dopamine and the serotonin that’s floating through my system, I want more of that,” then you will start to memorize those positive emotions.
Try the 68-Second Bask to Memorize Positive Emotions
One of the fastest, most fun ways to be able to memorize these positive emotions is the 68-second bask. And that means that you just take 68 seconds, and intentionally hold one of your highest-held values in mind. Feel it throughout your body; let it last for 68 seconds and wash over you. And notice whether or not your whole demeanor, your countenance, the way that you feel hasn’t changed.
So whether that value is learning, gratitude, or something that just falls into that appreciation for beauty or whatever it might be, that concentration for 68 seconds will help you to memorize the emotions that you want to memorize and make a part of your life.
Another resource on this is the 90-second lifecycle of an emotion that Jill Bolte Taylore describes. She describes that when we have a reaction to something in our environment, there’s a 90-second chemical process that happens in the body; after that, any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop.
Whether 68 or 90 seconds, start now!