Monday, September 24, 2007

Chunking and Self-Discovery

When people mentioned trying to "find themselves", I always wondered what they meant.  How does one "find" their "self".  Over time I realized that the definition of this discovery probably changes from one person to the next.  My own definition is to "know ones-self and understand what one can reasonably expect from themselves."  For example, I know that I have a difficult time letting a problem go unsolved.  I can expect myself to battle with keeping appointments if it means I have to stop working on a problem.

You may have heard of "chunking" in the psychological sense.  If you haven't, it is the act of dissecting an experience and filing away the important parts.  Your brain does this for you because it would be silly to remember every minute detail of every experience.  At one time or another you probably had a difficult time trying to remember something.  This is because it was not important.  Not to your brain, at least.  Perhaps you are thinking "But, it was really important."

No it wasn't.  Not to the "real" you.  If you examine what you do and don't remember, I suspect you'll find out all kinds of things about what's really important to you.

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