Photo by Judy Hensley, ©2009
Today I was thinking – gee, I wish more of my life was recorded electronically or stored in a searchable data base. I’d like to go back and see my 9th birthday. I have no idea what happened that day. If I had a photographic memory, would it be a blessing or a curse? I’d be able to do the same with my entire life if it was all digitally stored. If so, I imagine I could just as easily stumble across an action I’ve told my brain to ignore.
Our brains are intricate and mysterious organs. A friend just recently showed me her new toy – a miniature video, hand-held game player. However, she had cartridges to use in her brain-game to increase her brain-game power. One of the brain games says the typical person only uses 10% of our brain capacity. Now that is amazing! Most other organs functioning at that level would cause us severe decreased quality of life. Just look at those of us with Parkinson’s – ‘they’ say it’s caused by just one small part of our brain, where 80% of some cells have died that is needed to make dopamine, a chemical required for smooth muscle movement. We only start noticing the effects of this loss when we just have 20% left?! Another amazing brain feat!
A searchable personal brain data base would come in handy in a few years when my daughter starts trigonometry! I would be able to recall when I had it in 11th grade and not have to struggle to understand it again 30 years later in order to provide a little homework help. I guess praying will have to suffice for now!
I think my limited long term memory bank (and quickly decreasing short term memory bank as well!) is why I enjoy taking pictures so much. My family always moans at any occasion over how many pictures I take. Well, I’m not sorry. Looking back at those pictures helps me remember the good times (and some day my family will be glad I took all of those photos!)
There is so much in life we don’t take the time to take in, to place in our minds eye. I hope I can do more of it each day, and that I’ll learn more about my life, my world, my Maker, and how I can best give back to each part of it. So I’ll be grateful that I have such neat tools as the internet to find information, and I’ll be happy that I can remember what I can, and I think now that maybe an electronic database of my life might not be such a good thing. Maybe how my brain is made and used is just how God wanted it, and it’s up to me to make the very best use of what I’ve been given!
~ Judy
