Like a computer system with built-in redundancies, a study has revealed that brains use three different sets of neurons to store a single memory. The finding could one day help soften painful memories in people who've suffered trauma.
Can recommend a diary, especially for feelings. Until I started writing my impressions of events I didn't realise my recollection of how I remembered feeling about things in the past was so often wrong.
Like I was just thinking back to my last job and remembering how easy it was, but then when I flip though diary entries from those years it's like, nope: pretty consistent imposter syndrome all throughout.
Hell yeah, highly recommend throwing in some navel gazing in there. Events and happenings are important, but those are also the easiest things to remember, but subjective experience is guaranteed to be lost, even to yourself, if you don't note it.
Anyway I'm overselling it now lol, but I even like to scratch out a little "emotional compass" where the four cardinal directions map to
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I find it useful to draw a squiggle in there to capture how I'm feeling at a glance. Also interesting seeing how predictable my "random" moods actually are, when I look at the weekly/monthly context in which they happened.