FAB

What are you inclined toward Dear Reader, remembering the good or the bad experiences in your life? There is something called the Fading Affect Bias. Would you believe that the majority of us have a natural tendency to recall positive over negative memories? "Psychologists say that holding onto our good memories-and leaving the bad ones behind-helps us to deal with unpleasant situations and retain a positive outlook on life." Paula McGrath, BBC. 

In the article I read, the only exception to this common tendency is found in the severely depressed. If this is you, dear reader, take hope, because there are prescribed techniques that can be activated in your life to turn this situation around. Please do look up this article for yourself and seek some professional guidance-you deserve the pleasure of recalling your positive memories. 

Why am I writing about this, you wonder? I have been considering how I want to be remembered. We all have impact on one another in minor and major ways. This means that someone might recall our words long after they are spoken ... even decades later.

I'm just outside of the classroom and so is the English teacher. Before entering the room, she takes a moment to look me in the eye and say "you are a good writer." We enter the classroom and I take my seat. The words are reverberating in my brain, you are a good writer, you are a good writer. 

Those words were a sweet and generous gift to me and for some reason, I believed her. I cannot recall the teachers name, otherwise I would seek her out and thank her. What I do know is how she impacted my life, my perception of myself, my boldness in claiming writing as a talent. 

The teacher, God bless her, did her job. She read her students work and gave them feedback. In my case, she lit a match to kindling that was ready to become a burning passion. She didn't know it at the time, nor did I, that with her encouraging words, I would actualize a large part of who I am. 

I am an observer of people, a chronicler of the internal workings of the human spirit in the worlds playground. I am a writer. Now, enough about me ... what wonder words do you need to recall, right now, dear one, to be the you that others can see that you have yet to dare to be? 

The praise, it is an echo reverberating in your heart, words spoken to you specifically ... recall them now, dear reader. 

What fire is waiting to be lit in YOU?