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The Importance of History

The 100th Post of "this" blog comes back to the Theme that runs here: Change

Every Change is intertwined and held back by history,traditions(Read the Monkey Experiament blogged by me here, to give an insight into Paradigms/Traditions)

In the last few years one the major attributes learnt by me is Patience to absorb and assimilate and delay reaction.

Who we are today?
Why we bahave, react and even interact the way we do?
Why our opinions are, the way they are?

Questions like these and many many more , all have their answers in History. History here does not mean the history than we have studied in schools or colleges. No. This History , is not HIS-STORY, it is "your story"!

You, me and all of us are made up of instances of our pasts. These instances are valid reasons to make our opinions and establish bias for or against people, organisations,social constructs and even situations .

Its basic COGNITIVE learning.

If 20 out of 20 times, whenever I have eaten orange ICE candy, I have always been followed by a crazy black dog; The 21st time I buy a ORANGE ice candy I am bound to keep turning around to check for a crazy black dog!!

[ Did you know: Just like the human nose stops recognising an odour emanating around it after five minutes, even the human brain shuts out thousands of signals and does not process them, based on cognitive learning of what is important]

No wonder, the usual comminication gap between speaker and listner of what is conveyd. Because the congitive learnings of each classifies what is important differently!

So how our personal histories inetract both with the personal histories of the people involved around us as well as the histories of the environment ( be it organisations we work for , family's we are a part of will be a part of, social constructs of marriage, schools,courts, etc)

Hence it becomes extremely essential for us to develop a capability of absorb, comprehend all the personal histories, and try and make it interact with our OWN Personal Histories as Objectively as possible. And then try and use a Non-limiting-out-of-the-box, mindset to create multiple options for progressive change in our lives.

Comments

--Sunrise-- said…
... interesting stuff. I agree.. the person we are - as a whole - depends on the little pieces of our history, that have made us what they are. And it is important to try and understand another's history (in the sense of your definition), to understand them as fully as we can.. takes me back to the quote on my blog..

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” - Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee).

:)
:) this sounds so different from the regular blogging u do..what have u been upto Abhishek??? :)
Keshi said…
I really liked this post Abhi. Excellent!


**Because the congitive learnings of each classifies what is important differently!

so true.

And I came to know that in my Psychology class at Uni. We learnt abt Cognitive and Behavioral Learning.

Thats why humans always JUDGE.


Keshi.
Unknown said…
All hail the new socrates!!!

Quite an intellectual write nonetheless.
Kay Vee said…
bahut hi pasand aaya!
enlightening and yeah i did wonder abt how our brains oversees or gets accustomed to certain repetitive messages! :)

nice post!
sudsurf said…
I read this mind bending post and realised the power of our brain. Its amazing the way you put it, Abhi, because all you say seems quite true. The other similarity that comes to my mind is how, we as individuals may be sub-sets of all existence, but its important for us to find our overlap areas in our personal sets(of views, ideas, beliefs, feelings etc) with those of others around us. The greatest gainer today is someone who can look at this from every objective viewpoint and learn from the environment around us. Very well written, Abhi. I am so proud of you.
MJ said…
Unlike others, for me its no different blog and no different Abhishek ....and yes amongst all of the bloogers/viewers, i can say with much conviction that I know this Guy well , better than others!!!

Good Abhu - yes u must be knowing this cognitive relationship is also significant in Brand Mgmt and Marketing Management - 'Moments of Truths' , momemts build up the experiences and so expectations too!!!!

Nice Buddy - keep Blogging like this
@ Sunsire:
Well very well undertood!
I am sure there will be cognitive learning after reading this post too!

;)

have a great wkend!
@ Moi:
Pehlu, sab ke jeevan ke...

Yeah I think, but maybe if you rummage through some of mythoughts strewn in this blog and on others, u may discover some interesting mind-modes of mine
:P
@ Keshi:
Very very well.
Luckily, I did not have to bear the classes..URGHH imagine trying to study all of this
:P

But I am sure it is a very intersting subject

I would love to read and learn more, but without any examss for it
"J":

( On another note) yahi jevan ka karwa sach hai mere dost!!
@ Trinnie:

So I can do a Guest post along the coulmn which you will write in the years to come.. ok?
@ Trinnie:

So I can do a Guest post along the coulmn which you will write in the years to come.. ok?
@ Sudeep:

Well It sure is a mind bending thought in the first place.
What is more interesting is that once we are cognisant of such realities, we have taken a quantum leap in our thoughts and this leads to a new level of our lives and lives styles!

Many thanks for the appreciation!
:)
@ Manish:

yes my dear.
when u start thinking you realise of the so many areas this can apply

its all in our mind!!
Anonymous said…
awww poor monkey lol
cognitive is a new word to me.
thanks for educating, abhi-chan!!
This comment has been removed by the author.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hey!:D Happy 100th Post!

I got to say this! I love every ounce of this post. Exactly the way i like it. Savoring! I believe it to be so true the analysis above. Conservation with a mate recently revolved around this. AWEsome Topic!

******This History , is not HIS-STORY, it is "your story"!

I'm with you on this! :D

I like the fact that these things interest you. It does me to. I totally dig it.:)

Rock On Abhi! Dazzling the town indeeds eh..:P hehe.

Good weekend!;)
Aditya Anand said…
A nice post there and I think I would agree to the essence of it.

Cognitive thinking though always must be connected with reasoning. The 'objective interaction with our own personal histories' should be reasoned. The thing is without reason you can't do anything. Analysing things is as important as thinking based on history. I would disagree to if we say that questions like 'Who we are today' have their answers in History, partly perhaps- yes.

It could have been the 21st time I was wearing the same T Shirt or was wearing shoes or something like that. Quite in the fashion we conduct scientific experiments. Heh
Anonymous said…
oh i forgot to say
Happy Century!!
Preeti Shenoy said…
This is so very true.Now to be objectine--THAT is a tall order(well, at least for me!) :-)
Thanks for stopping by.

Congrats on ur 100th.
Bastet said…
Well, tht's true... tht's why each of us is unique.. But, this kind of cognitive learning has some drawbacks - if we learn the wrong kind of lessons from life's experiences. Eg, repeated failure at clearing an entrance might make one think that they aren't worth it, Break-ups in relationships may leave one wary of Love - And, this might do more harm than good to one's growth. "once bitten, twice shy" shouldn't be applied everywhere .. but, then, who determines what lessons should be learnt and what should be un-learned! How can one realise tht!!
@ Niki: Hey!
you are welcome
Sweetstickychewy :
Hey "A", I am glad these things interest you and u can take advantage of these learnings!!
@ PS:

well i think nothing is a tall order!!

you are welcome here again!
@ Aditya Anand:
heythanks for stopping b y

** "Analysing things is as important as thinking based on history. I would disagree to if we say that questions like 'Who we are today' have their answers in History, partly perhaps- yes.
"

Well who we are today is highly influenced by who WE (ALL)were in the past.
we cannot be what we are today suddenly out of the blue!
darwin will turn wherever he is if he hears this!!
there is always a chain of reactions.

things //people/ minds, dont twich without a reason

well that is what comes in my mind, though!!
@ Bastet:
Excellent obervation I must say..
but this is exactly what happens.

you will notice in both the examples you have gievn..

"
Eg, repeated failure at clearing an entrance might make one think that they aren't worth it, Break-ups in relationships may leave one wary of Love
"

in both the cases you will find that their responses to similar situations vary from other normal indivisuals, ie. people who have failed or have had breakups.


I know you will say that there are exceptions: ** these are the key people to notice: These exceptional people would have markedly different HISTORIES from others!!

well these are myviews..
:))

Nice to have you come by!!
Sandeep Verma said…
true ... the learnings from experience are building blocks on how we react to a situation at hand....

a new dimension to it .......

we tend to remember an experience which leaves bad taste (.... because no experience is bad experience) more than .....
Aditya Anand said…
Abhishek, I get your point but what I wanted to stress what evolution is a slow proccess and yes we can learn from history, but if "we do not think about tomorrow we cannot use the learnings of the past."

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