At 5 minutes and 6 seconds past 4 tomorrow the time and date will be 4.5.6 7/8/9. What’s more, at 34 minutes and 56 seconds past 12 the time and date will be 12.34.56 7/8/9.
So what does this mean? How important is it? What should I be doing to prepare myself? Well – probably nothing. It’s just an interesting fact - one of those strange alignments that happen from time to time. But those amazing machines, our brains, are used to interpreting new facts on the basis of past experiences and making connections between what is known and unknown. Our brain looks for patterns to help us organise information efficiently so we can retrieve it again when we need to use it, and assigns meaning to things that happen to help make sense of the world.
Sometimes these connections and explanations are really useful and help us avoid something that is potentially painful or dangerous. So, for instance when we learn when we are small that it hurts to put our hand on a hot radiator, the next time we see a radiator we will tend to keep our hands away from it, even if it is off, just to be sure we don’t get burnt.
But sometimes those associations and meanings can be faulty or they’ve outlived their usefulness and are holding us back from trying something new. So, when I was bitten by a dog when I was little I ‘learnt’ to be afraid of dogs. Even when I met quite adorable puppies and lovable larger dogs I never fully recovered from my fear and in the end I’ve missed out on the possibility of the companionship of a wonderful pet.
What associations are helpful for you? Which are holding you back? How can you overcome your fears?
