How we rewrite memories

We don't always remember how things were, but how we need them to be. Here's new evidence reported by NPR, titled, Our Brains Rewrite Our Memories, Putting Present In The Past":

Think about your fifth-birthday party. Maybe your mom carried the cake. What did her face look like? If you have a hard time imagining the way she looked then rather than how she looks now, you're not alone. The brain edits memories relentlessly, updating the past with new information. Scientists say that this isn't a question of having a bad memory. Instead, they think the brain updates memories to make them more relevant and useful now — even if they're not a true representation of the past.
I've written a lot more about memory research here.

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What it’s like to never have enough – the story of a Wall Street hedge fund trader

This is what it's like to never have enough. It's the autobiography of a Wall Street hedge fund trader, published in the NYT:

I noticed the vitriol that traders directed at the government for limiting bonuses after the crash. I heard the fury in their voices at the mention of higher taxes. These traders despised anything or anyone that threatened their bonuses. Ever see what a drug addict is like when he’s used up his junk? He’ll do anything — walk 20 miles in the snow, rob a grandma — to get a fix. Wall Street was like that. In the months before bonuses were handed out, the trading floor started to feel like a neighborhood in “The Wire” when the heroin runs out. I’d always looked enviously at the people who earned more than I did; now, for the first time, I was embarrassed for them, and for me. I made in a single year more than my mom made her whole life. I knew that wasn’t fair; that wasn’t right. Yes, I was sharp, good with numbers. I had marketable talents. But in the end I didn’t really do anything. I was a derivatives trader, and it occurred to me the world would hardly change at all if credit derivatives ceased to exist. Not so nurse practitioners. What had seemed normal now seemed deeply distorted.

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Twenty things mentally strong people don’t do.

Here are twenty things mentally strong people don't do. I do like this list- go to the article to read more. Many of these have to do with worrying about what others would think. 1. Dwelling On The Past 2. Remaining In Their Comfort Zone 3. Not Listening To The Opinions Of Others 4. Avoiding Change 5. Keeping A Closed Mind 6. Letting Others Make Decisions For Them 7. Getting Jealous Over The Successes Of Others 8. Thinking About The High Possibility Of Failure 9. Feeling Sorry For Themselves 10. Focusing On Their Weaknesses 11. Trying To Please People 12. Blaming Themselves For Things Outside Their Control 13. Being Impatient 14. Being Misunderstood 15. Feeling Like You’re Owed 16. Repeating Mistakes 17. Giving Into Their Fears 18. Acting Without Calculating 19. Refusing Help From Others 20. Throwing In The Towel

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