Its been a Quick 20 Years … and in the mean time, Everything has Changed.
It’s been a Quick 20 Years … and in the mean time, Everything has Changed.
Well this weekend could not come quick enough. On Friday night at 11.15pm I was a VIP at the cinema to watch the long awaited sequel to Trainspotting. Originating from Edinburgh and living through the Trainspotting era, personally sharing a pint with Irvine Welsh, and knowing so many “real” people who could have easily played the characters, I was not disappointed.
The cast lived and breathed the characters as though they had lived their lives for the last 20 years. An absolute epic movie that will see me back in the cinema during the week to watch it again! Last time I did this was the first time Trainspotting was released.
It got me thinking, Isn’t it amazing how much can change in 20 years? Especially in terms of our mental health and how we process our reality. I watched the movie with a nostalgia that vibrated through my soul from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.
I then spent yesterday remembering my mind set 20 years ago and the difficulties I had in processing my existence. How limiting it was to feel every emotion at over 90% and have a level of anxiety that enabled my addictive behaviours to thrive and keep a firm control of my life. Renton’s words rang in my ears “Find something else to be addicted too”
When we process our experiences we like things to be the same as or similar to other experiences we have had. For ease of information processing, making it difficult to change how we feel .. difficult does not spell impossible, in fact the word itself says I’m possible.
When we process the information available to us through our five senses we delete information with no relevance to us. We distort information based on our values, experiences, beliefs, meta programmes etc and generalise this information based on this input. This allows us to mould and implement a world we have built up from an early age, further developing our internal “landscape” which can be either vulnerable or resilient. This also provides the opportunities required to question the validity of these early cornerstones of our existence through curiosity, learning and challenging what we already believe about ourselves, other people and the world in general.
When we encode these memories we can be bullied by our own minds to believe things about our world based on how we are treated by ourself, others, systems, processes etc. Whether that’s a negative or positive process depends on how much we understand about the information we choose to believe in the creation of our own reality. Because, after all reality is only real to the creator and with over 2,000,000 pieces of information available to us every second through our 5 senses and our brain’s ability to only process approx 134 pieces (5-7 chunks). There’s an awful lot of information we give no meaning and the meaning we do give is unique to the “landscape” and already set programmes within us.
In the movie each character has evolved while staying true to the essence of their portrayal of the original. If life is a movie how many “characters” have we played? How many versions of ourself turn up to play out each scene and sequence on a daily basis? How many times do we stop and think about the approaches and responses we have to life or are we stuck in reacting to the external input leaving us always at the control of others and their behaviour.
The difference between a response and a reaction is how we much time we take to view the situation we find ourself in. This is the fundamental basis of mindfulness and a great first step in understanding the “ego” and making an impact on our own personal identity. Have you become someone you don’t recognise?
Is there a version of you who lives inside and is screaming to get out?
Or are you aware and responsive in the creative directorship of your own personal movie.
Vivian Mc Kinnon
