Do people remember good or bad experience more?

There are two type of people. There are some people that tend to remember the good experiences more and there are some people that tend to remember the bad experiences more. It would depend on the life events that someone had.

From a survival point of view.

If someone were to touch something really hot, most likely the person will remember the burning sensation to not do it again.

On the other hand,

If someone experience something pleasurable, most likely they would remember the pleasurable sensation and might want to do it again.

Humans tend to gravitate toward pleasure and tend to avoid pain.

Extreme experiences

The problems arrive when someone have experiences that are too extreme.

Extreme experiences make the body do one of two things.

either

The person forget the event completely is like it never happened. As strange as it may sound this is a body survival mechanism.

In a way, this is bad because the person is not facing the problems. If some similar event where to happen again, the person may not be in a power position to face the reality.

or

The person remember the event in a vivid form and it would never forget it. Its like the memory of the event keep repeating itself.

In a way this is also bad, since the recurrent memory can be crippling and holding a person back.

Addictive behaviors

The things people do and experience can become addictive.

• Internet
• video games
• Sex
• Binge eating
• Gambling
• Shopping
• Thrill seeking activities
• Exercise

The above is a small list things that people do that can become addictive.

Even something as healthy as exercise can be bad if it’s taken to the extreme.

Beneficial

Just because something may look bad, it does not mean that it cannot be beneficial.

Take video games for example, most people knows that they are fun, addictive and a waste of time.

Yet, some people had become financially wealthy thanks to video games.

Thoughts

Ideally we ought to do activities that have some type of benefits whether its financially benefit or healthy benefit.

The reason is that if for some reason you get additive to this activities at least you are getting some benefits from it.

That’s it.

Take a calculated risk.

Now, start and adjust as you go.