It all started with the fact that the month was not going well. Two clients whom I could help and who agreed to therapy disappeared. In principle, people can have many reasons, but for some reason I began to think that they didn’t like me as a psychologist. And when I realized that I remembered this more often than desirable, and that my self-esteem was beginning to gradually decline as a result, I I went to my psychologist to figure out what was “wrong” in my kingdom. During the conversation, the psychologist asked me how many clients there were over the past six months, and how many of them I helped. Of course, it was tens of times more than these two cases. So why did I remember these clients so well? And I thought... I remembered Freud with his opinion about suppressing negative events from childhood and doubted it, because my vivid memories from childhood were both negative and positive. I immediately remembered the boot stuck in the wet snow and the fear that they would scold me. Moving from the yard in which she was born. Of course, as a psychologist, I know that events that are emotionally charged are remembered best. Therefore, the happy dad with a huge bag of chocolates also came to mind. And yet, do we really remember better what is negatively colored, as my psychologist said? During an extreme, difficult, unexpected, stressful situation, the brain is activated, and the event that created such a situation is remembered for a long time. This behavior of the brain is one of the protective mechanisms of the human body. A stressful situation poses a threat to health or life, and the body remembers it as dangerous. Surely everyone remembers the pain of being burned by a kettle, frying pan or soldering iron. Having decided to look into this issue, I began browsing the Internet and came across this article: Negative emotions contribute to better memory, reports the medical portal Medical News Today. When learning new information, do not be afraid of negative associations. It would seem that memory should get rid of unpleasant memories. But test results on volunteers showed the opposite. Scientists from St. Louis (USA) examined a group of students who had to remember phrases in an unfamiliar language. The best results were shown by those who, immediately after demonstrating the phrases, were shown images that evoked negative emotions. Those who were induced with positive emotions did not demonstrate much success. And also similar to this article, which stated that evil faces are remembered much better than good ones, since they can carry potential danger (well, at least before for hundreds they definitely carried it for thousands of years). To put it simply, those who remembered evil faces better survived, those who remembered good ones did not. There is a version that the reason for the emergence of language was not joint labor or hunting (for example, many school predators are excellent hunters even without any language), but the so-called gossip that was needed to maintain the social structure of the tribe. With words, you could indicate to your friend the object and subject of your indignation and indignation. In support of this version, I would like to cite a well-known saying in sales: “A satisfied client will bring three, but a dissatisfied client will drive away eleven.” That is, if we are not happy, then we will tell more people about it. Negative, sad experiences allow you to learn life lessons and not repeat mistakes. All you need is to get rid of the torment, which takes a lot of energy and does not bring any benefit. There are quite good techniques to make memories neutral: this is writing, which allows you to better rethink the situation, and often repeating the event out loud (rather than trying to suppress memory), which over time makes it neutral in color, and other techniques. The main point is that all experience should be used for your benefit. I made a mistake in the report - good, now I’ll check the information more carefully. Clients didn’t come - there is a reason to think about further improvement and self-development.