Today I found an interesting TED talk video about experience versus memory which is very interesting and relevant for the kind of work we do at SusaGroup.

Cognitive traps make it almost impossible to think straight about happiness. One of the main reasons is confusion between experience and memory. Being happy in your life versus being happy with your life.

Our memories tell us stories,. Stories are what we get to keep from our experiences. The way we memorize is strongly influenced by the end of an experience. Stories are created by changes, significant events and endings. Our experiencing selves lives its life continuously. It has moments of experiences, one after the other. A question Daniel Kahneman asks is “What happens to these moments?”. His answer is: “Nothing, they are lost forever.”. Most of them do not leave a trace to our remembering selves.

For us at SusaGroup it is interesting to think about it. We believe that by enriching experiences and “designing for emotion” we make sure that experiences become significant.

According to Daniel we do not choose between experiences, we choose between memories of experiences. For me, this confirms that using self-evaluation instruments to measure measure emotions is an appropriate approach.

Enjoy watching this TED talk.

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