I was thinking recently about how we seem to have an uncanny ability to remember shared information that is important to us. It's so easy to forget the myriad d

I was thinking recently about how we seem to have an uncanny ability to remember shared information that is important to us. It's so easy to forget the myriad details of our lives and everyday interactions, but we always seem to be keenly aware of who we told what, and who knows what - at least about things we personally have an emotional investment in. I'll easily forget serious, significant information that a person has told me that has no specific bearing on me. For example, a loved one dying. Yet, I would never forget that I told that same person a comparatively trivial detail that happens to be important to me, like a potential damaging secret I've told them but few other people (such as cheating on a partner). Our brains seem quit intent on remembering things that can result in an acute emotional response. And our brains seem incredibly unreliable on almost everything else! To the point that we have to develop tricks an strategies to get our brains to remember things that are emotionally arbitrary. Like math. Also... "In other words, it’s mainly the unconscious mind at the wheel." But we all already know that, right?