Sometimes this wonderful transcendental thing happens to me. I wrote about one of those instances here. They don't last for too very long, but the happiness I feel in these moments is so concentrated and specific, that I wanted to think about it more and hear other people's stories. I am calling them state schemas.
Let me rewind a little. I loved the concept of schemas so much throughout my study of Psychology that I use the term all the time, forgetting that it's not a widely-used word. Schemata (when we're talking about Psych) are a thing our brain does; a method of organizing information and our knowledge into little packages that help us remember things and interact with the world. Stereotypes are the best example I can think of, even though they are not always used in a positive way : a collection of ideas, thoughts, phrases, sounds, visuals, etc. of a certain type of person. It's one big idea that holds many little ideas together and makes sense as a whole.
A state schema is an occurence. It is a moment in which everything is in alignment - the sights, the smells, the temperature, the lighting, the music, what you're thinking about, where exactly you are, and so on and so forth. Everything fits together in that moment; it's almost like feeling you're in a movie because everything seems to fit together perfectly. Like a successful Tetris game. This seems a little synaesthetic to me, since each element blends into the next.
Now, read this entry again, if you like, and see the elements of what made it wonderful to me. I wrote about it being 8.00am. It was sunny. It was 30-something degrees. The smell was clear. The pace at which I was walking made the sunlight come through the fence to the exact beat of the song I was listening to. It wasn't about the sun, the smell or the song - it was about that stuff working together as a whole to create one instance. State schemas are one of my favorite things in the world, and I cannot predict when they will happen; they just hit me like a delightful little surprise in the middle of my days.
Am I alone here? Does this happen to anyone else?
wow! i too love using cognitive schemas to describe sets of things that are mentally connected, and I also forget that it's not part of everyone's vocabulary :)
ReplyDeleteI used it in a presentation or something once, and someone said "wow, did you just make that up?" and i had to say "um....no."
I like the idea of a state schema!!
Amber, have you ever had one??
ReplyDeleteI definitely know those moments you're talking about, it's when everything aligns. The smell, the sky, the air, the music and the temperature all seem to come together magically. To me it almost seems deja vu'esque in that it pops up with almost no explanation. I find that it happens most during the spring time for me.
ReplyDeleteYep, I know that feeling.
ReplyDeleteSo does Virginia Woolf:
http://writing.colostate.edu/gallery/matrix/urquhart.htm
Wonderful moments of magical epiphany. I love them. I also like her phrase 'moments of being', because it really does feel like a momentary richer existence. Let's all read more Woolf, that can only be a good thing.
I've been playing around in iPhoto, tweaking my pics so they more closely represent my experience, not my camera's. It means they end up looking strange. A shopping trip might end up looking very green and bright, not because it was, but because it's how if felt. So not much use to other viewers, but truer to my perception.
I totally get those! I find that it is always happen when I am really stressed out and then all of a sudden something clicks and I stop worrying. My head clears and I become aware of my surroundings and am able to really take in what I was previously ignoring.
ReplyDeleteDID YOU NOT GET MY COMMENT?! >:[
ReplyDeleteI just had that feeling on Dec25,2006 see this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oakieoakie/332958021/
ReplyDeletethis is sarah from vcu...
ReplyDeleteone memory i am very fond of was last spring, at the end of the semester. I just had lunch at galaxy diner on a sunday afternoon and was riding back to school on my yellow bike.... got "lost" in the fan... the weather was sunny. one of my favorite things to do is look at all the cute homes in the fan, and being in a new neighborhood i got to see some i hadn't seen before. i felt like a kid again, riding my bike in the street with a little bit of a breeze.
:)
I wrote a long comment for this. I can't believe you didn't get it.
ReplyDeleteSorry I'm stalking you today.
Love the idea of a "state schema", a few very specific instances come to mind.
ReplyDeleteThe schema notion is pretty central to the Made to Stick book I just finished reading. The Heath brothers, looking at what makes certain ideas do better than others. Good read!