this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2025
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Philosophy

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The Seven-Year Rule - MacSparky (www.macsparky.com)
submitted 1 month ago by some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org to c/philosophy@lemmy.world
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I recently spoke with a friend who was still dwelling on something that happened thirty years ago. “Why do you care?” I asked him. “That was four versions of you ago. That person doesn’t exist anymore. Move on.”

I find this way of thinking inspiring. I'm definitely going to share it with friends and loved ones.

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[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is a bit of an urban myth. The average age of an adult's cells might be about 7 years, but e.g. many of your brain cells and nerves stay with you your entire life. Considering that neurons are kind of the most important ones when we're talking about mental issues, that pretty much takes all the inspiration away.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago

That said, can you remember what you had for lunch 7 years ago?

We remember what we replay in our minds. So the trick to not dwelling on things with emotional impact is to move on to replaying other memories as soon as possible, once the emotions have settled down.