Pilar Sordo: “Real Time Has Nothing to Do With Emotional Time; In One Second, Something Can Happen That Changes Your Story”

“Real time has nothing to do with emotional time,” Pilar Sordo told LA NACION. “In one second, something can happen that changes your story.” The Chilean psychologist and writer used the idea to explain how quickly experiences can alter a person’s identity and emotional life.

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We change all the time.

Speaking during LA NACION’s Conversaciones series, Sordo argued that personality does not consist of fixed traits. People change continually as their priorities and opinions change. Personal development, she said, requires accepting vulnerability and allowing external changes to reshape rigid ideas about who we are.

Sordo drew on eight years of research to discuss the role of personal language. “The most basic unit of mental health is inner dialogue,” she said. The way people speak to themselves influences their self-esteem and their view of the world, as well as their confidence and ability to withstand uncertainty.

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Real time has nothing to do with emotional time.

She also warned that excessive reliance on technology and visual resources has reduced the vocabulary people use. Quoting psychiatrist José Luis Marín, she said, “We become ill from a lack of vocabulary.” In her view, having fewer words makes it harder to express complex emotions and can create frustration.

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The most basic unit of mental health is inner dialogue.

For Sordo, a genuine conversation requires a willingness to be changed by what another person says. Otherwise, she argued, it becomes “a kind of intermittent monologue.” She also said that growth is painful and advised people to remain open to suffering rather than constantly avoiding discomfort.

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We become ill from a lack of vocabulary.