Your memories (1 Viewer)

[saintmdterps]

Perhaps I should have already known this, but I recently learned that not all people recall past experiences the same. Some have no sensory memories at all. Instead their reminiscences of past events consist of words. Conversations only, text like a book. On the other hand, I have a vast library of memories etched into my psyche in striking detail. Sights, sounds, touch, smells, auditory, and thoughts are all still there in vivid detail. I can remember the feel of being in the ocean at 6 years old; the smell of salt, the warm sun, the pounding surf, my parernts admonitions to be careful.

The list goes on. The feel, touch, and smell of the cars I've driven, women I've dated and loved. Parental affection and scoldings. The presence of friends at wrenching times of my life, and my presence for them. On and on, like it was yesterday. Many of these occurrences obviously have a visceral content that lends themselves to being stamped into our life history.

Obviously this can be both blessing and curse. I recall only too well the tragedy of my parents passing, my first wife's miscarriages, the loss of friends. All of these events can be pulled back into the present as though they happened yesterday. It is very easy for better or worse to relive the past. The same thing with future events. I can imagine only too well how things may feel that have not yet happened.

How we recall past events and the extent to which we dwell on these things can affect how we approach our future. I've always believed we anticipate the future wrong and remember the past inaccurately. We have but one shot to get it right and that's in the here and now, but damn, the past can cloud the future.

How do you folks both remember and anticipate your lives?

 

[soupcan dan]

I'd settle for finding my wallet.....

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I’ve felt like I do some sort of video edit of my memories - like sometimes I see myself in the memories which obviously is not how any particular event happened irl
Bad memories get filtered out pretty quickly and can pop up, but those go by much quicker than more pleasant memories

I also don’t dwell too much on the future- kinda sucks for longterm planning, but maybe it helps me be less anxious

 

[Eeyore]

My visual memory is awful. Almost aphantic. I have almost 0 memory of the mundane. I'm terrible with names and I forget people easily.

I recall things through my internal monologue. A language based form of recall? I almost have to recall things chronologically. When I try to remember things, I remember almost everything which can be unfortunate. Things that didn't make sense as a child are all too clear as an adult.

The ability to forget is a gift that can seem like a problem until you remember the wrong things.

This ties into the blue pill $10 million dollars vs. red pill current brain in your six year old body thread.

I remember things, as an adult, with a different understanding and perspective. There are people who were going through hell and I didn't understand.

If I could get that red pill...

Having a good memory isn't necessarily a gift. Sometimes, you have to forget to be happy.

 

[Get in the Carr]

I remember a lot like it was yesterday and it sucks sometimes. Like you said, It’s a blessing a curse. I am salty at times where my loved ones are live and let go. I also have a family member who has dementia and they also used to have memory like a steel trap. I think having a good memory in your younger days attributes to memory problems as you get older. Could be wrong and hope i am . Just seems to be a going theme with people i know and love as i get older. Maybe having a good memory wears the brain out?

 

[0rion]

Here's a funny random memory I have. It was just some random day after I moved out of my parents house and lived with my older brother for a year. There was just some random day that I remember waking up in the morning and it just felt really good. Mind you this wasn't the first day there or anything special about it. I woke up and just felt good. The windows were open, the air was cool, and birds were chirping. For some reason it's extremely vivid and I'm not sure I've had a morning like that since or even before that.

 

[saintmdterps]

Here's a funny random memory I have. It was just some random day after I moved out of my parents house and lived with my older brother for a year. There was just some random day that I remember waking up in the morning and it just felt really good. Mind you this wasn't the first day there or anything special about it. I woke up and just felt good. The windows were open, the air was cool, and birds were chirping. For some reason it's extremely vivid and I'm not sure I've had a morning like that since or even before that.

I remember two days back to back like that as well. Middle spring, mid week. I had slept really well both nights and woke up feeling extremely positive about life. I tended to do this much more back then, but those two days stood out 32 years ago.

It would have been about this time of year…

 

[soupcan dan]

i was born with very crooked feet. my parents nailed shoes to a board and i slept wearing them. i was talking to my sister the other day about how much of a pain in the ### they were and the clanking noise they made as i turned over.

my sister replied " but you weren't even a year old when you wore those"

traumas remain, pleasantries fade away.

 

[Nisey55]

Smells play a big role in my memories.
Ivory soap is a big one, salt air after being away too long sometimes brings tears to my eyes. Another weird one is that I can picture in my mind the hands of everyone I've ever loved and lost, but not their voice.
Now useful things like a person's name is another story.

 

[Semper]

My memories are on the peripheral of my mind. I remember things but not in detail.

 

[saintmdterps]

Smells play a big role in my memories.
Ivory soap is a big one, salt air after being away too long sometimes brings tears to my eyes. Another weird one is that I can picture in my mind the hands of everyone I've ever loved and lost, but not their voice.
Now useful things like a person's name is another story.

The smell of creosote from the boardwalk and retaining wall at the Ocean City cottages where we vacationed feels like yesterday. It was 50-55 years ago.

 

[Infoman]

Music has a way of making memories very vivid and come out of nowhere for me. Good or bad. Otherwise I remember really useless and trivial information well. I remember math, numbers and repeated processes like clockwork. Names and faces are tougher for me than anything.

 

[soupcan dan]

i still remember jenny's phone number from 1982.

 

[Nisey55]

Things I want to forget, NOW. Woke up from a horrible dream this morning, my husband and I plotted to kill my brother, by stabbing, and carried it out.
I still feel horrible and guilty just for dreaming it. WTF would make you dream something like that?

 

[Cage1]

Mine are more sensory than verbal, but they’re just tiny snippets that are getting more vague with time. Soon all these moments will be lost to time, like tears in rain. Time to die.