Memories are weird, the way they tangle together.
The way they build on each other like a list and this list bends and twists and falls over itself to create a web. The accumulation of memories is linear, and they all stack neatly on top of one another. But the way they refer to each other is entirely different.
Sometimes all it takes to prompt a memory is a flash of color or a smell. And then out of nowhere, something from the past will pop up and overtake your mind for a minute. And then this too is a memory.
We have an odd sort of control over our memories. We cannot control when they pop up without warning, but we can choose to think of certain times or to shut the current memory out of our minds.
Sometimes we lose memories and a link in the chain is broken.
Sometimes, when traveling down this new list, there is a huge gap. We know something is missing but we just can’t figure out what.
Sometimes, the list of memories repairs itself so seamlessly that we never even remember that there used to be something else there.
Sometimes, the lost memory comes back and it’s absolutely astounding how your mind traces over familiar patterns so effortlessly as if the memory was never really lost at all.
Perhaps it wasn’t really gone. Only just hidden for a while. Turned on and off the way genes can be in DNA. It’s strange how the brain picks what’s important and what isn’t. Why it picks one memory to remember well out of all the rest, almost without any reason.
The scenes of life that really made an impression are saved forever. It’s almost like your brain knows before you do that this will be very important to you in the future and helps you save everything so that you can recall it again one day when it becomes applicable to the situation you’re in.
The good memories and the bad ones are all intertwined with each other and sometimes a single memory can be both. Two opposing and conflicting emotions can be wrapped up in a single image and feeling.
But either way, sometimes experiencing emotions from memories is just as strong as experiencing the emotions for the first time. Sometimes memories deteriorate over time and become less poignant, but sometimes they are just as strong as the times you lived through.
But memories, good and bad, are important. They're what make us what we are. Without them, we’d be entirely different people.
Our memories are how we judge right from wrong. They're what lead us to trust certain people and distrust others. They’re what lead us to pick one choice over another and are what shape our entire personality.
We act a certain way because we have a memory of when someone acted like that and made us feel good or someone acted the opposite way and made us feel bad.
We are our memories and our memories are who we are.
