As Humans, our biology is highly complex and if truth be told, still holds many mysteries for researchers and the every day individual. Drawing from my own experience and having worked with many clients in a professional healing and coaching capacity, I have observed often how little we fully know and understand about our own make-up. There is also the tendency to give authority over to someone else, when it concerns something that is, in my opinion, deeply and uniquely personal.
Just as in the case of your memories — no one else has an exact memory like yours. In fact, over time, have you noticed how even your own memories around a situation or towards someone can change? There is extensive cognitive research which can offer explanations as to how this happens. However, in my own experience I have observed that there is a memory that far outreaches that of our physical brain to remember and resolve issues…
The human body has a memory that extends beyond that of our cognitive faculties. This information is contained within our DNA. The way the brain functions is that each time you think of a past or future event, the energy of a memory is activated in the brain and in your cellular memory. Cellular memory is an alternative hypothesis that suggests memory is also held in the cells of the body and not just the brain and organs.
“Epigenetics in psychology provides a framework for understanding how the expression of genes is influenced by experiences and the environment to produce individual differences in behavior, cognition, personality, and mental health.” — http://nobaproject.com/modules/epigenetics-in-psychology
So when you are remembering something, where are you remembering it from? Your brain, your DNA, your emotions… all of these?
When it comes down to shifting beliefs and creating a new mindset, often the issue is that not only cognitive function is involved, but also emotive function. Humans remember mostly through ‘meaning’ more than they do on a purely cerebral level. For example, remember something that is important or valuable to you? What makes it important or valuable? Just the pure memory, or the experience you had around this event? Chances are there is some strong emotional meaning around your most prevalent memories, either positive or negative ones.
The very definition to ‘remember’ means to ‘bring something back into the mind’ which hints at a cognitive retrieval process. Thus, when this process is hindered or no longer effective, for instance in cases of Dementia or Alzheimers, this frame of reference on which you rely is hampered, impacting strongly on your sense of personal identity and the body’s nervous system. The common focus however is usually on this single element of the process of remembering… and what about the body’s memory?
Consequently, in this article, the focus is more on the unimpaired daily function of ‘remembering’ and how to perhaps manage this process in a mindful way that leads to integrative, effective and improved overall mental as well as emotional health. In my opinion, these two are not separate processes and rather two aspects of what makes up the experiences and the semantics of life itself.
So, how could remembering being keeping you stuck? If you are going to remember something, please do re-member it. By this I mean, if memory is considered solely a cognitive process, then the energy that surrounds the whole experience is being overlooked. And this is what can keep you stuck.
When I facilitate breakthrough mentoring and healing with clients, what I have observed is that genuine and effective integration occurs when the ‘energy’ associated with the event is managed as well. This allows to release the ‘past data’ and update it to current events and so move forward from a neutral point of Now. This means creating a new neural pathway or habit, here and now and accessing new data and information.
The brain’s wiring has to be updated. If not, it means reliving the same response and situation over and over again. The reason is that the brain does not distinguish time and cannot differentiate between the past, present and future. In the brain, when thinking about something, it’s always happening now.
This is often visible in people who have suffered trauma and shock and who struggle with the grieving process, which eventually have long-term effects when left unattended. An example is when people keep on injuring themselves repeatedly. Until the memory in their cells is release and healing can occur — re-membering that ‘healing’ means ‘to be whole’ and not that something is wrong with you.
This is the reason that the present moment is so powerful and important, for it is here, NOW, that you can choose how to respond, rather than merely stay in a state of re-action, which for many is what remembering can be. And that’s what keeps you stuck.
Every second of an experience is a new NOW and an opportunity to re-member yourself. Mindset and energy transmutation are great tools to make this process visible and transforming, so that you can make choices that actually are your own, up to date and that work for you in your life today.
It really is about letting go of who you were and thought you are, to become unstuck and be who you are. Are you willing to receive and re-member all of THAT? Imagine what life would be like from that space!
Make re-membering the springboard you use to embrace life and your purpose fully — your tool of choice. You are a whole Human Being — made up of a body, mind and soul — not just a brain!
Don’t let remembering keep you stuck!
Originally published at medium.com