How do your memories come to you?

[Iseke]

This was an interesting question that kapitanprien asked in another thread and I wanted to respond, so I thought I'd start a general thread for this question:

Nov 19, 2010 22:06:13 GMT -5 @kapitanprien said:

Do your memories tend to come in 'clusters'? It seems like I go through periods where I will have my memories come like that, either in the form of dreams or visions which take me completely out of where I'm at consciously.

I was just wondering if it was the same for any of you folks.

My memories tend to come in very small pieces, often just a still image, or an emotion, or what is referred to as a "knowing." The knowings came far before any visual memories came. I also notice that for me, instead of getting a chunk of memories from one life, I get still images and snippets from a bunch of lifetimes, sometimes ones I hadn't been previously aware of. I suspect this will change for me in time, but this is where I'm at now.

I have a few in dreams as well, but mostly they come to me while I'm meditating or in bed.

[msmir]

through intuition then it starts turning into a memory, and sometimes dreams. But once you start remembering a little, then it starts coming in more.

[mccoyxyz]

In dreams, starting at age six.
Also, looking at photos of the era, ie Roman Vishniac book. A particular photo will trigger a sense of absolute knowingness in me.

[msmir]

I think 6 seems to be a common age for the dreams to start.. or are they? Maybe because at 6 your long term memories are formed and you can express what you dream better?

[kapitanprien]

I wouldn't know with regards to what MsMir said on dreams since I reincarnated differently. I think in some sense for me it is more about simply remembering than starting from scratch (which is what someone said to me about my situation).

[lulz]

I cannot remember my exact age during my first recollection, however, being that I was very young, age six does sound plausible. Most of my memories come in short dreams. Often when I've had one, I wake up in the middle of the night as opposed to sleeping through until morning. I think I remember more when I'm extremely tired. Sometimes memories come as I'm drifting off, between awake and asleep. I've had flashbacks during the day, and images or words just come to me, however, dreams are most common for me.

[lulz]

Nov 29, 2010 9:28:47 GMT -5 @mccoyxyz said:

In dreams, starting at age six.
Also, looking at photos of the era, ie Roman Vishniac book. A particular photo will trigger a sense of absolute knowingness in me.

I knew what I looked like before finding a photo, however, the first time I saw a photo of Josef, it was the strangest feeling. Something deep down in me felt familiarity in looking at it. It was like looking at old childhood photos, for example. A familiar face, place, people, as if I had already seen the photo before and lived through the day it was taken.

[kapitanprien]

Lulz: I think I remember more when I'm extremely tired. Sometimes memories come as I'm drifting off, between awake and asleep. I've had flashbacks during the day, and images or words just come to me, however, dreams are most common for me.

That's quite common for me too. The more exhausted my brain is, for some reason, the more the part of it that is focused on taking care of things in my immediate vicinity becomes 'less resistant' - it's weakened through exhaustion. Also same for the rest - some of my most powerful 'visions' have come in the state between being awake and asleep. If I made a list it would be:

Dreams
Visions/Flashbacks

[Miss Bothmann]

I believe that me first recollection ever in my life tried coming to me when I was a child. I almost drowned in a lake getting my foot caught in seaweed and I started having images of a city burning and people screaming. Now I realize the significance of it, but at the time it just added to the terror of potentially drowning.

[eiszeit]

I had a dream when I was about five, six years old. That really must be the magical age then, I suppose? I remember keeping it very quiet and to myself, instead of telling my parents about how I had a scary dream. I remember it felt like something I just couldn't tell anyone, let alone my parents. So, I kept it locked up. But I definitely feel like it triggered a sense of "something happened to me".

As for other memories, they've come in bits and pieces ever since I was about 14. I'm sure I had memories before 14, but I remembered most of the memories during my teenage years, and yes, it probably took a great toll on me. Imagine going through the typical high school angst, with all the anxiety and stress of a KZ inmate complied on top of that. Not a fun time...

And other times, I'll just be looking at something and all of a sudden BAM! I know what it is! I know what's significant about it! I know what happened there! Something will just trigger and it'll just feel so perfectly Right, you know? This is how I found my lover from back then (by looking at a picture of him), and how I figured out where and when we first met. That was (still is!) one of my favorite memories, for very obvious reasons.

[kapitanprien]

I have a question for you folks - something I've always been curious about and since it's related to the subject/topic - I'll ask it here:

How did 'it' all start with you people? Did it start with things happening internally - dreams, or did it all start by seeing something and that 'triggering' things for you?

In my case it was a dream - to quote from my site:

I can neither prove nor disprove the existence of souls, yet one night, I had a dream of being a U-Boat commander. I was close to 24 years old at the time. This dream was very unusual for me in that I was never interested in U-Boats, and because I was not interested, I owned nothing relating to them - be it books, movies or documentaries, or artifacts. Nor was there any geographical connection as I lived in North East Pennsylvania at the time. So there was nothing external to 'trigger' it. I feel that I had experienced what is known as a soul exchange while I was sleeping.

[Laurasia]

My first awareness of Hans came to me via a dream (though I didn't recognize it as that then, & still didn't recognize it as what it was for a while after becoming consciously aware of my lifetime as Hans) I repeatedly had around the ages 4 - 6. In the dream I was trapped in a dark enclosed space & was about to be killed by some unseen monster just beyond the walls. My only way out was through remembering a series of numbers that suddenly & repeatedly flooded my mind.

It was only a couple of years ago that I discovered those numbers were actually Hans' SS number.

Sincerely,
Laurasia

[kapitanprien]

That's quite interesting as it also seems 'symbolic' too - the dark enclosed space being the subconsciousness, the 'monster' being symbolic of fear - and that the only way 'out' (the only way to heal yourself) was by remembering who you are.

At least that's my interpretation of it.

[Iseke]

For me, it started with an inexplicable yearning for Russia. (Well, there was a bit before that, but I won't go into that now.)

Actually, it was a friend's dream of my past life that really led me in the direction of discovery. We did not know each other well and to this day it still seems strange, but I think she was a good vessel to deliver it to me, so...that is how it happened. Now I get the memories in my own dreams, but for the most part, my "memories" come in the form of emotional yearnings.

[kapitanprien]

Oh that's interesting how your friend was the one that had the dream.