When the routine of work, phones, Netflix and other distractions lets my mind to myself I often find myself thinking about past events that have made a strong impact. Break ups, job decisions, moving over different countries and states. Some of these memories are recurring, and no matter how much time goes back I seem to be stack in them. Analyzing them, trying to understand them and thinking about what could have been different.
I recently came across a video from Jason Silva on “Can we change the past?”. It is a passionate three minute and a half video that goes all the way from describing the creation of those memories were we get hang up to our reliving them time and time again, reinforcing them. And then, how it is possible, through looking at them through different lenses, using all our other past experiences, to decontextualize our memories and change them into something that no longer hurts us. Turn it into something positive, something that can help us forward.
I thought several things he said were pretty interesting. First he mentions epigenetics, a field that I happen to work on. It is true that external factors place markers on our DNA that can affect how we express our genes, but there are a lot of unknowns about the process of what affects those markers. Some pretty cool studies show how twins with identical DNA (and identical starting markers) that have been exposed to different environments have completely different markers, affecting how their cells use the information in their DNA. Here is a link to one such study, it’s technical, so let me know if you would like to clarify some concept!
Second, the fact of being able to rewrite this memories, manipulate them if you will so they can stop traumatizing us and change them into a tool of empowerment. He said there is evidence, out there, so I looked some of it up. I found this blog entry referring to a new study published in Science. It is a quite recent study from the summer of 2018 and it highlights this possibility. In essence, when we have a new experience we can generate new memories (in this case the experience is fear) and at the same time create new neurons that store and allow us to relive those experiences. At the same time, these scientists were able to label which neurons were created in response to the traumatic experience. And, after using different “mice-therapy” (yes, the subjects were mice) in connection with which neurons were being used by the mice, they saw that the highest reduction in the traumatic experience memory resulted when the neurons involved in the storing of the initial traumatic experience were involved.
So what the study says, is that we are going to have that memory. But, we can redirect how it affects us through controlled exposure. So it is possible…now the next step is for us to find out how… Any ideas?
Re-wire yourself 