Yesterday...

What do you think of, when you think of yesterday?  I'm not only talking about the actual day before today, I mean the days/weeks/years before today...

Are you thinking of particular memories? a specific time?, place?, feeling?  Do they bring a sense of happiness, or sadness, or madness? How do you know these things really happened?  Especially things that happened to you when you were younger.  Are these real memories, or, just shadow memories from stories other people (like parents, siblings, friends) have kept going over the years?

I've invoked some thought, haven't I?

I mean, all of the thoughts we create are in our brain... they are just mere electrical signals that are stored in webs of neurons, created in a way that resembles idea clouds, branching together by sights, sounds, scents. Piecing together all the situations of your life up to this moment.

How often do you smell something... then immediately you bring forth a memory... or you hear a song you love, and POOF! you are back to a concert, singing and dancing your heart out... or you take a sip of hot chocolate and you are transported back to a cold winters day, where your mom is popping marshmallows in a hot chocolaty filled cup... you can feel the warmth... smell the sweet chocolate... feel the love that she so carefully put into it... feels nice doesn't it?.. how many of you just thought about the taste of it?.. I'm guessing just about everyone of you... This is because, as I mentioned above, that all these things are linked in your brain by neuro-webs... Its clearly amazing!!  Go on... take a moment to enjoy it... and bring back a few memories of your own... I'll wait...

OK, now that I have your attention on your memories, and you are reliving your pasts... I'm going to change the topic a little bit, and go into the part I mentioned about shadow memories.

PLEASE NOTE: This is not a scientific term and I'm not coining it as my own. Maybe I am the first person to come up with it.. I kinda hope so :)


Some memories that you have from the past, may actually not be memories at all, they could be implanted by stories from your childhood. Told to you over and over by your parents as you were growing up, or by your friends.  How many of you had a friend come up and say... "you remember the time when...blah blah blah..." and you think to yourself..."hmmm... kinda sounds familiar, but no I don't really... do I ..." Does this mean that it never happened?... but then as your listening to the story... things come back to you... you might not remember it all... but as the story continues, and your friend is telling it like its gospel... you build on the memory that you have, and over the course of the conversation, you might convince yourself that it is true, and tell it again. But in the end, does it make it any less real?

I'll give an example...

When I was a kid... probably 3 or so? (Mom can you back me up here? lol)... I was riding on my tricycle on the bridge (for some people, you would call this a deck), and I can remember being told to watch out for the stairs, and not go down over them... How many of you can predict what is going to happen next?  anyone?... yes, you're right... down over the stairs I went... clickity bam-bam POW... face first into the cement step at the botom. Then I ad to be brought to Springdale to get several stitches in my forehead... Now, do I remember this happening for sure?  I really don't' think I do... as "they" say that memories don't normally stick until you are about 5ish.  But I swear, I can remember being told not to do it... and then thinking... "yessssssss, I can do that, no problem, I'm a big boy"... but the thing that puzzles me is that I can't actually remember hitting the concrete... was it because of truama to the head? (maybe thats what happened to me... hehe)... or because it was painful, and it was such a shock, that I blocked it out... So, are these real memories?... or was it implanted in my memory by the stories from my parents and family?  No one can prove either... but I'm going to go with the latter.

Anyway, the moral of this blog is this... treasure the memories that you have, think more carefully about the memories you create... and be careful of the memories that might not be accurate... Memories are what makes us who we are... and provides the basis for all our relationships... past and future... so keep those memories close and fresh, before you... um... what was I talking about?!?

Until next time!

Nicholas C. Kelley