Memories

 “When you recall a memory, your brain essentially reconstructs it, often influenced by the last version you remembered, not necessarily the exact original event. “

    Ever since I read this line, it has made me rethink my whole existence. Everything I saw, heard or remembered might be a lie. A lie that I have carefully constructed either for convenience or due to various factors of mood, maturity, time or just that present moment. Everytime you remember, you remove some parts, add some masala and store them back. Memories have normal wear and tear.

  

    And this means that an actual happy event, when recalled during sad times might not seem so happy. And then you restore it as a okish moment thus eroding the very essence of it. And this false narrative can make sad ones to happy memories. One can think a long back punishment as a proof of ones rebellian thus making you the hero of your story.. Might be this is how nostalgia works. And with all these the real event is actually forgotten.

    So are all my memories just fictional stories?

What's more : You recall an incident and narrate it to your friend adding all emotions and drama.. While this not only distorts your memory, there are chances that your friend might over time think it happened to them and it becomes part of their memory though its 100% not theirs.

And then years later they tell you this story and you go: Dude that happened to me, not you :)

    Googling told me this might be useful : “From an evolutionary standpoint, having memories that adapt can be useful — they help us learn from new experiences and adjust our mental “story” of events to survive better in the future.”

    And then there are these memory anchors : Songs, food, fragrance , music, art , deja vu etc which bring back memories in a different way.

So next time you feel nostalgic, you might be authoring just another story !