Having experienced a change in the character of personal memories, that have somehow been "flattened" since my brain injury, resembling a jumble of random facts with very little sequential "personal story" quality. I have been giving a lot of thought to what makes event-memory different than other kinds of memory as I look for ways to accommodate my new limitations so that I can function more normally. The process of writing down my thoughts about events as they happen has been the most useful tool I have found, but I still continually deal with mis-associated memories: facts and images that I failed to anchor to events by writing about them, tend to find a context in my pre-accident memories, which you can imagine, creates a lot of confusion from time to time.
I have concluded that the nature of event memory is inextricably connected to the nature of time.
Time is not just each person's personal trek through multiple temporal dimensions; it is also surfing the crest of an expanding wave of new possibilities. Every moment presents new possibilities that did not previously exist.
Each person's personal history is affected as much by the options that were not chosen, as by the options that were; but memories are also continuously re-evaluated by the realization of expanding options that were not chosen. "What if" is as important to reality as "what was," and personal reality is also shaped by the consensus of the beliefs of the community.
Therefore if we are to fully grasp the concept of Memory, we must allow for the expansion of options, as time itself continuously expands, because options not chosen, still affect our perception of reality.
Our universe expands in a branching fractal pattern. Evidence of this pattern is observed in the arrangement of planets around a star, of stars around their galactic center, and the distribution of galaxies, gas clouds, and empty space throughout the universe. The expansion of time (and gravity) is a part of that expansion. If our memories are to truly represent time, they must include a similar branching of details, that may differ slightly from person to person, but which grow from a common shared experience, and from the choices we made, the choices we rejected, and the choices that never entered our minds....
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I am developing a prototype resources website at http://bit.ly/resourcesfortbi. Please review my plans and make suggestions.
I welcome comments that can help make this site more helpful to those experiencing similar difficulties, or for those friends, family, and professionals who take care of bicycle injury / brain trauma.victims.
Since I want this site to be helpful to victims, I reserve the right to edit comments if they seem to conflict with that goal.
Helpful comments would include corrections of false information, references to local services that relate to my posts, or comments that help me to keep spelling, grammar, and word-choices appropriate and correct. As a brain injury victim, I depend on others to insure accuracy and to spot the kinds of errors that I may not recognize. Please feel welcome to contribute your expertise to make this site effective!