What you Believe - You Remember

I was having a fascinating conversation with my husband and his mother about childhood memories.  The conversation started as a bit of a debate as to whether or not it was possible that a memory he had from childhood was real or if he had remembered the incident from a story the family had shared with him at a later time.  Throughout the discussion it became clear that not only did he remember the incident but that his memory was independent of her own account and that the impact of the memory had a profound impact on his personal beliefs about dogs.   All this left me pondering the power of our memories and their effect on our beliefs.  

My work and training as a hypnotherapist has allowed me to see the negative effect memories can have on a persons life.  One of the basic premises in hypnotherapy is that our minds retain a memory of every experience we've ever had - good or bad.  For me the interesting thing is which memories we consciously choose to recall and how that recollection can become a personal belief.  For example, if a person is bitten by a dog early on in their life they may form the opinion that ALL dogs will bite.  This could lead them to go beyond a healthy fear of aggressive dogs to a phobia of any dog.  

It seems to me that how we feel about the memory determines how we feel about the subject of the memory.  Once we make a judgment of whether the memory is good or bad then we color the subject in the same light and subsequently develop association with future experiences to support that judgment until it becomes a belief.  

The beauty of Hypnosis and NLP is that they can allow us to view the original incident from an objective point of view and choose to see it as neutral.  This work then can create a new association with the subject and help the individual overcome a phobia or even change a belief.