Comment on Our brains remembers at random cringe and awful things we did in the past to prevent us of doing them again.

Pronell@lemmy.world ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

• rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  When those memories come up, choose a different response. Laugh at yourself. Forgive yourself. Love yourself.

  Any recommended reading on this topic? Choosing a different response when these memories come up is really difficult for me, personally. Even when I acknowledge that I’ve grown as a person since then, the memories themselves still just feel jarringly awful.

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  • Pronell@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Here is an article discussing it.

    I would personally think that Buddhist techniques like mindfulness and meditation would be helpful here.

    I don’t know how I really achieved it, but one thing I do remember I did was altering my negative self-talk so I would be alarmed and notice I was doing it.

    I basically changed “I should kill myself” to “I should kill (some other specific person)”, as the latter horrified me. Might be a similar technique.

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    • rudyharrelson@lemmy.radio ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Much appreciated! I’ll give it a read.

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  • SirSamuel@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I’ve found a lot of success in working through things logically when the painful memories return.

    What does this memory teach me?

    Have I learned all I can from this memory?

    If it has taught me everything it can, I can set this memory aside, as there is no purpose in dwelling on it.

    I am a better person because of the lessons learned, thank you memory, you have served me well. You may rest

    This puts me in a position of acknowledging my imperfections without suffering long term regret. I can’t change the past, and if I’ve learned from it, then I need to live in the Now, not the Then

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