Handling memories

Some nights it can be a struggle trying to sleep. All sort of memories and thoughts can bubble up and keep my mind so active sleep becomes impossible. The problem with the past is that it does not stay in the past if affects the present and it will affect the future if it is not dealt with properly. I could bury it and try and forget about it. The problem is that it still be there and it may still impact the present. Teachers talk about constructivism. By this they mean that as we learn we construct information from different sources into a whole way of thinking. So when you are at school what you learn in English lessons is used later to help you write the geography essay which is based on what you learnt in geography lessons during the last month or so.  As we progress we are helped to develop more skills and told more facts and we are expected to put them together and construct a way of understanding the world. In other words to a teacher it would be no surprise that what we learn from one experience is built upon by the next. How then can we bury an experience? We may "forget" the actual experience but what we learnt from it will affect the way that we react to something else. Sometimes we can do things in a certain way and not realise why we do it that way. The past may be buried but it can still affect the present and the future. If this is the case is do we have any choices to make on a day to day basis? Determinists suggest that our present and future is determined by what has happened in the past.  There is another way. We can be held captive by the things that have happened in the past. However, my bible says that Jesus came to set the captive free. It does not say what sort of captivity people could be struggling with. My captivity last night was due to old painful memories. Things from the past that were shaping the way I saw things in the present. The only way I know how to get out of that kind of captivity is forgiveness. The problem is that old memories like this become part of us and it is like letting go of old friends. Some things, no matter how harmful they are to us, we just cannot seem to let go. Sometimes we think we have let go and then something happens and we realise that either we have not let go properly or we have picked them up again. I suppose that is why Jesus advice was not to just forgive 7 times but 70 times 7. It is possible but it takes time and effort. I have managed to do this with other things but I still have some way to go with these ones. Susan

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