There is an art to remembering. Is there also an art to forgetting? If so, how does one forget?

Answer 1

I heard a story about a Russian guy many years ago who couln;t ever forget anything, literally, some sort of brian disorder.

Anyway, he discovered that if he wrote what he wanted to forget on a piece of paper and burnt the paper he could finally forget.

Answer 2

Forcing yourself to forget is impossible as the very act of attempting this forces you to recall the event in question which then stimulates the part of the brain where that memory is located and simply serves to reinforce it.

There is a very simple technique you can use to lessen your perception of a memories importance and also lessen the emotional response you have to the memory.

Picture the memory as vividly as you can, let yourself notice the emotions that are tied to the memory. If you visualise the event as a moving picture let it lop a few times. Now visualise yourself looking at the memory in the third person as if you were watching it on a very large screen. Once again let the memory loop a few times, solidify the image of yourself watching the memory.

once you have that secured in your minds eye your going to distort the image a little. Turn down the contrast and brightness of the colours, make the image itself a little less clear, perhaps it is becoming a little grainy. Now your gong to push the screen away from you into the distance. The screen will become much smaller, the picture harder to distinguish. Notice how much less intense your emotional tie to the scene is. Its hard to get excited about a grainy tiny picture.

Repeat this process a few times. When you are beginning again it is important that you didnt zoom the picture back in. It is simply small and distant then suddenly big. It is the act of reducing it that is important here. It really doesn't take long for you to start to disassociate the image with negative emotions. The same is also true in reverse if there's something you particularly want to remember. Try it for yourself.

Answer 3

I believe that you can forget, and there is also no art to remembering where did this come from?
Most of the time we remember the bad things of life and thats because when good things flow into our brain they flow over the bad things and never stored so much.
We can forget if we let the good be stored rather than the bad and the only way is by filling your head with good things and by this unless there are really bad memories why would you want to forget.

Answer 4

I think the Forgetting part takes a lot longer to accomplish than to remember.. Usually if you want to forget, you've been adversely affected by someone you wanted to be in your life... For instance a divorce, your spouse.. He or She you'll always remember, but to forget the pain, takes time and patience with yourself.. The best way I forgot my divorce and all the hardness of it, I bought balloons and tied on an index card on the ribbon and then let it go... That did help, believe it or not.. Good Luck

Answer 5

The art of forgetting can be done by using the method of "selective memory". You only remember the things you want to.

Answer 6

To forget, you either fill your mind with other stuff, or you visualise putting the bad memory in a box and lock it up in the vast storehouse in your brain, with a label on it saying only open after your death.
By then it shouldn't matter.
Why not go and speak to a catholic priest, they specialise in confessions, so I hear. Perhaps if you get it off your chest it will help.
Are you a priest?

Answer 7

You can't forget something conciously as far as I know. The best way is to change how you percieve the negative event. Make it seem insignificant and distant.

Answer 8

i don't think you can ever forget as such.. we're designed to learn from our past experience and so they are kept in our memories, if there is something you want to disregard you have to come to terms with it, accept it and then let it go... if you try and push it to the back of your mind it will manifest itself in other, more unusual behaviours... or so Freud said.

Answer 9

hi, my name is paul macenna
its simple
first of all your get the remembering bit sorted, such as what time the pubs are open and how much lolly you got.
then you'll notice that the rest of life just seems to just slip into place.
hope i've "HIC", sorry , helped

Answer 10

FORGETTING IS SIMPLE.IF YOU HAVE ANOTHER PERSON LIVING IN YOUR HEAD RENT FREE, i GUARANTEE YOU WILL FORGET ALL ABOUT THEM IF YOU LET GO WITH LOVE,AND WISH THEM ALL THE BEST