FALSE MEMORY

Michael was sitting in a space ship looking back down on earth. He was the best in his industry at that time, a tough, poised, strong, and extremely intelligent man. Just 5 mins in conversation with him, anyone could deduce that he wasn’t main stream.

Sitting there he was looking into the vast galaxy, glamorous stars, the mesmerizing beauty, almost captivating him into a trance, he was pondering about all the events of his life which led him exactly where he was at that very moment. It wasn’t just his dream anymore, it was his reality.

Somewhere, he put on his thinking cap sitting 50 miles away from the surface of the earth hoping his entire life will gracefully place itself in front of his eyes like the magnificent consolations of stars he was surrounded with.

It’s a scary, empty and lifeless place to those who haven’t dreamt of being here but for him, it is just where he wants to be, always wanted to be.

He was seeing through a circular window from his capsule which gave a clear view of our planet earth, and all he could think of was the first moment when he knew he wants to be an astronaut. Remembering the day he watched Sir Neil Armstrong’s documentary for the first time.

I was sure that I want to be on that rocket, he thought to himself.

Hey there it’s Iris,

This story is impeccable in a flawless setting of one of those men who knew their purpose always.

Perfect isn’t it?

Or is it?

Let me narrate you through that summer day of the 1980s when Michael was 5 years old.

It was a bright and pleasant Sunday, Michael and his family were in their backyard enjoying their new tube pool.

After hours of playing in the pool and enjoying with their dog magnum, they decided to take a proper bath and gather in their family dining hall for lunch.

Michael had two siblings, his little sister Maya and a fraternal twin brother called Jim.

Michael felt tired and dehydrated after the exhausting gaming session in their backyard so he was served lunch in his room followed by a glass of glucose and a long nap while his nana, parents, brother, and sister were having their Sunday steak watching Neil Armstrong’s documentary on BBC.

It was a happy and relaxed Sunday.

Did you notice something strange about that day?

The moment Micheal remembered as his ascertaining point to become an astronaut never happened.

So, what happened then?

10 years later from that day, He was laying on his nana’s lap as she recalled that day to him.

“Do you remember the day we used our tube pool for the first time? “, Asked nana, softly massaging her grandchild’s hair.

“Yes! What a lovely day that was!” replied Michael nostalgically.

‘You know Michy, I always wanted to tell you that I believe that you will be a successful astronaut one day just like Neil Armstrong. I saw that zeal in your eyes that day, and I want to tell you that I am always here for you whenever you need my support.” said Nana

Looking at her eyes with a baffled look, he was trying to rattle through his memory.

After a few seconds of pin-drop silence, Michael replied to her Nana holding her hand with assurance,

“I will be Nana. I love you’

“I love you sweetheart”, acknowledged Nana

With passing time Nana and her memory aged rapidly and she wasn’t able to remember things precisely so she recalled this little story in her head about Michael’s reaction to the documentary. Michael wasn’t able to remember at first but then happened to remember all of it, because he trusted Nana.

He was able to remember the details of the event and at that moment he knew that he always wanted to be an astronaut.

There was no going back from that instant.

He became one and a successful one.

But why did it happen? And what will you ever receive by knowing about it you might wonder.

It is the magic of false memory.

Technically, false memory is a recollection that seems real in your mind but is fabricated in part or in whole. It is a mental experience that is mistakenly taken to be a veridical representation of an event from one’s personal past.

Fuzzy-trace theory is a theory of cognition that explains the occurrence of false memories in our brain that draws upon dual-trace conceptions to predict and explain cognitive phenomena, particularly in memory and reasoning.

Simply put, false memory is when we trust in something because we believed that it happened, not that it actually happened or happened exactly that way. It is a scientific and psychological occurrence that makes an individual belief in certain memories to an extent which they actually start remembering it.

It’s because the memories seem to distort and change over time, if you start believing in something to be true then your brain picks the bits and pieces of your uncompleted puzzle to make sense out of it as a whole. Usually, it happens because you either trust what you believe in or you trust the person who is telling it to you.

Today, Michael is an astronaut because he accepted a false memory and it gave him a direction which he thought he always wanted to follow.

If you implant a false memory in your brain today then it will ultimately become your reality. I know it’s hard to convince yourself to believe in something which seems evidently unacceptable, however, Michael did not believe that he was passionate about being an astronaut until Nana made him believe that he was.

It’s not about what you aspire but it’s always about how strong your aspiration is.

Nothing is impossible really, it’s all about what you believe is true.

Little did he knew, he was dreaming of horses and unicorns while the documentary lasted on their television.

It takes time to accept and accomplish but deep down our faith in what we want to trust determines half of the success of our battle.

Try it yourself,

Believe you are and you will become

Sit down and cautiously make yourself believe in something your mind would otherwise reject by ascertaining yourself that that’s how it is meant to be , I promise you that years from that moment you will achieve it and will eventually forget that you ever made yourself believe in it. False memory might be a mistake or a syndrome but its all about perception and how you make most out of it. No destination is too far once you know where you want to go.

Because you never know, even Neil Armstrong hold on to a false memory.