Viewing Memory

[magpie]

When you think back on things (have a memory), do you view the memory through your own eyes or do you see it from outside yourself (ie watch yourself)? Or something else, potentially?

 

[Smilephantomhive]

I usually see it from my own eyes.

 

[Eilonwy]

Outside myself.

 

[Yama]

It depends on the memory. Most of the time, I actually see it through both. The trend I have noticed is that I tend to revisit positive memories through my own eyes, and negative ones as a third person. Probably a way of mentally separating myself from trauma.

 

[Forever]

My own although I can choose third person if I feel like it. Which is really not useful since they're vague impressions.

 

[Rouskyrie]

When you think back on things (have a memory), do you view the memory through your own eyes or do you see it from outside yourself (ie watch yourself)? Or something else, potentially?

When I think back on things, I would say I typically view the memory through my own senses. It's random, occurring randomly once I've zoned out. An example being: I will be walking through the hallway of my house to get something from the fridge, only on the way to find myself thinking about a moment (Often an embarrassing one, but not always) and I feel myself reliving the moment in my mind. The most recent memory I can think of is when I was staying at the house of a girl I was dating in junior year: Her mother's clearly intoxicated on and off boyfriend, Jeff walked into the room and was yelling at her because he assumed we were doing things, despite it being obvious that we were merely cuddling (There wasn't a blanket covering us, and our clothes were on completely). After she left the room to tell her mother about it, he closed the distance between us and told me he'd make me walk the 76 miles back to my house for 'messing around' with the girl he considers his daughter, among other things. Frankly, it made me remember her; She's an INFJ 6w7 - 2w1 - 9w1. She was 5'9", which was about 4 inches taller than I was then. She always wore ripped blue skinny jeans and random band t's (Mostly Guns N' Roses, Pantera, and Ghost Town) and had the most beautiful blonde hair I've ever seen. Her voice rivaled that of her terrific guitar playing. I truly miss her presence in my life.

Occasionally, I see my memories from outside myself within dreams, from the point of view of other people. Usually the same memory/context will show up again, except I will be a different person. I can't remember a time when the dream hasn't repeated itself until I've been in the point of view of everyone present.

 

[cosmic royal]

Mostly I view it in the first person. There are a few times where I view my memories in third person, but only through the eyes of others. That's so I could see how they might process that specific moment in time.

 

[Fidelia]

Generally third person. Depends on the memory I guess. But usually third person.

 

[Flâneuse]

I've noticed it usually depends on the focus of the memory (event vs. internal reaction triggered by the event). If I'm at all re-experiencing what I was feeling and thinking during the event, positive or negative, I tend to see it through my own eyes. I also do this when I'm nostalgically recalling an experience as being happier than it really was. If I'm mainly recalling the external event itself and can't remember or connect to how I was feeling, I usually see it from outside myself, like I'm watching a movie of my past. When I recall memories from early childhood, for example, it's usually from a third-person point of view because I can't recall on an emotional level what it was like to be that age.

 

[Yuurei]

Neither. My brain recreates everyone ( myself included) to look as I suppose my subconscious interprets them.

 

[Lord Lavender]

In general my memories are like i am a floating eyeball for lack of a better word as i can move myself anywhere in this memory and modify it in many ways leading to what ifs at times. Think like google maps in which you can move around anywhere but you have no real body so to speak.

 

[geedoenfj]

Usually outside myself

 

[chubber]

First person point of view

 

[Polaris]

I always see my memories from something approximating the original perspective(s) with an added level of the 3rd person thrown in.

 

[miss fortune]

I sense memories with more than just vision... I can usually feel, smell, taste and hear memories if I think hard about them... otherwise I'll get some snippet of things from at least one of my senses and it's not necessarily vision

it's all very first person though... it's MY interpretation of what happened from inside of my body

 

[Obfuscate]

my memory returns in words... they aren't full sentences at first, but rather the most significant word(s)... those build into sentences, and if i think upon the sentences i can form first person reproductions (though at times, if the memory is less significant i only get input from one or two senses)... all of my mental processes operate first as words, and are translated into other forms after (with the exception of emotion... emotion is obnoxious like that; it just Has to be different *grumble*)...

 

[Cellmold]

My memories are generally emotionally vivid in some way.

If it's concerning people, then it's generally a distorted image that I think most closely aligns with third person. The thing I notice most with my memories is how wrong they can be, as in I start to remember an interaction and then I think about it more and second guess the initial image "that can't be right".

But then I'm wary of the unreliability towards either the overly positive or negative nature of human memory.

 

[Peter Deadpan]

Interesting thread.

I don't have a vivid mind's eye and I have a horrible memory when it comes to events. But, I guess usually it is somewhere between first and third person, or a combination of both simultaneously if that makes sense. If I'm remembering something I feel bad about, like something I did wrong, it shifts closer to third person, which as someone (can't remember) previously mentioned could be a defensive reaction by placing extra space between self and reality... a denial of sorts. If it is a more pleasant memory, like having hot sex with my ex (lol), then it shifts closer to first person and involves more sensory and emotional memory. Mostly, I have very vague memories missing so many pieces that I struggle to explain or even recall them. I also have trouble with facial memory. I think I just have memory problems in general.

 

[Jellyfish1234]

I don't think I see it through my eyes or third person, I think I just recreate the important visual parts of what I imagine it to have been like, if that makes any sense at all.

 

[magpie]

I don't think I see it through my eyes or third person, I think I just recreate the important visual parts of what I imagine it to have been like, if that makes any sense at all.

In that case, it's not even a memory, is it? Just a re-creation.