1Memory is not a perfect recording of the past but a story the brain rebuilds each time.
2Every single time we recall an event, we actually change it a little without ever noticing.
3Psychologists have demonstrated in famous experiments that false memories can be planted surprisingly easily in adult participants.
4In one well known study, people clearly remembered a childhood event that had never actually happened to them.
5This does not mean our memories are useless or that nothing we remember is true.
6It simply means that human memory is creative, constantly mixing facts with feelings, beliefs, and later experiences.
7The memories we keep returning to also quietly shape the person we believe ourselves to be.
8Someone who mostly remembers past failures may become cautious, while another person who recalls success grows confident.
9Understanding this natural flexibility of memory helps therapists work with people who suffer from painful traumatic memories.
10By retelling an old story in a new way, patients can slowly reduce its emotional power.
11In this sense, we are not helpless prisoners of our past but active editors of it.