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| “Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory” -Albert Schweitzer |
I recently read an article on line – I don’t remember where – but it stuck enough for me to go back and learn more. The article talked about the actress Marilu Henner (She was on the TV show “Taxi” back in the late 70s/early 80s.) It turns out that Marilu has a rare condition called “HSAM”. It stands for Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, and there are only around 20 people known to have this condition. I don’t remember if I am one of those people, or not.
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| Marilu remembering what it was like to have Big Hair. |
HSAM is basically “super long-term memory”. People with HSAM are able to store and recall events from their lives with amazing accuracy and detail. For example: Do you remember what you had for breakfast on May 9, 2001? How about May 9, 2012? People with HSAM could tell you what day of the week it was, what they ate, what they were wearing, who they were with, what happened in the world, the weather, etc. Complete recall.
The memory is a tricky thing. Somethings we can recall like they happened yesterday. Some things that happened yesterday can’t be recalled. Some people have a knack fro remembering names and faces. Some people tend to remember their bad experiences, some people only the good.
In the Book of Mormon, Amulek mentions that after we are resurrected we “shall be brought to stand before God , knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt.” (Alma 11:43)
Yikes. Just yikes.
I’m hoping that along with that perfect recollection of our guilt comes a perfect recollection of our joys as well. I imagine it does. When it comes to memory issues, I find that God is merciful – He is willing to forget things about us. “Behold, he that has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I the Lord, remember them no more.” (D&C 58:42)
He is also merciful in that he lets our memories fade regarding our own sins, and adversities – as well as those that others struggle with. It has been a couple of years since I served as a bishop, and it has been remarkable much of my dealings with repentant souls has faded from my memory. I know other bishops who feel the same way.
God is also merciful that He lets women forget – or entirely re-write – what it is like to be pregnant. If moms had a full and accurate memory of pregnancy and childbirth, each family would only have one kid. (Just so you know – your husband does not have this gift – he remembers all of it – every. last. detail.)
I tend to remember the “special” days -important events, vacations, tragedies, etc. I remember waking up late one morning in panic, leaving the house 45 minutes late for my appointment, racing to the temple – arriving a half-hour late – only to find that I had forgotten my recommend. Yup, I remember my wedding day. Best day of my life.
I also remember a lot of the bad days as well. Some of those experiences, I would rather not re-live. Memories can carry an emotional punch that is not always welcome.
Some people with HSAM consider it a gift – some consider it a curse. I’m not sure what I think. There have been some experiences, losses, mistakes, crisis in my life that I would rather not think about again. Ever. But there are some things I wish I could recall better. Things like my mission, my childhood, the early days of my marriage. All of those things are becoming much more of a blur. When I was a kid we didn’t capture every moment of our lives on Instagram of Facebook. Sadly, I didn’t capture many of those moments in a journal, either.
I wish that my memory worked like Netflix. I would like to log on and choose a date to remember – and then re-live it in full detail. I would like to go back to when I was young and see what my parents were like when they were young. I would like to re-live my 1st date with my EC. I would like to go back and verify some memories that my EC has wrong and I have right.
A perfect memory would be amazing, but only if I could choose when to use it. Still, if I had the choice to have HSAM or not, would I choose it?
I don’t know.
What do you think? Would you want perfect recall? And if so, why? What would you want to remember?
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Video clip with Marilu Henner from 60 MInutes
Profiles of 4 people with HSAM
Article on HSAM from Scientific American
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I’ve seen stories on this before on TV. I think it would be cool, but at the same time it would be awful. You’d always remember the sad and bad in life. It would be more of a trial than a blessing for me. It would be hard to forgive others, too, if I could always remember everything done to me in detail. God is merciful that we don’t all have that kind of memory.
I had a great idea for a comment, but I’ve forgotten what it was. Rats.
At your age, that is perfectly understandable. Next time jot it down, or maybe your wife could remind you.
I heard Merilu Henner speak when I was in college, quite a few years a go. She has had a very remarkable life. I would not choose to have HSAM even though I have a horrible memory.
I like to just change my memories. If the reality isn’t what I would like it to be, I just go ahead and change it.
Makes life blissful.
I would like a selective recall…. would like to remember where I leave keys etc. As an incredibly forgetful person, I rely heavily on the Holy Ghost to bring other important things to my remembrance that I need.
I would choose to keep it all though. Good, bad and ugly. It has been my refiner’s fire.
It is so painful to have a good memory (which i do). I comstantly pray to forgive people who have hurt me. And I DO forgive but the memory is still there. Memories hurt, man.
I remind myself how often I need forgiveness from the Lord. Life is hard enough without carrying the baggage of the past.
I would love to have HSAM then no one would argue with me like they do now when I tell them what happened. I can’t wait for that big movie screen showing our lives and I can turn to my EC and say, “see I told you so”.
Unfortunately God forgot to give me the “remember pregnancy no more” gift. I LOATHED every minute of pregnancy and childbirth. After my first daughter was born I was terrified to have another baby. Absolutely terrified, because I remembered every last horrible detail of the entire nine months. I said to myself that the 2nd pregnancy couldn’t possibly be as hard as the first, so after 4 years I bravely tried again. Unfortunately that pregnancy was even worse than the first. I still have nightmares about my pregnancies. No more kids for me. My only reconciliation is that I have 2 beautiful daughters to show for it. But I know I will never forget how awful the pregnancies were.
I can remember a lot of things from when I was 3 and 4 years old weird details about toys I loved and TV shows that I thought were weird or cool and what I thought about things like my cousins making fun of my over weight aunt. I Like to see how much my own daughter lines up with my own personality it frightens and inspires me. I am fortunate to have no truly painful memories in my life I wish that I could remember things that I read maybe I would not have had to repeat so many college courses and I would have my bachelors degree now I want to remember important information but I only remember thoughts and feelings maybe I should think more about math and history
I am gifted in the area of contexual memory. I can hear or see something one time and recall it with amazing detail. Great for being a historian. I also remmeber in color and three demensionaly. I have ASD. I dont know if you knew that. But that is the upswing. Downswing, I dont remember everyday stuff, like that I need to eat. Or dr’.s appts, or picking up my kids. Maybe if they dressed up in civil war uniforms I would remmeber.
I just watched a movie about Temple Grandin. She can remember all of the images of things she has seen. For example if you mentioned shoes she could recall every pair that she has ever seen.
my nickname used to be memory, thats how good my memory used to be. (my children have sucked it out of my head). I found its all about focus and editing. Focus on what you want, things that teach, loving times, uplifting times, the things you need to keep pushing you forward. Edit the rest, send it to long term storage. 🙂
I am cursed with being incredibly forgetful. This comes from my dad who regularly burns Top Ramen. To be able to remember things would be epic! My husband on the other hand remembers A LOT! The amount of times he asks “Remember?” a day is equivalent to “And it came pass” in the Book of Mormon. It is because of my forgetfulness that the first thing my mother said to my EC after we got married was, “You have to be patient with her.” Yep!
On a totally semi related tangent:
I heard once that President Monson has a photographic memory that he got by memorizing a scripture a day for two years. Anyone know if this is actually true?
We do have access, in part, to those memories, don’t we? The Holy Ghost will “bring all things to your remembrance.” We might think it is too trivial to ask, but for things that were really important to us I believe we can ask and receive.
I like this thought.
My EC can’t remember where she hid the snacks yesterday, but she can remember everything I ever said and use it against me in an argument. I wouldn’t choose to have HSAM. Many things are better left forgotten. It’s amazing how one line in a journal can bring you right back to a situation, though. I try to only record the good things.
During my parents’ divorce, my main coping mechanism was to “zone out” and purposefully forget the sad parts. An unfortunate side-effect of this has been that I remember very little of my childhood at all. I’m sure that not all of it was bad, but the habit became ingrained without me realising.
I don’t think I’d want instant, accurate recall. I believe that part of the Atonement has blessed me with forgetting the painful parts of my childhood, so that I am able to move on and heal.
On the flip side, I have recently been praying to help me remember my sins of the past that I haven’t dealt with correctly, exactly so that when I am face to face with the Lord one day I know that I have repented as best I could.
I’d like to have a Harry Potter pensieve.
I am known among my friends, however, as having a ridiculously-detailed memory about every social activity, ever.
I wish you could remember to call your father more often. 😉