You mention a lot about releasing emotion/thoughts/beliefs but if these are embedded into your subconscious to the point where you are not aware of them, how do you let them go? Here's a question you never got before - I have SDAM which a lot of people with aphantasia have. SDAM is Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory which refers to a lifelong inability to vividly recollect or re-experience personal past events from a first-person perspective. So that is a second block to access these beliefs. Any thoughts on this?
I think this comes down to an issue I may have touched on briefly in a couple of places. "Unconscious" and "subconscious" are misleading terms. They imply the existence of content that's truly outside or underneath awareness. The term "sub-thought" is more fitting -- I'm discussing baggage that exists outside the conscious mind (i.e., outside of thoughts) but that, nevertheless, we are aware of on some level.
And I think that raises an interesting question about SDAM. Is the inability to recollect or re-experience personal past events an inability to re-experience or recollect the feelings an event triggered? Or is it the inability to translate remembered feelings into concrete thought forms like images or visual memories?
If it's the first issue, then there is no issue. If a tree falls in the forest and I'm not around to hear it, does it make a sound? Who cares? I'm not around to hear it, so for all intents and purposes, not only does the tree not make a sound, it doesn't even fall. If a feeling were to be truly beneath consciousness or awareness, who cares if it's there or not? All I can work with is what appears in consciousness. Even were there to somehow be the most terrible, awful feeling ever existing 100% outside my awareness, but nothing ever caused the feeling to rise to the level of awareness, am I burdened by the feeling? Do I have to release it? Well, no, because it isn't impacting my conscious experience, and thus might as well not even exist.
If it's the second issue, though, then the solution is to get very attuned to the feelings that are present in awareness, however subtle they may be, even if they aren't connected to any remembered event. In a weird way, what seems now to be an obstacle might actually end up being a superpower. A lot of people tear their hair out trying to isolate feelings from complex and crowded memories -- you don't have that issue. Because you deal more directly with feelings, as you hone your sensitivity to your inner emotional state, you'll always have immediate access to whatever things need to be released.
That's a very fascinating observation. Your first question is correct. But from what I've read about SDAM, there isn't really any info available on one's feelings. Most of the literature talks about "lifelong inability to vividly recollect or re-experience personal past events from a first-person perspective." I don't know if that encompasses 'feelings/emotions' since those exact words aren't used. But one could interpret 're-experience' to include feelings/emotions.
I guess the question to ask is, do you have an emotional memory? I'd assume (at least to some degree) the answer is going to be yes. Even though you can't visualize events that had an emotional impact on you, you can probably still connect with the emotions that were triggered. And events that you can't remember at all you probably can't remember because there was no substantial emotional impact, so in the absence of visuals, there's not actually anything to remember.
Thanks for the reply. It's an odd situation. But if you asked me do I remember the feelings I had about a personal situation from the past, I would say No. So perhaps this odd issue is a gift if I can't remember details or emotions of negative situations.
You mention a lot about releasing emotion/thoughts/beliefs but if these are embedded into your subconscious to the point where you are not aware of them, how do you let them go? Here's a question you never got before - I have SDAM which a lot of people with aphantasia have. SDAM is Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory which refers to a lifelong inability to vividly recollect or re-experience personal past events from a first-person perspective. So that is a second block to access these beliefs. Any thoughts on this?
I think this comes down to an issue I may have touched on briefly in a couple of places. "Unconscious" and "subconscious" are misleading terms. They imply the existence of content that's truly outside or underneath awareness. The term "sub-thought" is more fitting -- I'm discussing baggage that exists outside the conscious mind (i.e., outside of thoughts) but that, nevertheless, we are aware of on some level.
And I think that raises an interesting question about SDAM. Is the inability to recollect or re-experience personal past events an inability to re-experience or recollect the feelings an event triggered? Or is it the inability to translate remembered feelings into concrete thought forms like images or visual memories?
If it's the first issue, then there is no issue. If a tree falls in the forest and I'm not around to hear it, does it make a sound? Who cares? I'm not around to hear it, so for all intents and purposes, not only does the tree not make a sound, it doesn't even fall. If a feeling were to be truly beneath consciousness or awareness, who cares if it's there or not? All I can work with is what appears in consciousness. Even were there to somehow be the most terrible, awful feeling ever existing 100% outside my awareness, but nothing ever caused the feeling to rise to the level of awareness, am I burdened by the feeling? Do I have to release it? Well, no, because it isn't impacting my conscious experience, and thus might as well not even exist.
If it's the second issue, though, then the solution is to get very attuned to the feelings that are present in awareness, however subtle they may be, even if they aren't connected to any remembered event. In a weird way, what seems now to be an obstacle might actually end up being a superpower. A lot of people tear their hair out trying to isolate feelings from complex and crowded memories -- you don't have that issue. Because you deal more directly with feelings, as you hone your sensitivity to your inner emotional state, you'll always have immediate access to whatever things need to be released.
That's a very fascinating observation. Your first question is correct. But from what I've read about SDAM, there isn't really any info available on one's feelings. Most of the literature talks about "lifelong inability to vividly recollect or re-experience personal past events from a first-person perspective." I don't know if that encompasses 'feelings/emotions' since those exact words aren't used. But one could interpret 're-experience' to include feelings/emotions.
I guess the question to ask is, do you have an emotional memory? I'd assume (at least to some degree) the answer is going to be yes. Even though you can't visualize events that had an emotional impact on you, you can probably still connect with the emotions that were triggered. And events that you can't remember at all you probably can't remember because there was no substantial emotional impact, so in the absence of visuals, there's not actually anything to remember.
Thanks for the reply. It's an odd situation. But if you asked me do I remember the feelings I had about a personal situation from the past, I would say No. So perhaps this odd issue is a gift if I can't remember details or emotions of negative situations.