what are implicit memories?

Implicit memories are memories that show up as emotional, embodied meaning.  They feel immediate and alive as we experience them.  For every explicit memory, or conscious recall of a factual event or concept learned, we carry millions of implicit memories. Implicit wisdom enables us to have quick, predictable responses.  These responses feel as if they are interpretations of the present, however, many (if not most) of them have deep roots in our first years—even months—of life.    

At their core, implicit memories color in the blank spaces and guide us—we hope—toward safety.  However, when we have repeated experiences of feeling alone with overwhelming emotion, our implicit memories become primed to predict a world where we will not be cared for, accepted, or understood.  We might begin to see the world as dangerous, most people as cruel or unpredictable, or learn that relationships are an exhausting but necessary chore.  Our implicit wisdom tries valiantly to steer us away from the rocky shores of pain, disappointment, and disconnection, but in its laser-focus can accidentally pull us to the place we’re desperately trying to avoid.

Deep healing therapies intentionally call forward implicit memory so that difficult meanings we created from early life experiences or later traumatic events can be witnessed, resourced, and healed.  When we work with implicit memory, we add new information to how our neural networks encode our the past.  Vigilance feels safe to rest because our vigilant part actually experiences safety.  Hopelessness feels alive and curious because the part of us that needed to be hopeless to bear how powerless and alone they felt no longer has to be alone.  This kind of healing is seated in the transformative power of loving, compassionate acceptance.

Why is it Radical?

Healing happens the moment we feel the pain of our past connect to safety and compassion in the present.  Compassion from a caring other supports and guides us toward this experience, however, we must also feel deeply caring toward the parts of ourselves who are trapped, alone and exiled, for the healing to truly take hold.  Choosing the healing path is inherently a radical act because with each unfolding layer of self-knowledge and self-acceptance, we move away from the objectification and judgement of our bodies, our lives, and our experiences, toward the wisdom of embodiment and emotion.  Throughout this process, we deconstruct the belief that the value of human life is conditional.  As we heal our traumas, we learn that is is oppressive to teach our children that they must be good to be loved.  We also begin to question our internalized hierarchies of minds, bodies, and abilities.  Author Sonya Renee Taylor writes,

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A radical self-love is a world that works for every body. 

Creating such a world is an inside-out job.  

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The world will present you with a hundred opportunities a day to judge yourself and objectify your body, your mind, and your time.  Deep healing is how we get the inside-out job of un-learning objectification and embracing self-love done.

Learn more about my philosophy of Radical Deep Healing in my blog.

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