Think of the hippocampus as your brain’s hard drive. It’s your memory storage that needs daily disk-defragmenting and updates in order to experience new learning. The problem is that it still operates from primitive times, when surviving hinged on recalling bad experiences over the good. It’s for this reason we have Primitive Man as our hypothetical “case study” on how we can work with our hippocampus to improve our quality of life.
Click here for visual aid that will act as an overview.
Once Upon a Time: The Cave Man’s Version of Whittling
Primitive Man’s job is the same as all of his tribe members. He must go foraging every day. Returning to his cave one night, he discovers a chunk of stone and mindlessly starts carving on it. It draws the attention of one tribe member, who is impressed by what he’s creating.
The next day, while Primitive Man is foraging, he is chased by a beast who is foraging for him. His learned survival skills help him escape but it was a close call. “Avoid that area of the forest,” thinks Primitive Man; “I barely escaped with my life.”
Thus begins the process of forgetting the positive memory that had happened the night before. Distracted by his trauma, Primitive Man has no way of seeing his potential. The very stone carvings that impressed his tribe member can lead to the creation of the first spear.
Objects in the rear view mirror appear closer than they are:
Hippocampus to Thalamus & Timekeeper (Trauma Glossary 3: Section 1)
We rely on our memory storage (hippocampus) in order to understand what is happening “now” (thalamus), and plan accordingly (timekeeper). Traumatic memories tend to feel much closer to our present lives than reality. They can make what happened long ago feel like it was only a moment ago (Timekeeper). Meanwhile, it has the opposite effect on our good memories, making those moments feel like they happened longer ago than the reality. This affects how we perceive our world in real time (Thalamus).
Bad news travels faster than good news
The more bad experiences, the more the hippocampus “overwrites” the good. In other words, the more trauma one has, the more difficult it is to recall the good memories. This is how trauma itself affects our outlook on life, our low confidence and self-esteem, our inability to understand ourselves. The longer we are in survival mode, the less time we have to develop ourselves. This deeply impacts our sense of trust, both in ourselves, as well as in others.
Declarative Memories: An Introduction
In order for Primitive Man to survive another day, it’s important that he can easily recall this threat to his life. The hippocampus will keep this memory in its hard drive as it updates the system. The memory of what happened in the forest becomes what’s known as “declarative memory” or an event that becomes part of one’s long-term memory.
This negative declarative memory, while ensuring his survival, is also the greatest barrier to reaching his potential. The longer he goes without a similar positive experience, the greater his chances are of completely forgetting that night before he was almost lunch. He will have a harder time recalling the positive, even if someone tries to remind him.
Forgotten memories are only a reminder away from retrieving
A few nights later, Primitive Man notices a new chunk of stone. A vague sense of pleasure plays with his mind, though he isn’t sure why. So he picks it up and proceeds to work with it. His stone carving attracts the attention of another tribe member. Primitive Man feels the slightest nudge of pride at this. Then the tribe member adds why they were curious about his stone carvings. It was because the one who had seen it first mentioned it to others.
“Oh yes!” thinks Primitive Man, who now recalls the first compliment he received.
Confirmation: Self-esteem and Self-confidence are the foundation for identity
Confirmation is when we have two or more similar experiences. Both good or bad confirmation can greatly influence our perception of ourselves and our view of the world. Self-esteem (or lack thereof) is developed out of how we connect with others and how their opinions impact us. Self-confidence (or lack thereof) is developed out of what we do and our ability to acknowledge it.
Putting it all together, let’s look at Primitive Man. He experienced “positive confirmation” for his self-esteem. His memory (hippocampus) of a small win is now interpreting his present moment (thalamus) as a positive one.
Actively Experience New Learning
Because the two tribe members complimented Primitive Man’s stone carvings, he feels more encouraged to keep at it. This feeds a loop over time as Primitive Man further develops his skill and a willingness to share his creativity. It hasn’t yet occurred to him that he can turn his art into a weapon that could defeat the threat in the forest. He is developing a series of declarative memories through his small wins.
I cannot stress this enough. Creativity is the driver for integration. It’s mentioned under tools for Integration in Master Toolbox 1, but it’s worth repeating here. Taking positive cognitions (thoughts about ourselves) and working it with our hands incorporates both the left and right side of the brain into wholeness.
New Learning Builds Healthy Security (Trust)
You see this in our example with Primitive Man. His sense of self and what he does (self-confidence) is determining his ability to connect with others. His sense of self and his ability to connect with others (self-esteem) is determining what he does. Through this process, he is developing more meaning in his life.
Our belief in ourselves affects our overall outlook. When our sense of self is built upon low confidence and low self-esteem, it causes us to develop a false sense of security we know as our “comfort zone”. Our “comfort zone” isn’t really that comfortable, considering it robs us of our quality of life. We see the world as a cruel place and we are therefore limited in the ways we can adapt to it.
Trying new things or daring to improve our lives can trigger that false prophet syndrome known as catastrophizing (Trauma Glossary 2). The false prophet tells us that our lives will be worse off if we leave our comfort zone. When we can’t retrieve enough positive memories to debunk the false prophet’s claims, we believe those lies. This makes it easier to give up and in so doing, create our own negative confirmation: “I can’t.”
However, when we improve the way we see ourselves, we become more secure with life itself. We are better prepared for taking on life’s challenges. We start to see life’s challenges as challenges, whereas before, we were seeing them as threats. Let’s see this in action now, as we reach the final conclusion of Primitive Man’s story.
Healthy Security Builds Resiliency
The “safer” areas for food sources are growing scarce and the tribe is facing a crisis. Eventually, they will either have to brave the dangerous part of the forest, where food is bountiful, or face the threat of famine.
The news triggers flashbacks (Trauma Glossary 2) in Primitive Man. Attempting to bolster his courage through the only outlet he knows, he returns to his stone carvings. Distracting himself through his creativity, he starts to first, appreciate the strength of the material, itself. He has made many mistakes through developing his skill, many of which, he learned to recover into salvageable pieces. He’s taken for granted the number of times he has cut his hands, especially that one time…
Primitive Man’s eureka moment has developed out of this process. Of all things, a mistake he had made early on, while developing his craft, has given him an idea for saving his tribe. He remembers the time his thumb bled for several days when he had accidentally carved one side too sharp. Now, he works diligently at creating two sharp edges that form a point, sharp enough to pierce but thick enough to not break on impact.
Primitive Man makes many mistakes in the process of creating the tribe’s first weapon. He remains confident that he will create this successfully because he remembers each small win that has led him to this moment. He gathers the strongest sticks and twine he can find to attach his first arrowhead, knowing the importance of maintaining distance while fighting the threat.
His first masterpiece created, it becomes easier to make more each time. Finally, there’s a spear for every member of the tribe to go forth into the forest and take down the threat. Primitive Man has helped save his tribe. He has created a better outcome out of his original problem. In so doing, he has formed a new and positive declarative memory, one that he will remember fondly for the rest of his life.
How can we do our own hippocampus work?
Stay tuned for next week, when I introduce you to my favorite tool. It incorporates bullet journaling with what I refer to as my Reflections x 3 Formula. This article was to serve as an introduction to the hippocampus. The visual aids serving as basic blueprints for the weeks ahead.