It was in 2014, that I started to have severe flashbacks, so I thought I'd share some examples. A flashback is an unwelcome memory, showing like an inner image, by something else we are seeing (or hearing).
One day I was looking for shoes in a store in Stockholm and saw a pair black with heavy soles. Directly, I received a flashback of the shoes worn in detention with similar soles. Another day, I was reminded of the bunkbeds when I entered a hostel. Another example, also in a store, was when I saw this package, I immediately remembered the kidney beans that were served in US detention.
I know that they are flashbacks, when I receive them, so I don't act on them. I just put back the item on the shelf, head out and go home. There I sit with it for a while, often a bit frozen in my perception. I try to shake it off, but it can take another day or two. I then grieve, whereupon the memory releases its grip on me, and I can move forward with my life again.
We can't change what has happened in the past, but we can learn to live with it.
Photo borrowed online from ICA store.
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