Memories of the past

When people talk about moving on in their lives and forgetting the past, do they really forget their past? Are memories so easily erased? Is it better to keep these memories of the past, or to erase them all and live as though you had no past?

I don't have any answers to the above questions. There's this show "Eternal Sunshine of the Open Mind" starring Jim Carrey as Joel Barish, Kate Winslet as Clementine. I haven't actually watched this show but HX told me about it and I think it'll make an interesting watch. The story is about how Clementine went to get her memory erased via a surgical procedure after a failed relationship with Joel. When Joel found out, he too underwent the same procedure. Half-way through, when he remembered the happy memories of them being together, he decided he didn't want to continue with the erasure procedure anymore.

It's great isn't it, should there be such a surgical procedure that can erase all the memories that you don't want residing in your brain. Life could become a lot simpler since whatever you don't want to remember can just be removed as and when you like it. But won't one feel a sense of emptiness if there are no memories to reminisce about? And happenings of the past usually serve to make one grow stronger and more mature don't they? It's what happened in the past that shapes one's future, right?

I still get flashbacks of the past and am still affected by them, though very much less strongly than before. There are still a lot of tangible things from the past sitting around, but they no longer hold any meaning, which is why I don't see the need to get rid of them. However, it is the intangibles that I'm more afraid of. Words can still cause me to tear. The intangibles are what I am trying to rid myself of, some can be easily gotten rid of, but others, I wonder if a lifetime is sufficient? Actually it doesn't matter whether they are easy or difficult to get rid of, cos its more of whether I want to be rid of them. Truth is I don't. Instead of simply 'deleting' them away from my memory, I would rather I be able to face up to them one day and yet feel nothing about them at all. I am still in the process but the end should be near. I know because I could firmly say that whatever that's happened is all in the past and I have gotten over the past. Will continue to strive to overcome the past instead of erasing those memories. For once, I ain't hiding, but facing up to reality!!