Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 2: Suppressing Memories
• Method 2 of 2: Replacing Memories
• Tips

Sometimes we experience events or situations that we then want to forget or at least not remember. Erasing painful, unpleasant, and unwanted memories is not so difficult if you fill your life with new emotions and learn to suppress memories from the past. The following instructions will help you start living a fulfilling life, freed from the burden of memories.

Steps

Method 1 of 2: Suppressing Memories

1. 1 Choose the memory that you want to forget. Before suppressing a memory, you need to determine which memory is causing you inconvenience. Perhaps this memory is causing you emotional pain, for example, if it is associated with the death of a loved one or a specific moment of separation from a partner, which makes you sad. Remember the following memory details:
   • People who were present at this
   • The setting of the memory
   • Feelings you experienced at that moment
   • Emotional feelings associated with remembering
2. 2 Determine what the memory that affected you is. Remember specific details that you would like to forget.
   • Although you may not be able to forget about the existence of your ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend, you can forget specific dates, events and sensory memories. The scent of a specific perfume, mention of a place or TV show that your partner liked can all provoke unpleasant associations. Write down specific details on a piece of paper.
   • If you have experienced certain traumatic events in high school, make a list of people who, for example, made fun of your name, specific places that make you sad, or other sensory details such as the smell of the dining room, changing room, or gym.
3. 3 Think about these specific details while doing something enjoyable. You can take the classic steps to improve your own physical condition and start associating bad memories with good memories. Create a stimulus for pleasure by thinking about how you were laughed at during school days, or about the mental discomfort you felt when you separated from your loved one, listening to soothing music, taking a bath with scented candles, or drinking champagne and orange juice on your doorstep at summer time.
   • Your job is to make painful memories less bitter. For example, you refuse to eat pumpkin pie because your parents split up for Thanksgiving, but you won't be able to cope with painful memories unless you learn to associate them with something relaxing, enjoyable, and enjoyable.
   • In addition, some experts recommend listening to white noises at high volumes to drown out memories, rather than associating them with something pleasant. Turn on the radio to an empty wave with interference or other generators of white noise and mentally immerse yourself in painful memories.
4. 4 Erase the memory. Special rituals also help to cope with memories. Rituals help to change our understanding of things and cope with experiences. Mentally imagine a memorable action, "destroying" a memory. You can think of a particular memory as a snapshot that you light on fire. Imagine this picture in every detail: the edges of the picture curl from the fire and turn black, after which they crumble, and the flame moves towards the middle of the picture until it all turns to ash.
   • It sounds like a cheap trick, but in fact it is a symbolic action that will help you mentally get rid of the memory if you start treating it as something that was, but passed, burned out.
   • Try to imagine everything in a different way. Imagine a bully making fun of you like a car sinking in a pond, or a freight train falling into a narrow, deep ravine.
5. 5 Go for hypnosis. If you are easily hypnotized, then this remedy will help you fight unwanted memories. Hypnosis induces a very relaxed state in which people are more receptive to suggestion. Unfortunately, not everyone can be hypnotized, and even those susceptible to hypnosis have only a short-term effect. If you would like to try this remedy, find a professional hypnotist in your area.But be prepared for the fact that this is far from a quick solution to the problem, and you will not be able to permanently erase unpleasant memories from your memory.

Method 2 of 2: Replacing Memories

1. 1 Find something fun to do. The easiest and wisest way to get rid of past memories is to experience new emotions. Even if you don't do things that are directly related to unpleasant memories, forming new memories can help you get the past out of your head.
   • Start a new hobby
   • Read many new books and watch many new films
   • Look for a new job
   • Consider moving to a new apartment or new home
2. 2 Get rid of annoying factors. Research has shown that certain objects or photographs have a stimulating effect on memory. Therefore, it is in your best interest to remove such objects and photographs as far as possible, which will help you in the fight against unpleasant memories. To remove objects from sight, you need to completely transform your home or even move to another city and start a new life.
   • Throw away your ex-boyfriend's belongings, including photos, clothes, and even furniture. Get rid of the gifts he gave you. Even if you have positive feelings about an object or photograph, they are intertwined in your mind with the memories you are trying to forget.
3. 3 Fill your mind with memories that have similar effects on you. Research has shown that it is possible to remove memories from memory by replacing them with new ones. Take the opportunity to experience new feelings similar to those you have experienced before, but want to forget. Your mind will begin to intertwine and associate these memories, and you will not be able to remember the past with accuracy, because you will replace memories of the past with completely new, albeit similar experiences. For example:
   • If you want to forget that bad trip to San Francisco, try a similar trip. Visit San Jose, Oakland, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, or Santa Cruz. Buy new T-shirts, take pictures on the beach and visit new restaurants in these cities to get rid of the memories of San Francisco.
   • If you can't forget your ex-boyfriend's cologne, head to a perfume store. Smell all men's colognes, filling your mind with new sensations and scents.
   • Go on dates. Meeting new people will help create new memories and forget the past.

Tips

• To get rid of obsessive thoughts, you need to replace them with other thoughts and start thinking about something else that will make you feel better.
• Try to close your eyes and start meditating, presenting everything that happened to you from a different angle. For example, if you want to forget a memory in which you experienced shame, during meditation it is necessary to imagine that you are in your memory, but behave differently, as you should have behaved at that moment.
• Meditate while listening to soothing music. Just concentrate on the memory. You will likely find it difficult to stay calm if the memory hurts you, but the most important thing here is to calm down and not get angry. After half an hour or so, you will feel that this memory no longer bothers you. It doesn't mean anything to you anymore.
• In the fight against memories, listening to audiobooks and active concentration on the events described helps. Choose something that is unobtrusive but interesting and distracting. This method is simple but very effective.
• Be patient. Each method will take a certain amount of time and will require repeating the process to be successful. Don't be discouraged if it doesn't work the first time, but keep trying. If necessary, seek help from a specialist.