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Inland Empire Chapter of CAMFT


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October President-Elect's Message

Friday, October 08, 2021 8:54 AM | Anonymous


"All that's you is now.  There is no past".  

A client was trying to explain her inner experience to me, but I was just not getting it!  She was so patient as she explained that there was no past, just the present.  
 
My adult clients tell me about disturbing memories of past events when it is the current disturbance in current working memory that is troubling them. When past events remain disturbing as we remember them now it's because we did not have the information needed to make sense of the event when it was happening. Remembering a past disturbance is another opportunity to relive that event, except with a new and improved 2021 model brain, the latest model.
 
Every time we learn something new we are upgrading our brains. 2007 was a too-challenging year for me. I can remember the events of that year as a single collage, or tease them apart, remembering them one at a time with my now brain, a brain filled with new thoughts, ideas, schemas, to help me make sense of troubling memories from that awful year.
 
It's good to be able to make the past the present; and expose difficult memories to the scrutiny of one's new and improved brain. My brain is renewed, reconfigured and filled with new learning, facilitated by the monthly offerings at IE-CAMFT training/CEU opportunities.  
 
I love being part of IE-CAMFT. It means I'm part of a bigger picture, and that keeps me hopeful.
 
Warmly,
Paul Velen, MS, LMFT


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