Memory House: How I Access All of My Long Term Memories in my Dreams

I discovered my memory palace when I decided to visit the house that I grew up in while ‘traveling’ on an adventure in a lucid dream. I focused on it, and there it was - a small, single story home with pale blue vinyl siding, complemented with white trim and wooden shutters. There was a single tree in the front yard – the one that I spent hours climbing as a child. This was the house, exactly as I remember it when we moved out at age 10.

I caressed the smooth surface of the ivory-colored hand railing as I stepped up to the porch. I tapped my fingers on the icy iron railing just lightly enough to remind me that I wasn’t actually awake. There was a wooden rocking bench on the porch swinging lazily in the breeze. We had gotten that for my mother one year as a birthday present. It was starting to fall apart. As I reached for the brass knocker on the door, a man with scruffy white facial hair and a slightly wrinkled bald head answered the door. "I grew up in this house" I whispered. He nodded his head and opened the door wider, inviting me to come in and take a look around. The 3-bedroom, 2-bath home was empty at first. I began to focus my energy on how I remembered it, and as the memories flooded in, the interior began to shift and take on a familiar shape. The blue polka dot couches from my childhood appeared, then transformed into the navy leather couches my parents bought later. I watched the kitchen change from how it looked when I was born to how it was after my dad remodeled it. I remembered a time when I was sick with the flu watching my dad work on the partially completed kitchen project. More memories came – some of these visions and memories came from before I was 3 years old. Each piece of furniture and every memorable wall hanging was there. The old man gestured down the hall. I walked past the metal-knobbed cabinet that my mother used for storing linens and towels. I opened it. Memories poured in from every time I had opened this cabinet. These seemed to be completely useless memories, yet they were there nonetheless.

It was at this point that I began to realize which part of my subconscious I had obtained access to. I walked further down the short hallway and received memories and experiences that had been tucked away since I initially experienced them. There were simple things, like riding on my father's back down the hallway on what I called an Eeyore ride. Some memories had minute details, like the way the fake milk in my doll bottles looked. I remember pretending to drink it when I was weaning off my bottle as a two-year-old. I could see my toy washer and dryer, and feel myself turning the knobs on my toy Fisher-Price kitchen. Every object I touched, and every drawer and door I opened unleashed millions of memories, sensations, feelings, and smells that I had not experienced since the moment they happened. I was in those moments. It was the closest thing to time travel I think I will ever experience. It was as if I was right there witnessing this through my childhood eyes and having each sensation transplanted right back into my body.

When I woke up the next morning I wrote about the experience in detail. I was in awe, flooded with memories and experiences that had been buried deep within my subconscious. The next night when I began to fall asleep I started to construct the little blue house once again. I went back and explored the yard. I swam in the pool, putting on dolphin and mermaid shows with my childhood friends. I felt my dog’s fur brushing me as we played soccer in the grass.

Going back doesn’t always work, and I have been yet to revisit any memories after I moved away from that home. I would imagine they are buried within the walls of something else, or perhaps even deeper in my subconscious mind. It's difficult to keep your conscious mind focused on going somewhere before you fall asleep. Once asleep, dreaming is a completely different experience. Even if you become lucid, if you don't create certain cues for yourself within the dream world it's unlikely you will end up where your conscious-self wanted to before falling asleep.

I am not a scientist or a psychologist. I can’t tell you how this is possible. I can't tell you if this is something that can even be experienced by all. Obtaining access to lucid dreaming is an acquired skill as is directing it while it is in progress. I'm not sure if this is a teachable skill, but I would love to find out. I have since used this method of dreaming to repair parts of my psyche that were damaged by repressed memories. This is often referred to as self-regression therapy. There may be some scary stuff buried deep within your mind, so this isn’t for the faint-hearted. However, recognizing it, facing it, and even re-experiencing some of it has helped me escape from some of my worst nightmares (see my post titled “Becoming friends with Dinosaurs”