Your memory rewrites itself every time

Every time you recall a memory, you're not playing back a perfect recording; instead, your brain actively reconstructs it. This process, called reconsolidation, subtly alters the memory based on your current emotions, knowledge, and context. This explains why eyewitness testimony can be unreliable and why siblings often remember childhood events so differently. Even vivid "flashbulb memories" of dramatic events, which feel incredibly accurate, contain as many errors as ordinary recollections. You are constantly, and unknowingly, revising your own past.