Favorite Childhood Memory

[AnthroHeart]

I'm working on healing childhood trauma.
I'm doing it in one way by thinking of my favorite childhood memory.

It was around Christmas. I was younger than 10 but I don't know how old.
I was standing on a platform with 3 levels in a classroom.
We were taking a photograph.
Everyone was in good spirits.
The teacher gave me very good vibes.
This was in England.

Another time the fire department came to our school and our class got to spray the fire hose which had a lot of force.

That reminds me of this skit from UHF.

[The_Tired_Philosopher]

I live in the desert, so I'm used to dust storms lasting long, and rain lasting short, and lots more dust than rain. But once, I remember that it rained for three days straight really hard where I lived.  It was back when my parents were getting the pool build, it's shell was hollowed and filled with cement and the piping for the filters were jutting out.  I remember that the rain was falling so hard that it drowned out all noise when you were in the deep end of the pool.  This was all before it had water in it too.  I brought a bouncy ball and just bounced it around the pool.  Even though the center of the deep end was filling up with rain water I just sat inside of it for hours when it rained for those three days.  My parents couldn't be heard fighting, or my neighbors, or the news or sports or 'comedy' shows blaring on the tv 24/7.  I think that was the first time I ever felt alone, and liked it.  Before it was always just when I went out walking but there was always someone around, never truly alone, until those hours in the pool during those three days.

I love the rain now, especially stormy rain.  Blowing wind, rain falling making nice noise, the coolness, the way it makes you stay in one place essentially.  It's refreshing overall, and the gray overtone glow across everything from the overcast, or even dark stormy skies were well enjoyed.

Would do Earth again if I only didn't have to be stuck in society.

[Jade]

I was just thinking of this the other day, and I think it was when my dad brought home our dog, Hawkeye. I was about 4, and it was late October/early November, and raining. He came into my bedroom with something hidden in his jacket, and pulled out the tiny puppy. I think that was when I had the most happiness. At least, it's almost impossible to think of a contender.

[Matt1]

I don't recall anything that stood out if i am to be honest. Perhaps playing some video games?

[upensmoke]

Right for me the best memory was when i got a new game, and i would take it upstairs. I would clean my room cuz for some reason a new game had to be played in a clean room, and i would play it till I beat it. Another great memory is when online games first came out and me a a good crew of games would just get hours of gameplay in chatting

[AnthroHeart]

As a kid I was punished for playing video games. My stepmom would feel the Nintendo to see if it was warm.

[Shemaya]

Great thread IGW.

I loved playing outdoors for hours when I was a kid.  Actually, I still like that.  I remember making huge piles of leaves in the fall and jumping in them.

[AnthroHeart]

I don't recall ever having to rake leaves, but we did have to pick up sticks from the Cottonwood trees.

[Shemaya]

I can relate.  We had to pick up apples which I did not like because of the bees and the rotting ones.

[Diana]

I was just thinking of this the other day, and I think it was when my dad brought home our dog, Hawkeye. I was about 4, and it was late October/early November, and raining. He came into my bedroom with something hidden in his jacket, and pulled out the tiny puppy. I think that was when I had the most happiness. At least, it's almost impossible to think of a contender.

I have a very similar memory at about the same age. My father brought home a baby duck and had it hidden in his jacket. I remember him pulling it out and then we put the little duck in the bathtub with water. I don't know where the duck came from. But we eventually let it loose in a nearby pond.

Some years ago a roommate came home and pulled a bird figurine, that tweeted when turned upside down, out from inside his jacket in just the same way my father had the duck, and that memory came flooding back. It made me feel so many childhood feelings. 

@ Gemini: It's awesome you are doing this for yourself. And the thread is a great thing for everyone.

[Stranger]

Your mileage may vary, but in my understanding/experience, to heal childhood trauma it is necessary to focus on your childhood trauma, and then make yourself feel totally safe, loved and reassured while being present with the painful thought or memory.

[The_Tired_Philosopher]

I was wondering this myself.
I don't remember most of my childhood anymore.  It's like holes across my memory, things I just never thought about and now they're gone all these years later.  I've even talked with my mom about my childhood, I'm missing most of my childhood in the ages of 4 and 5 1/2 so the ironic thing about that is, basically 75% of them are bad memories that had really strong bad feelings attached to them.  For some memories the picture fades, the audio fades, but always the feeling remains.  It's in a sense a type of part of yourself, a really important memory.  (Now I sound like Inside Out.)

So I'm supposed to apply some deep contemplation's of love and acceptance on these memories, then meditate to clear my mind and allow myself to properly hear my own intuition, and to just let myself be, use my better judgment, and not judge. Then attempt the balancing meditations.  Then once done meditating, continue the process of contemplation.  Once distilled understanding occurs and is seen as occurring in form of actions I can expect to see a positive change.
Along the way the fulfillment of desires to unconditionally love in the forms of acceptance and forgiveness should aid me in getting my mindset changed to have a better line of thought and focus of being the ways I want to be.  To bring me to and keep me in the magical circumstance.

Will try.

[Jade]

I am the same way. I have very few childhood memories that I can recall, and many of them aren't pleasant. I was either abused or neglected most of the time (mostly left alone/neglected, luckily). Diana's post made me think of another time when we were on a class field trip to the Botanical Center (large glass dome with tropical plants, most big cities have them) and they had birds there that were so tame, they let us pick them up and perch them on out finger. My girlfriend and I sang to them.

Another happy bird memory would be my pet ducks. My friend bought me a duckling for my birthday, which turned then into 4 that I was caring for. I entered a pet talent competition at the pet store where I took the three littlest ducklings, and hid them from the slightly older duckling that they had imprinted on. The older duckling was imprinted on me, so after I hid the little ones, the older one went searching for them, peep peep peep, while the little confused babies cried out for help, peepeepepeeepeeeep! As soon as the older duckling found one, the little one would hop out and stop crying, and they moved to the next duckling, and then finally the last, and then all four of them returned to me. I had done no training or prep, they were just that innately cute. We won first place, which was ~$400 worth of dogfood.