Do bad memories or images ever haunt you?   Do you sometimes flash back to some of the most traumatic moments of your past?  For some reason, the human mind has a nasty tendency to forget important things like your mother’s birthday, but is more than happy to frequently remind you of the worst events of your life.  Fortunately, there’s an antidote to this glitch in the human bio-computer.  It’s called the Erasure Technique.  In a matter of a few minutes, this powerful method can virtually neutralize the bad feelings associated with almost anything you’ve ever experienced.  I’ve even used it with clients who have suffered from disturbing memories for many years.  Whether you want to neutralize images of a minor car accident or the hurt from the ending of a relationship, the erasure technique can make a dramatic difference in your life.

The theoretical underpinning of this method is that memories are stored in our brain in a similar way to how music is stored on a CD.   Because precise information is encoded on a CD, every time you play it, it plays back the same music.   But what if you took a nail and thoroughly scratched up the CD?  If you tried to play it again, it wouldn’t sound the same at all.  In fact, your player would probably simply reject playing it.  Well, in the Erasure Technique, something similar occurs.  Using a precise process, we take a “nail” to your unpleasant memories and distort them until they are largely unrecognizable.  Then, if you try to “play” the same memory again, your brain will either refuse to do so, or the memory will be so distorted that it will no longer have any impact on you.  Voila!  Your previously traumatic memory or image is neutralized.

Let’s say you were once in a relationship where your partner said something incredibly hurtful to you, then walked out of your life.  Of course, your brain thinks you need to see this scene several times a month, but you’d like to move on.  You decide to use the erasure method.  To do the technique, you begin by creating a “movie” of the event in your mind.  You imagine the disturbing scene from the beginning, all the way to the very end.  Yet, instead of watching it the way you normally do, play the scene in fast motion.  When you get to the end of the “movie,” play it in fast reverse.  See all the characters moving very quickly, just like one of those early silent films.

Once you’ve watched the scene in fast forward and reverse, it’s time to add a few props to the “movie.”  Imagine each and every person in the scene to be wearing a big pair of Mickey Mouse ears on their head.   Then proceed to watch the unpleasant event in fast motion—forward and reverse—once again.  Next, give everyone in the movie a gigantic red “Bozo” nose along with their Mickey Mouse ears.  See the whole thing again in fast motion, forward and reverse.  Finally, watch it at least one more time, this time adding circus music in the background and whatever ridiculous things your imagination can dream up.

Once you’ve distorted the scene in these various ways

Try to play your inner movie the way it used to be—the way it had tormented you before.  What you’ll likely notice is that ridiculous images keep “popping up” during the scene, even though you’re not trying to create them.  When your ex-lover appears with Mickey Mouse ears and a Bozo nose, and their voice sounds like Daffy Duck as they speak to you, it’s hard to take it all so seriously.  Instead of a gut wrenching feeling resulting from the memory, you’ll feel pretty neutral about it.  Congratulations!  You’ve just healed yourself.

A client named Sharon came to me suffering from the fear of flying.  When she was a little girl, she had been in a plane that made an emergency landing.  Ever since, she was terrified of getting in any sort of plane.  As luck would have it, her job required her to travel a lot.  Occasionally she would “white knuckle” her way through a flight, but usually chose to drive—even if it was several hundred miles.  I guided Sharon through the erasure process, focusing on both the original traumatic incident and recent times she had managed to get on a plane. She had fun picturing Mickey Mouse ears and Bozo noses on the flight attendants.  She even laughed as she imagined clowns strolling down the aisles, complete with circus music, as the plane landed. As Sharon left my office, she was sure that such a simple process couldn’t erase a lifetime of flying terror.  Two weeks later, I got a call from her.  After saying hello, Sharon told me she felt wonderfully relaxed.  I asked her, “Is that unusual?”  She responded, “You don’t understand, I’m currently on an airplane, using one of those airplane phones!  I feel no fear or anxiety at all.  It worked!”

The erasure technique can be used for any sort of bothersome memory.  In my private practice I’ve used it to help people who’ve suffered from flashbacks from accidents, embarrassing moments, and other negative events and memories.  In almost every case, after a few minutes of using this method a single time, the memory became much less bothersome.  Occasionally, clients have to use the erasure technique a few times to get results, but it has always managed to help people feel better.   If you have memories that still bother you, or seem to have had a lasting negative impact on you, consider “erasing” them.  By becoming more free of your past, it will be easier to create the future you truly desire.