The other day my father was reading one of my scientific journals. The fact that it still is delivered to me is a result of laziness on my behalf, and I suppose a little interest, as I have not worked directly in that field for more than 13 years. Dad started asking questions about the things that were advertised in the journal - what do they do, how do they work, why are they needed - and amazingly I had answers. I had learned all of this, and learned it really well, but I had not thought about any of this for a very long time. A similar situation occurred as I was reviewing the English in a medical paper on an investigation into therapy for a disease that I also hadn't thought much about for more than 10 years. All of the training I had received in scientific study design, the foundation knowledge on the disease and its associated parameters, and the experience of trying to convey a scientific finding in an engaging manner all came flooding back.
These experiences led me to thinking about the things that we archive away in our memories. As our lives progress through stages there are many things that we file away when we make a move to a new phase. This usually happens gradually, and the move may not result in active or immediate archiving. I suppose it is only to be expected. New phases require new knowledge and experiences, new neural networks to identify relevant patterns and develop necessary solutions. So the old information is moved from the active aspects of your memory and thought, freeing up working capacity.
It seems that if you have understood something very well, the root knowledge will always be there, ready to be called on and integrated into conversation, action or solution development. Of course, how current that knowledge is should be questioned, but foundational knowledge is unlikely to change in any significant way. So what is the take home? It is easy to forget all the things that you know, understand and have experienced. It is easy to sell yourself short. You are probably significantly more than the sum of all you have collected, but by nature we dismiss the archived but still present. I wonder if there are ways that we can learn to better recognise the hidden gems of our lives?
