Anamnesis, a remembrance of something learned yet forgotten. The acquisition of
knowledge that is already possessed, one who is aware of their wounds, experiences, and
identities. Anamnesis, a word so scientific and metaphorical. A feeling so distant yet one that
practically dwells with us. A feeling that quietly screams, that softly whispers to us of our
past wounds that have grown us into greater humans acting as the reward a child waits when
it keeps its broken milk tooth under a pillow, waiting for tooth fairy to reward it, instead it is
gifted, with a beautiful set of permanent teeth, way stronger than the ones it had before.
Anamnesis, something that the Oxford dictionary defines as “recollection, especially
of a supposed previous existence.” Anamnesis- “the recollection of something so sacred as
my past self. Someone so strong to go through everything they went through and yet dares to
be me.”

Whenever we find ourselves stuck in the past, isn’t it a beautiful thing how the past
envelops us and nurtures us like a plant growing? Similar to phytohormones- plant growth
regulators, Anamnesis is aware of our story. It knows where we fell, where we got up. It is
aware of the strength it took, the tears it shed. Everything I am today, I am a product of
everything that broke me and almost broke me.

Plato, the 4th-century Greek philosopher, interestingly describes Anamnesis as the
process of recalling. He talks about how the soul is an immortal being, and she has lived
many lives. He says that when we learn something in our lives, instead of the soul acquiring
new knowledge, it is actually recalling knowledge it already possesses. Having read what
Plato had to say about this feeling, we can all agree that we all have the answers. We are all
very, very aware of our being and have an innate amount of knowledge embedded within us.
It’s just the feeling where it all surfaces. In this context, I like to think of Anamnesis as a
feeling that brings everything to consciousness. A feeling that brings awareness of already
acquired knowledge. A feeling, where you can feel the heavy drop in your chest, not because
the situation in hand is uncomfortable, but because- “ I have dealt with it and as broken as it
left me, I will breathe and rise back up again”.

Scientifically, anamnesis is the process in psychology where the patient’s history is
detected and taken into account before performing any kind of diagnosis. I like to
symbolically see it as a reminder of how much our experiences have grown us. A very
essential reminder that even though everything felt heavy at one point, we found our way out.
We dealt with it. A beautiful reminder that even though life was never easy on any of us, we
still found a way to sit still with it. Towards the end, we found something bittersweet to be
happy about, to be proud about.

Other times, it leads to a feeling of being stuck. Stuck because we don’t have any
control over some situations. Situations that we see, that wound us emotionally, ones that are
hard to stand, they exist. They are sometimes quite a reminder of our helplessness. In some
situations, we can simply sit back and watch, never do anything about it. Anamnesis, a
feeling that once reminded me how far I have come, starts reminding us of how we are
simply humans with absolutely nothing in our hands.

Yet, in context to the above paragraph, some existentialist thinkers like Jean Paul
Sartre suggest how even in our deepest, darkest moments, humans are privileged with the freedom to choose their responses. What he said really brings light to the entire perspective- he says that Anamnesis, in this light, does not merely trap us in the past or our wounds, instead it offers raw material for self-creation, leading to the beginnings of authentic living. We become artisans of our own meaning, drawing from memory and experiences to shape our future.

Anamnesis to me brings out hope, brings out an optimistic feeling. Hope because
even when everything felt as though our world was tearing apart, we are still standing,
breathing, and content with our lives. Optimistic because it allows one to see future
possibilities, even when giving up was easy, we didn’t. It is proof, a document of our
strength. Our lives that are still breathing. irrespective of everything that felt as though it was
straggling it. Friedrich Nietzsche suggests the idea of “eternal recurrence,” which basically
asks us to imagine living our lives over and over and embracing and inhaling every moment
fully aware of how our souls chose this reality for us. Anamnesis, then, becomes a call for
affirmations- a chance to reclaim our narrative, to look upon even the most painful memories
as essential brushstrokes in the painting of each one of our unique existences.

Anamnesis is the wisdom to accept every moment, experience, and situation as our
own, to see everything as a conscious choice of our existence. Something we have all heard,
but that gives me an innate sense of strength, is the idea that God always leads you to
situations according to the strength within you. The thought really tells us that nothing in our
lives is random; it is specifically chosen by god. Anamnesis here represents that great
strength within us, one that God sees within us. A representation of how far we can grow and
travel, provided we really search deep enough within ourselves. To me, Anamnesis is quite
the depiction of our strength. The depiction of how all the answers of the universe are within
ourselves, if we search deep enough. Only if we look ourselves in the eye and tell our souls
that everything that happened happened for a reason, mostly because our souls consciously
chose that reality for us. History repeats itself; our souls, caught up in the never-ending cycle
of life and death, would always choose familiar realities for themselves. It is always about
trusting, believing in that greater good.