"Introduction"

These writings are my personal account of an important stage in a journey that has not yet finished.

This part of the journey, that is my life, began with an awakening.  As if I had been roused from a deep sleep into a world with which I was not familiar.

Following an accident my whole world had been turned upside down and inside out. The world that I knew had been replaced by one that seemed to run to a different beat. I could no longer rely on anything. The old familiar rules didn't apply anymore.

The world had become a disturbing place where cause and effect seem to have lost their connection.

The first step of my journey was becoming aware of self. Not "Who am I?" but "I am". Awareness of being.

The second step was the discovery of personal feelings. Not, at first, how I felt, but the fact that I felt at all, that I had feelings that were my own. Not just the second hand ones experienced through art and literature. I discovered I could identify my feelings, picture them, give them form, and describe them.

Then came a broadening of understanding, as I explored my relationship to others, to the world, and to myself.

The final step has been a growing understanding of memory. What it is for me, and how it is intertwined at every stage of this journey.

The multiplicity of memory.

Remembering what was, learning to accept it and, finally, how to forgive and to let go.