Photo Hunter: Memory

The unrecorded past is none other than our old friend, the tree in the primeval forest which fell without being heard. Barbara Tuchman


We only labor to stuff the memory, and leave the conscience and the understanding unfurnished and void. Michel de Montaigne


I tell you the past is a bucket of ashes, so live not in your yesterdays, no just for tomorrow, but in the here and now. Keep moving and forget the post mortems; and remember, no one can get the jump on the future. Carl Sandburg


Abruptly the poker of memory stirs the ashes of recollection and uncovers a forgotten ember, still smoldering down there, still hot, still glowing, still red as red. William Manchester

Synapse

Dead tree branches
stretch into the gap

impulse moves between trees
on the sluggish wings of a crow.

Throughout life, your neural networks reorganize and reinforce themselves in response to new stimuli and learning experiences. This body-mind interaction is what stimulates brain cells to grow and connect with each other in complex ways. They do so by extending branches of intricate nerve fibers called dendrites (from the Latin word for "tree"). These are the antennas through which neurons receive communication from each other.

A healthy, well-functioning neuron can be directly linked to tens of thousands of other neurons, creating a totality of more than a hundred trillion connections – each capable of performing 200 calculations per second! This is the structural basis of your brain's memory capacity and thinking ability.

As a product of its environment, your "three pound universe" is essentially an internal map of trees that reflects your external world. (italicized words, my additions).

Definition from: The Human Brain