Linking: The Secret to Rewiring Painful Memories

2025-04-07

Forrest and Dr. Rick explore one of his most powerful psychological tools: linking. Over time, linking can help us rewire the brain, softening the impact of painful memories. They discuss the neuroscience behind this process, the role of memory reconsolidation, and the importance of matching positive experiences to our original pains. Rick shares personal examples, practical tips, and a few important cautions so you can apply this technique safely. This is a grounded, hands-on episode focused on one of his most high-impact ideas.Warning: There is a brief mention of SA toward the ...

Forrest and Dr. Rick explore one of his most powerful psychological tools: linking. Over time, linking can help us rewire the brain, softening the impact of painful memories. They discuss the neuroscience behind this process, the role of memory reconsolidation, and the importance of matching positive experiences to our original pains. Rick shares personal examples, practical tips, and a few important cautions so you can apply this technique safely. This is a grounded, hands-on episode focused on one of his most high-impact ideas.

Warning: There is a brief mention of SA toward the end of the episode.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

1:45: What is linking?

5:30: The relationship between linking and memory, and coherence therapy

12:20: The challenges with linking, and making the positive stronger than the negative

20:40: How to practice linking

31:00: How to disentangle our adult selves from our ‘parts’

39:30: The “erasure protocol”

53:15: How long it takes for linking to help, and key questions to ask yourself

1:02:05: Recap