When in doubt, go back to Woolf…
“Is it not possible – I often wonder – that things we have felt with great intensity have an existence independent of our minds; are in fact still in existence? . . . I see it – the past – as an avenue lying behind; a long ribbon of scenes, emotions . . . I feel that strong emotion must leave its trace; and it is only a question of discovering how we can get ourselves again attached to it, so that we should be able to live our lives through from the start” – Virginia Woolf, “A Sketch of the Past”
