"forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead", from Phil 3:13 was used to keep us from thinking about the past in any way shape or form.
Awhile after I left TWI I started to have lots of memories coming back to me from my pre-TWI life. I realized it was a continuum - my whole life, before, during and after TWI. While we were in TWI we were told our previous non-TWI life was nothing and all that counted was our TWI life. I think all these memories came back to me because I had suppressed memories of my "former life" while in TWI and now I was free to remember them. I don't think we're meant to suppress the past.