And what if it is instead stored as I felt x, which led to y, which made me think z? It is conditioning of the pattern into neuronal potentials meaning that we can experience the same thing again. This is not the storage of data, it is the conditioning to react the same way at the start of a similar cascade.

We don't record the memory, we make it easier to feel and think the memory again. Like muscles adapting to exercise, our brains adapt to experience. Keep it up long enough and we get good at it.