How's your memory?Mine's pretty lousy. I have trouble remembering lots of things. Names. The particulars of conversations. Things I'm supposed to get at the grocery store. Quotes that I really like and wish I could pull out at cocktail parties. Appointments. Errands I had wanted to do on my day off....
The reason I'm a bit wary of my memory failure is that I'm a little afraid that I don't remember my own life well enough.
I live in the present--aware and awake, but also awash in the present--that I forget my own past... the experiences and conversations and mental meanderings that are the texture of a personal history.
Memory's still a bit of a mystery to us. We do know that recall of past events is often tied to emotions. We remember where we were on 9/11, for example, because it's an experience that has significant emotional value. We don't remember what we ate for breakfast last Tuesday because it doesn't carry the same value.
But I wonder... is my failure to remember things I think I SHOULD remember from my own life a failure to be invested emotionally in my own life?
How's your memory? What things do you remember well... or forget easily? I'd be curious to know.
Hi David, What a great thought-provoking post! You're right, I believe, about memories being tied to emotional connections! I can't remember what I did five minutes ago!! and yet.... I can remember lying in the grass on a warm day watching clouds drift by overhead when I was a child... I can remember a Christmas present that I "thought" was a box of chocolates when I was a teenager and couldn't wait to open, only to find out on Christmas Day it was a new BIBLE that I was thrilled to have!! The first time I had one of my very own with my name on the front! I still have that Bible and that was almost 50 years ago! I remember lying in bed next to my Grandmother and just talking to her about everything that was on my mind and her listening intently. I remember my other Grandmother one day when I was a teenager dancing wildly around the house and telling her that "I just LOVE this music!!" and her replying "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." Yes, we can recall the smell of a hot apple pie baking and being set out on the counter to cool, or the smell of fresh, wet snow and rain! Things that deeply affect our senses can recall a memory again many many years later! Yet I cannot remember what I did this morning or yesterday! Mundane things.... Someone once said that "God gave us memories, so we can have roses in winter." I believe that! Thanks again for a great post. I hope your heart isn't still hurting as badly today. Linda
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