It occurs to mean that many people may not have the same memories as I about specific moments. For each of us we may have different functions for memories. I remember the repairs that were done in a specific building 10-15 years ago. Part of remembering my past is part survival, and part how I make a living so my ability to remember details is highly valued by others.
Through out life I am aware of making memories and not in a manipulative way but in way I can find and access those moments. I mark the trail so I can find moments that I want or need to remember. How do you mark the trail? I have travelled in woods, deserts and have paddled in lakes where it is easy to get lost. I mark my way with stones or twigs at reasonable intervals so I can find my way back.
The same aspects of marking the trail can be done with moments and memories. We each have different ways of accessing moments. Netty for instance might write a poem or story about a hike she had and what she saw and felt. In essence she has marked her trail.
Seeing is a good method of establishing landmarks. Often we don't really see the world with our hearts and minds or open up to the full experience of how extraordinary a moment can be. I don’t advocate carving initials in trees or spray painting rocks. My type of land marking is something that no other traveler may notice.
To see and to actually make a landmark for a moment the first thing you need to do is SHUT UP! The story of us is constantly being told and retold in our head. That story makes us unaware of the moment. We miss out on how sunlight dances on water, the feeling of warmth on our skin and the distant song of a bird high in a tree.
I don’t advocate high drama to mark a moment either although it does have a role to play on occasion. I think the biggest way I ever marked a summer afternoon was to jump off a train bridge with a friend. I will never forget him and that day.
1 comment:
Wow, BB (I'm sure it's you) that is so true. You know, it is like I said in another piece of writing. We have selective vision and selective hearing. I realize that I see what I want to see, after I made a photograph of my subject. The photograph shows all those things around my subject that I ignored seeing. And the same with hearing. We hear what we listen to and sounds around it take a background position. They are not there to us, at that particular moment.
So what we see, what we hear, are our landmarks for remembering. That's how two people can visit the same place and have a different story about it. There may not even be one parralel.
One of my examples always is that I walked with someone along the same city street. What I saw were the trees in bloom, the blue sky, the birds. What I heard was the sounds of those. What I heard the other person exclaim about was about the dirty, cracked sidewalk, the noisy screeching cars, those stupid teenagers...
So yes it is good to collect and create good memories for the wel being of our own soul and for the sharing with others.
And we need practical memory to do our jobs efficient and well, which also is to the benefit of others.
I only read your post after I posted mine on parralel universes. Well, I didn't write it, but you know what I mean... I passed it on.
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