Memory

The theme for today is Memory.

From a "spiritual" viewpoint, memory is not a machine for recording sense data,
but an opportunity for one's whole being to appreciate the full value
of what has happened, of what continues to happen.

Life is so complex, so rich,
that its fullness is rarely "present" in the present moment.

The process of opening to and appreciating the full value of something
is sometimes called "remembering" or "rememberance".

With this awareness come choices and challenges.
To some aspects of our life we are hospitable;
from others we have disconnected
lost presence and belonging.
It's a mixed bag -
Guest House and Ghost House
The difference is what we can bring to the experience.

It might be evocative to ask
What is it that you would like to remember?
But thi is asked from the perspective
of who I am now
or rather what I can grasp of my full self.

Some things are a bit more forgotten than that,
As if the "self" that does the remembering
is away, wandering somewhere.
Is it lost?
I like to think it is on a pilgrimage
and will return bearing wisdom
or at least some fascinating stories.

So another way to ask the question is
what travelers am I prepared to welcome back
to surprise me once again
with the familiar?

From a book of Cherokee meditations by Joyce Sequichie Hifler:

The past is ripe with wisdom and knowlege - if we are willing to reflect on it.
Reflection brings to the heart all the reasons for things we did not understand earlier.
Search among your memories for the sharp places
that hurt so much that you buried them as though in a grave.

Long ago shame whispered to you to hide your painful memories;
now wisdom invites you to use them for good.
Once you thought it was important to keep these experiences hidden -
but no longer.  
Free yourself by taking those old humiliations and use them like keys
to open your treasure boxes for a more beautiful and healthy life.

A poet one wrote that the past is nothing but a bucket of ashes.
But remember, the phoenix - elegant, beautiful and powerful -
rises from the ashes of past into the fullness of present.
You, too, can rise from the past and live fully now.

"Medicine" is the ability to be aware of - to remember -
something greater, something more valuable
when we're being pulled into or stuck with something smaller.