Thinking A Lot About Memories Means Living Little

Living from memories is limiting oneself, because someone who does not enjoy everyday life in some way is not taking advantage of their present, their moment to experiment… Because life does not consist in remembering but in acting. It is not going backwards but forwards. Nor are we imprisoned between the past and the future, as if the here and now did not exist.

Remembering is an inherent part of life and is often unavoidable, whether for better or for worse. In a way,  memories are a way of holding on to what we love,  who we are, and what we don’t want to lose.  To that which marked us deeply.

Now, memories are misleading because they are colored with present events and memory traps. The difference between false and real memories is the same as that between jewels: it is always the false ones that seem the most real, the brightest.

The Spanish writer, screenwriter and film director Ray Loriga said in his book Tokio no longer loves us something that scientists have been warning for a long time: “Memory is the dumbest dog, you throw a stick at it and it returns anything to you.”

Life would be impossible if everything was remembered

In an interview, Albert Einstein was asked what he did when he had a new idea. For example, if he wrote it down on a piece of paper or in a special notebook. The scientist answered forcefully; “When I have a new idea, I don’t forget it.” Nothing more true,  when something excites us so much it is almost impossible to forget it.

Thus, we remember what is truly important, what is capable of moving us, because it activates in us the necessary brain regions and connections that will help to keep that memory.  The problem is that what must be forgotten is also often kept intensely in our  minds. Nothing fixes a memory so intensely as the desire to lose it.

Psychology advises us that forgetting is necessary to save relevant memories. At the end of the day, it is possible that the memory dog ​​is not so stupid and, in reality, it brings anything and not the stick that we throw, because it is what deep down we want to recover.

Memories are the perfume that lasts

Pleasure is the flower that blooms when we live, work and do.  With them, we build our memory every day, which will be the perfume that will last. The happiest memories are the moments that ended when they should, without stretching them in time, without lengthening them too much …

Therefore, we do not remember days, we remember moments. Therefore, we must produce new situations over and over again. The richness of life resides in the memories that we continue to form. Acting constantly can be difficult, especially if we are leveraged in our comfort zone. However, it is necessary to do so in order to live with intensity.

Despite having a tangible physical body and perceiving the world around us with all our senses, we usually live in our mind.  However, a decision needs to be made. We can spend our lives remembering events in the past and how they made us feel. Or, on the contrary, we can take control of our experiences and of course, of our emotions. Only if we do, we will be able to enjoy our existence.

The key to living longer than remembering lies in thinking, imagining, and waiting less. Accept what there is and nothing more. Live in the moment, without being distracted by the traps of our mind. 

And, in general, we are always preparing to live but we are never living. However, life should work just the other way around.

Happiness is not in another place but in this place, not in another hour, but in this hour. Do not forget.