31. Accrued Memories

Last week, one of my brothers celebrated a significant birthday. We as a family sent in our video wishes, highlighting his positive impact on our lives. The collated showreel must have brought back so many memories for him.  This made me ponder on what we remember and dwell on most often.

Every one of us have experienced happy and difficult times. The difference in our personalities may be reflecting which of our memories are predominantly influencing our behaviour. If we dwell constantly on past hardships and failure, then misery and depression would be logical! However, if the majority of the time we are immersed in thoughts of adventures and successes, it would follow that a cheerful, vital and energised personality with a sunny-disposition would be inevitable.
Could it be, that all we need to do is think or talk about the good times and forget about the bad ones? I don’t think this is how it works. Instead, I find that allowing the difficult memories to surface and reviewing them with …’how did this benefit me?’ creates healing.

Reviewing the past in this light, gives us the chance to see the hardships for what they are … a teaching-tool for our personal growth. The memories we engage with, greatly influence the outcome of our health and wealth in the present. Until we have resolved, dissolved and learnt from our past resentments and painful memories, we cannot live a fulfilling and celebratory life.