Memory, Again

Dear Reader,

Sometimes I just have to laugh at myself. I have a long list of great ideas for blog posts, but – I hardly ever use it. Far more often, I enjoy writing about the immediate, about something related to what I am feeling or sensing right now.

This is another one of those times.

I’ve been focusing loosely on a theme of memory in my last few posts. I am intrigued by the fluidity of memory, and how the mind makes and retains connections among experiences. I am impressed by the importance of shaking up those connections, freeing those neural pathways to accept new impressions, thoughts, ideas – and intuitive guidance.

Granted, we don’t want to be trapped or limited by our past memories (I almost said past lives, but that’s another post!) However, we also don’t want to lose the gifts our past has to offer.

Over the last few days, I have been fascinated by my laptop screen saver. Somehow, when I upgraded my operating system, I shifted my screen saver to consist of randomly chosen images from my photo library. I happen to have a lot of photos, from many different periods of my life.

The result? In the middle of writing in my notebook, my focus is pulled to my laptop, where I see a closeup of me at age twenty two in Arizona, with a beard. That image lingers for a few seconds, then cross-fades to an image of the Scottish country inn where I spent last Valentine’s Day with my wife. Next up might be an image of my step-daughter on a beach in Hawaii, or one of my nieces at her high school graduation.

Wow! This morning after meditating I simply sat and watched my screen saver for several minutes. I found my awareness lifted up and out of the everyday, into a universal view of my own life and being. I was shown my own essential nature, through the years of growth, adventures, people I encounter and love, places that call to me and engage my spirit…

Watching my screen saver is refreshing, like a cold shower. It wakes me up, reminds me of who I really am and of everything in my life for which I am deeply grateful. It breaks up the normal time-based, linear connections I make among my memories and scatters them, shuffling them to reveal new relationships I never before consciously saw.

I have noticed that the screen saver sometimes pulls two or three images from the same album, so I am treated to an image of the Grand Canyon, followed by the house in Phoenix where I spent one winter, followed by a closeup of my face lit by Arizona sunlight, before jumping to a new mini-theme of the concrete canyons of New York City, twenty-five years later.

Dear reader, try it! What experience or insight is waiting in your own memory, waiting to be reclaimed, or reshuffled altogether? What gift is waiting to pop out at you from your own past, most likely at just the right time for you, now, today?  A little transcending of time on a daily basis is a good thing.

Hmmmmm….

In fact, why not transcend time in the other direction? Close your eyes, and envision your screen saver ten years from now! What images come to you? How are you surprised, jolted awake? Who are you with? Where are you? What are you doing?

Please excuse me, I have to go try this. I’ll keep you posted, I promise!

I honor your loving heart,

John