Zen Jem 2- Memory

What is your happiest memory? Go there for a few minutes. What do you see, smell, touch, taste or hear? Did you smile thinking about it? Did your spirit lift?

For many it does, memory is a Zen tool if used properly.

You may have never thought of your memory as a tool for building a better life, but it is.

You have stored there every experience. It's in your subconscious.

At will, you can relive your best days, your triumphs, your growth. You can rehearse all the positive changes you've implemented, the times you pushed forward when you wanted to quit. You can remember every inspiring story, you have heard, seen or read. These are fuel for your confidence and your dreams.

And those painful memories have value too. It's powerful to explore limiting beliefs from your perspective now. As a kid and young adult, I sometimes wondered whether my dad loved me. He didn't say it. But as I look back at how he parented me and see the sacrifices, the vision he had for me and the steps he took to make his goals for me come true, I know I was deeply loved.

And the most painful memories can be re-framed. Picture yourself re-entering them and doing the things that would make you feel powerful. For example, I went back multiple times to memories of childhood abuse at the hands of a relative, now dead, and pictured myself telling him how I had overcome, how I had defeated all the trauma the abuse had caused. Every time that memory came up, I spoke my truth, so now if it comes up, that's all I see, all I hear. All I remember is how amazing it is that I've overcome.

Memory holds our identity. But that identity is in our hands. We can choose what plays on our minds' screens. We can choose to pull the weeds and play memories as a gift to our psyche. A gift that paves the way for the future.

Likewise, great peace comes from knowing you're walking in your purpose. People may not understand what you do or why you do it, but when you know, you can be at peace. I've heard it said, "Your life begins the moment you realize you will die." Because when you accept that, you understand that you too will become a memory, the memory of what you accomplished during that dash (-) between your birth day and your death day. You have a choice to make that dash mean something. You have a choice in the memory that you leave behind. When you've decided what things you would like people to say about you when you're dead and gone, what impact you want to leave, then you have peace knowing you are moving forward towards that goal of leading that kind of life, a life not based on money or possessions but on the investments you've made in the souls and minds of others. It might even help to draw images of those in your life, as empty humanoid figures and write down what lessons, what feelings, what emotional and spiritual gifts you desire to impart to them.

People sometimes make a bucket list of things they want to do before they die. That's a great source of goals. I was once a member of 43things.com and the dayzeroproject. Finally I got myself a Passion Planner (I highly recommend it), but my life became so much more fulfilling, and I felt the change in my relationships when I concentrated on the MEMORIES, I wanted to leave behind. It transformed me and my interactions. Try it. I don't think you'll regret it.

May you walk in Zennurgy! If you liked this article, please like, tag and share it. Please leave me a gift below to help me in my quest to uplift the community through art and activism. Thank you.