I still don’t understand how a single picture, it can bring back so many memories. It’s such an odd thing. It’s almost like we forget we still have these memories locked away in our unconscious minds. We go on with our lives like it never happened and BAM, you go through an old picture album, or scroll back through your phone, old computer, whatever, and there’s that picture from years ago. This portal into these memories once forgotten.
And here’s where the strangest part happens: time freezes, it stops. You’re no longer where you were just a few seconds ago, but you’re back, back inside that precious moment that maybe you took for granted oh so long, long ago.
It’s almost as if you can just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and you’re there. You can hear the sounds of the places you once were, the smells, and, to some extent, you can open your eyes, your inner eyes, your dreaming eyes, and it’s like there’s no difference between where you are and where you were. It’s like you’ve left your body and entered a new place. But where exactly have you gone?
And I wonder about this phenomenon, too. I wonder, is it we’ve gone back into the past, or have we brought the past to the present? And you have to think about that, because it’s not obvious which one it is.
I really thought about this, and, although it might seem easy, at first, to conclude you’ve gone back into the past, I don’t think that’s really the case!
I think, I’m more inclined to think we’ve brought the past to the present. And why I say that is because when I can feel myself reliving that moment, I’m not really living that moment, not really. It’s different.
It actually feels like I’m living that moment for the first time. I can appreciate it that much more knowing, moments like these, we shouldn’t take for granted as they’re few and far between. It’s like I’m able to pay attention to every little detail within this blissful dream. It’s like I can appreciate everything that was going on inside that picture just a little bit better and wish I had done that when I had first taken that picture.
And when people say, what’s the meaning of life if all we do is suffer? There can’t be any sufficient meaning in life, if all there is, is pain. And sometimes, when we’re hurting, and maybe we don’t see any more reason to live, it’s these exact moments, these brief habitations of pure bliss, that these pictures take us back to, I think it’s these moments that remind us that, life may be hard, it may be cruel and unforgiving, but it makes these moments that much sweeter in the end; that much more euphoric.
Sometimes I feel as if life is too hard sometimes, and for some, it really can be. Life can be hard. But I read a book called Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, and he said something so beautifully, and so perfect. He said, ”Live your life as if you’re living it for a second time. That way, your present becomes your past, and your past is able to be changed. You can change your past.” And I really liked this.
How many times have we said to ourselves something like this, ‘Oh how I wish I would’ve done things differently in the past’ ? What if you could? Would you take that opportunity? Would you change your past to make things better?
What if I told you that you could?
And here’s the craziest part about all of this…if you take Frankl’s advice, and live your life as if it already happened, then guess what? All the mistakes you already made, maybe even one you’re making right now, you can change it. You can make the life you actually would want to live.
Then you ask yourself, why haven’t I started?
thanks for reading,
cory
New Age Lessons 