Memories: Our hearts’ way of holding on to the past. Good and bad, we remember our lives in fragments. Images and sound bites combined together to bring the past back to life and let us re-live moments that are long gone. They help us shape who we are today. We’re told to forget the bad ones and keep the good ones close to heart. It’s true.

Cherish the good times that come to mind when you think of certain moments. It does you no good to dwell on memories that bring back pain and evoke sorrow. It will not fix the past to keep thinking about what you could have done differently. So forget the bad memories you’re holding on to and bring the better ones to the forefront.

Remember the times that made you laugh. Remember the people who made you happiest. Remember the places that made you feel most alive. These are the moments that define you and if you want a happy future you can’t get there if you’re haunted by dark parts of your past. Yeah, they may have helped define you too, but your mind can only take so much negativity. Let it go, my friend, let it go.

One day you’ll be old and your memory may fade. Exercise your brain now so that the first memories to leave you are the worst ones. Take advantage of the time you have left, bask in the good times you can still recall. You have a beautiful mind; decorate it with thoughts of your past that make you smile.

When we’re young, we don’t realize the little things that may create the biggest memories. We don’t stop ourselves in the middle of a laughing fit and think “Wow, this will be a great memory one day”.  We just live. We love. We laugh. Not even realizing that one day we will look back and remember those moments as some of the best times of our lives.

Pictures, videos, notes, and mementos;  at the end of the day we can physically piece our past together through things we can hold but it’s the thoughts that live inside our minds that make it all worthwhile. Live your life so that everyone’s memory of you is a good one. When you leave this earth, make it hard for people to recall anything bad about you and only surround yourself with people who you will remember as inspirations.

We’re all disposable but the memories we leave behind don’t have to be. Laugh as much as you can, spend your time happy rather than sad, and smile every time you leave a room. Remember the people who helped shape you, even if you don’t see them anymore. Distance and time will separate even those dearest to your heart, but you have a brain in your head full of happy memories capable of keeping them closer than your next-door-neighbour.

A part of you lives in the minds of those you once knew, just as they live in yours. Life is constantly transforming before our eyes and perhaps that is why we need memories. To keep us grounded. Memories are certain and will never change, even when the people we shared them with do. Hold on to the good ones tightly and let the bad ones fade away. And never forget that you are making memories every day of your life. Make good ones.

Always reminiscent,
The Love Hawk

P.S. Now go look through your old photo albums and memory boxes, pull out your yearbooks and journals. You know you want to!