Memories

We carry our memories,” he said, “into every minute of our being.” I didn’t hear anything else for the next few minutes. The rest of his words were fuzzy static in my ears. I leaned back, closed my eyes and repeated to myself what I had just heard. We carry our memories into every minute of our being. I wasn’t sure if I grasped what it meant, but I knew it was profound and a tad prophetic. Clearly, we each carry our memories. How could we not? Our memories are with us always. Sometimes, we just aren’t aware of them. They accumulate whether we want them to or not. Our memories are stored and sometimes categorized. Some of us neatly stack and file our memories so they can be easily retrieved. Others have a memory collection that looks like paper blowing out of a dump truck on the highway. The memories float around, unassembled and disorderly. They drift away and come back and when they land it is softly and without notice. They only serve to litter our unconsciousness and confuse our lives. Many of us experience memories that drop on us like efficient highly trained warriors out of nowhere. Uninvited they march in, take over and threaten to assault us and disrupt our lives. But what he said and I think what he meant was that our memories coagulate. They form sticky relationships with each other. They build skyscrapers in our minds that reconstruct our experiences. Sometimes they fit together neatly like a jigsaw puzzle and other times they clash and resemble a poorly done house remodel with additions and knock outs that make no sense. Memories become a part of us and inform our behavior and how we conduct our daily lives. Our memories intertwine with each other and with our DNA. Spiral to spiral they design who we are. We are works in progress because each day creates new memories and each new memory changes our pattern. Our memories may coincide happily or they may form dysfunctional relationships, but they morph together and create us. Each memory is alive in us and shapes our being. Is that what he meant by “into every minute of our being?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We carry our memories
Into every minute of our being

This memory
That memory
Recent or long ago
They remain whether we remember
Or not

They may hide
They may haunt
They may whisper
They may taunt
They may comfort
And cajole
Or
Accuse and scold

Our memories can live peacefully together
Or they can collide and conflict

Our memories can be sticky
Or slick
They can firmly attach to us
Or slide away and go deep into our
Subconscious where they may melt and morph

But they never leave us
They never disappear
They are always with us
They move throughout our mind
Body
And soul
And shape who we are

We are clay
Our memories the sculptor