Blackbutterfly Thoughts for Keeping * Thoughts for Sharing

Family is the greatest institution...one that brings us together, that binds us within our hearts and souls, throughout our life-time.  It's been quite a while since I have seen the majority of my family members.  Yes, I've had my days of missing you...family.  However, I hold fast to the memories of the happy times we spent together, those great "family get-gethers", special occasions, birthdays, etc.  I still remember the day, time and place of each and every occasion.  Yes, I definitely recall every one of you whom I've had the pleasure of your company.  Now days, I'm living on the west coast, and the majority of my family lives down south.  To my family, don’t forget...I’m always thinking of you, and it’s the memories I am cherishing; and yes, I am looking forward to creating more memories with you, in the not too distant future.

In the meantime, this is where I would like to share some thoughts, and spend some mind-time with you.  So, welcome to my open table of discusssions about life, love, family, relationships, interests, special occasions, accomplishments, memories, extraordinary experiences, travel agendas, etc., ect.  I invite you to bring to this open table, your favorite topics of discussion, your bright ideas, your questions, or just whatever is on your mind to share with the family, and friends of the family.  As I always like to say... we're in this time together, no matter how near or far. This is a good time for all of us to share... in the making of our memories.

******************************************************************************************************* For the record, I have the memory "like an elephant"!  I mean that literally, of course.  Sometimes I surprise myself, by how far back in my life I can remember, and with considerable detail.  Actually, I remember when I was only 2 years of age, along with my two sisters, playing together, walking around in our diapers...(i.e.,) peering out the bed-room window, on a beautiful day when the sky was very blue, and the clouds appeared like huge cotton balls, in our baby-eyeview.  How do I know with such clarity?  Because I remember; looking up into the sky, for a very long time, starring at that vast sky and all those clouds.  When I think back at that very time, I get a sense of the peace and serenity of that time and place, which prevails in my vision...to this day.  Little did I know about anything at age 2 years, but that day's heavenly image was burned into my photographic memory.  It would be one that I would always remember.  So, from a very early stage of my life, it has always been easy; so natural for me to remember so many, many times and places, in depth.  Above all, I feel drawn by the Spirit to always reflect on my life, from the toddler-day beginning to the ever-present.  Actually, I''ve always reflected on my life in the spiritual realm; more so than in other collective or restrospective way.

I feel blessed to have such a keen memory.  Memory can be so amazing, because when you have the reflection of memory, you can re-examine or re-evaluate your current thoughts and actions.  Today you may recall your personal 'behavior' and 'thinking'...about circumstances of yesterday; and today you may say to yourself..."what was I thinking"?  (Our) memory is most useful when you are searching for reasons, for evidence, (i.e., investigations); for purpose, for answers to various questions that we face from day to day.  Just thinking back and remembering something in particular, helps us with decisions and ultimately, with the actions we take, based on our decisions.  So, therefore, we have such an advantage to remember 99%, or most of the time we are awake.  When we are asleep, the memory is like a storage bin.  As soon as we are awake, we immediately access the memory; there is no other function of the brain that precedes this.  Why?  Well, first of all, we are immediately receiving information from the (memory) of the brain, telling us, for instance, what day it is.  (For example); The only way we know whether today is Tuesday is because we immediately remember that yesterday was Monday, and so on and so forth.  Actually, memory is the greatest asset of the human mind.  Without it, it would be no need to know or learn anything...let alone knowing, who, what, when where and how.  Memory creates knowledge.  If we can channel our memories to absorb and store information that is most important and vital to our understanding, then we have made it all worthy. 

********************************************************************************

Family is the greatest memory...I like to remember the best of times, recalling to mind, the best of things, no matter what negativity is in the atmosphere.  Looking at life on the brighter side is much healthier than not.   I care to remember kindness, when it is demonstrated, the joy I feel when I wake up in the morning, the smile on little children’s faces, the sunset of a beautiful summer afternoon, the singing of birds, outside my window one Sunday morning, that I was delighted to hear.  It’s the happier times, the good-times; like the day we meet someone special_or the day we get married.  Needless to say, memories can be sad too; but such as a day when we have lost_ are brighter days when we have found a newness of love, have re-birth of Spirit, or a baby is born to us, or we re-kindle our relationships, or we experience some other kind of great joy in our personal lives.  We hold these memories as dear and close to our hearts.  We are all so perfectly blessed to have one another_to share our memories. 

Memory acts as the collections of thoughts, visions, dreams and even of the imagination, that we experience in our daily lives.  At the end of the day, all that doesn't escape our minds, becomes a part of our memory.  Over time, all this memory forms permanent pictures, lasting visions, unforgettable thoughts, affectionate feelings, and even prolonged reactions, whenever we are reminded.  The mind is like a constant stream of a million pieces of information, being processed every second.  However, even if we’re not aware of what’s going on in the process...as in “it never crossed my mind”, it doesn’t alter the way our memory processes everything we see and hear.  What we don’t really pay attention to is even being processed _just for the sake of memory.  If we need to search for something we missed, overlooked, not recognized at a particular time, we can always count on our sense of memory.  You know how many times you’ve heard someone say “I just can't remember, but anyway"__.  Whatever you end up saying after making that statement is all a part of memory.  You may not remember the exact words or exact time on the clock, but you remember the experience itself, which immediately comes to mind.  OK., let's say, maybe you don’t care to remember at certain times, but at that very time, someone says something, or something happens to make you think of the experience all over again.  Suddenly, you realize your memory is a very powerful sense.  It immediately projects facts, voices, sounds and images of that very day and time, right to the front of the mind, so that we realize_ to remember is only for a season, but memories are for a life-time.

Love and Happiness is often, or always the reason we hold on to certain memories.  Also, when it pleases the spirit, the mind and/or flesh, we relish in memories, as well.  Therefore, it is bound to be some memories that are not in our best interest.  Nevertheless, we figure this all out over time.  Because the less pleasure we have in our memories...then we tend to ignore them.  They are not worthwhile and we choose to forget and will deny that they even exist.   We may try to replace a memory, pushing it farther and farther into the remote corners of our mind, hoping that nothing and no one will remind us again.  Needless to say, though, somewhere down the line, you realize you haven’t completely forgotten.  Kind of like, “pieces of a dream”.  Unfortunately, in some cases, it may be like pieces of a “nightmare”.  I pray it is not the latter.  Yes, 'forgetfulness' has its reason and purpose too; it is just as useful and important as memory.  Forgetfulness is also given to us for our benefit. The sooner we forget anything negative to love and happiness, the better.

Thank God for all the divine mental, emotional, physical, and above all, the Spiritual attributes we are so blessed to have.  More so, we receive the ‘Truth’ of all things, whether it be of the past, the previous hour, the present day, or even ‘at this very minute’.  We come to know the truth, and it is revealed through experience.  We carry our experiences with us, everywhere we go. We speak of experience_ in every word we say, or the things we talk about.  We reflect our favorites experiences on a regular basis.  Casual conversation is just talking out of memory.  In other words, whatever favorite memories one has, you quickly find out by just listening to what's spoken the most.  Basically, a casual conversation is usually 20% about the present, 50% about yesterday or day-before, last week, so forth and so on.  The other 30% is speculation, the expression of ideas, or plans for the next day, next month, or future occasions, or experiences we are anticipating.  It's what we love that becomes our favorite past-times and ultimately our greatest experiences.  So, I hope that you will relate with me in making some wonderful memories.

Each and every day has its own newness, unlike any day before and after. On any given day, we will surely, without a doubt, experience something that you may want to share or never forget.  Memory is as vital as it is wonderful.  It's so good that we don’t know exactly what will happen in the next hour or day or year; but that is the best part of our relationships.  By just allowing our minds to be free, to face the unknown, to grasp the opportunities to display our talents and our love for one another; the more we'll appreciate the wonders and revelations, and these will become our memories.

May the days to come be filled with as much happiness and goodness for all my family and friends, to all people everywhere, whose minds are open, ready to receive the best of what our God-given minds ought to receive.  I pray that our minds become more focused on the positive things in our daily life experiences, to know the greater truth of ourselves, to form wonderful memories for ourselves, our family and others.  {To share with you...two of my favorite collectives:  Philippians 4:8 (New King James Version) “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Galatians 5:22-23 (New International Version) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.}

Vannessa Garrett 

7/09/2009

Copyright © 2009 Blackbutterfly Poetry & Art