Release

I read a short story over the last two days about buried memories (Beyond What Words Can Capture).  The longer I live, of course, statistically the more memories there are that get buried.  The story was about memories that get buried because they were so painful, and the point of the story was to talk about them so that katharsis would take place.

I know about painful memories.  I have more than a few.  They come from every area of life - education, religion, parenting, death, companionship, family, and human relations in general.  These are not mere disappointments, they caused great disruption and emotional upheaval.  If I think of them all at one time, I feel like a complete failure.

Fortunately, the events took place over a number of years, in different decades of my life.  I am not here to say that these events were handled properly or even that my reactions were noble.  I am only here to say that I acknowledge that great pain happens in life, and in order to go on, burying all or portions of a memory of an event helps in allowing good to replace the great failures.

One of the themes of the story was to show that finding a friend to help in bringing meaning to unfortunate events is so necessary in moving forward.  I look back at my intense traumas and see that that was true for me.  Without friends in just the right places at just the right moments, the outcome and direction of my life could have been different.

We all need nudges to move on.  We all need to enjoy our lives.  In one way of looking at life, we all need to bury portions of our difficult and intense disturbances.  Then we can release a modified version of ourselves to enjoy new life, that is, life from the point of recovery of such an event.  These days, that's what I am all about.  Life changes from drudgery to enjoyment when I practice that principle.