Memories are always special. Sometimes we laugh by remembering the days we cried…And we cry remembering the days we laughed. That’s life.
When I was in my late teens and going through heartache, I read a greeting card at a car wash which said… “I don’t know what it’s like to be old, but I think it’s living long enough to look back at the things that were once breaking your heart and laugh.”
I remember not liking that quote at that moment in my life, as I doubted its veracity but I remember it, all these years later.
It truly is a paradox that we are able to laugh at heartbreaks from the past. I suppose, as the quotation shares, it is a function of time, so eventually the painful memories trigger a humorous response when paired with our current feelings on the same topic. You might think to yourself, how could I possibly have felt like that at that moment?
Conversely, it can be quite painful looking back at a moment of laughter that has long since passed. Thinking about a moment that was so joyous, can bring back tears of sadness, fueled by a longing for time gone by.
The privilege of having memories is one of the great human experiences. Our abstract thinking enables substantially more recall and active engagement than a majority, if not all, of the living things on our planet, and as such, humans are far more capable and susceptible to weaknesses stemming from an emotional reaction to specific stimuli.
Given these permutations as our core reality, it would appear most wise to put all of our best efforts into making the very best of memories, such that we are able to reflect in the later years and have the very best of reflections.
Happy Tuesday!
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