It has been a good weekend/start-of-week for me, but it's getting so cold, so quickly. I am not the biggest fan of winter. Don't get me wrong, I adore snow and skiing and the whole concept of commercialized Christmas (helps for people who don't believe in the Christ part of the holiday...) and hot chocolate (ha, who are we kidding, I stick with coffee and apple cider and wassail, but hot chocolate is nice on occassion) and especially mistletoe, but winter brings back some memories I'd rather not think about. Just that sensation of getting under the warm blankets and realizing that you really were cold before makes me want to cry a bit. All of this is silly because I absolutely adore fall, which is how I should be feeling right now. Unfortunately, Utah is bipolar and has decided to skip the whole "fall" thing and skip straight to the bitter cold. If it snows on Halloween, you really won't have to worry about the world ending in 2012 cause I just might explode.
By now you may just be wondering what's the point of explaining all of my wintery angst. Or perhaps not. If you're familiar with my blog, then chances are you know that half the time I'm just rattling off words or stories or obscure facts for no particular reason. This time, however, I have an actual thought to discuss. Lately I've realized how much of a blessing it is that we can forget things. This isn't meant to imply that we're capable of un-remembering what has happened, but somehow over the course of time we discovered a way to push memories into a little corner of our consciousness, giving us the relief of not thinking about whatever it may be. It's not completely thrown out of our heads, but we're able to think about more pressing (or less upsetting...) matters, calling the memory forward as need be or through some outside trigger.
Just consider for a second how cluttered your thought stream would be if you were constantly thinking about everything that had ever happened to you. Each new thought would simply be added to the pool, ever expanding and becoming more and more noisy. Through the ability to organize our own thoughts, we not only open our own minds to see more of reality, but we also are able to have a better insight to ourselves and what we really want. This very concept was inscribed at the top of the Temple of Delphi, "γνῶθι σεαυτόν" or "gnōthi seauton" meaning "Know Thyself."
This organization of memories and thoughts is an unconscious process. Give that a second thought. It automatically categorizes what is important and what can be forgotten. That's really quite amazing if you consider everything that happens to you. Even in dreaming you forget minor details yet often remember the crucial parts. You really don't have to take any of this to heart, but if you do, the only real message is to appreciate the little things in life. It's not a new concept or anything innovative, but it's true. Stop and smell the roses. And most importantly, don't forget to breathe.
audio ventus.♥
(from marennazera.tumblr.com )
