Memories and the Benefit of Forgetting

When I first heard that song ('Memories'), I thought it was great - melody-wise, and lyrically. Really deep sounding, y'know? Then of course, I found out it came from the musical 'Cats', and in a way, that ruined the song forever for me. This may be a totally bigoted thing to say, but I fond it a lot more profound when I thought humans were singing it!

But I digress. This post is all about memories as in the things you remember. One of my Internet colleagues who I'm very fond of and bug on twitter mentioned on her website about the beauty of memories, and I'd just like to escalate that here. Now, some of you will know that I am blessed with a particularly good memory (and that it is the key to my academic success rather than hard work), however, believe it or not, I do forget things on a regular basis, I just don't realize it. But there lies the gain in forgetting. If you remembered everything, you would not value the moments that make up your life, just take them for granted. But when I remember something I thought I'd lost, it feels like I've found another piece of myself in that day, moment, conversation I just got back. And it's golden in the way that only your own life can be to you. It's like finding a £20 note in a jacket pocket a year after leaving it there and not realizing you had it, except you never have to spend the memory, it's yours for life. Memories do not create the life we lead, but they help us reflect on it and, if they're good, make us smile. Rock on remembering folks.

Something else that has a good point is this PostSecret. It's funny too!

On the subject of how crap women's magazines are, Jezebel does an amusing breakdown of the lies they tell you over at http://jezebel.com/tag/cover-lies/.