#92 The true purpose of memory

ByLukas
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Memory isn’t an objective account of the past – and that’s not its purpose either.

Memory stores the lessons we extract from life experience. And to do so, it modifies, adds, subtracts, highlights, and hides.

Hot soup burns my tongue – next time, I’ll remember the pain, but not if it was tomato soup or chicken soup. And I’ll remember to wait a couple of minutes before having the first spoon.

Experience lived. Irrelevant info deleted. Lesson learned. Memory created.

My country gets invaded – and that causes so much pain, I won’t just deliver an objective account of what happened: I’ll make sure to tell everyone who the evil guys are too.

Experience lived. Story modified. Lesson learned. Memory created.

I eat the most delicious dessert at a Mexico City restaurant – that’s the memory I’m going to tell my friends about, not which glass of dessert wine I had with it.

Experience lived. Dessert highlighted. Lesson learned. Memory created.

You’re going to make memories anyway. Which lessons do you want to learn?

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    #102 When dreams turn into certainties

    ByLukas

    Elon Musk has the rock-solid belief that someday, he’s going to put people on Mars. He doesn’t hope for it. He believes it’s inevitable.

    Whether his belief becomes a reality or not is irrelevant. What matters are the actions and grit his faith inspires in him and everyone working with him.

    That’s the rock-solid determination extraordinary feats are built on.

    But you don’t have to dream of interplanetary travel to reach stellar levels of determination.

    What would you do if writing a new book isn’t just optional or desirable but inevitable?

    What would you do if mastering an instrument isn’t just possible but inescapable?

    What happens when, in your mind, you turn a dream into a certainty?

    How does that change your actions? Mindset? Beliefs? Feelings?

    How much easier does it become to persevere?

  • #2 Why I write

    ByLukas

    If writing and creating every day were as vital to my survival as drinking water, ingesting food, and bonding… What would life look like?

    Biologically, all behavior is driven by pain, pleasure, and the triggers and habits that come from repeated reaction to those stimuli.

    So I eat because I want to escape the pain of hunger – or heartbreak, sadness, and frustration.

    I connect with others because I’m neurologically hardwired to feel pleasure when bonding… and pain and deprivation when I’m abandoned.

    Similarly, I write because I want to escape the frustration of not being able to put into words an insight.

    I also write because I enjoy the rush resulting from finding the words that convey what I want to say.

    I write because I love the tingling in my back and neck when I combine those words into sentences with just the right rhythm, just the right cadence capturing the meaning, context, emotion of what I want to say…

    I write because writing wrests the essence from the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions racing through my mind and body.

    I write because when when I write, I feel that at last, I can make sense of life.

    And the more meaning I find, the more likely I am to write.

  • |

    #287 Why it’s not so hard to be a writer today

    ByLukas

    You don’t have to believe yet you can write, meditate, do yoga every day.

    But nothing stops you from acting as if you already can.

    After all, what would your day look like if you were already able to write every day?

    That’s right. Not so different, apart from the fact that you would write. Today.

    So if you decide to write today, even if it’s just one sentence, you’re acting in the exact same way as a person who already knows they can write every day.

    And if you act the same way… you’re becoming that person**.**

    That’s a lot of words to say… it’s not so hard to be a writer today.

  • #407 You won’t achieve your greatest desires

    ByLukas

    Writing every day won’t always help you achieve your greatest desires.

    But it might help you lose them — when you realize that what you really wanted was not the outcome, but the feeling of consciously choosing who you want to be, and consciously acting in alignment with that choice.

    Once the desires have fallen away, all that remains is the fulfillment every day.

    You can relax now.

  • | |

    #90 Envision, want, choose

    ByLukas

    First I envision a future me. Who do I want to be?

    Then every single day, every single moment, I choose to take actions that turn me into that person I want to be.

    If I don’t consciously choose my actions in the present moment that contribute to my vision, and I’m led by old unconscious patterns, beliefs, and habits instead, my visions will remain imaginary.

    And if I never take the time to envision who I want to be, how do I know which actions to choose?

    First envision what you want. Then choose to make it happen.

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