Quotations Weblog

Memory is such a strange thing. Sometimes, I wonder if the wrongs that I remember are true or not. There are so many people who have been interviewed about what they were doing when Kennedy was shot or when the space shuttle blew up that tell different stories after a few years. If our memories are not to be trusted, what can we trust?

A few months ago, I decided to believe differently. Since I can’t trust my memory, I decided that I would choose what I wanted to remember, even if it didn’t really happen that way. Instead of dwelling on the possible wrongs that were done to me, I consciously decided to believe that everyone involved was honorable and cared about me. I purposely changed my memory of the event so that I would feel better about it.

The truth? Who cares. What is important is what makes me feel better. I’m not going to go through my life remembering the least trivialities of life, even if that means that I have to surgically excise them from my memory.

I don’t find this quote very helpful to me. Whenever a friend has been in trouble, I have thought of things to do and offered them. So many times I have received horrified responses. I remember when I had my wisdom teeth removed. I was starving, but no food sounded good to my sore mouth. Mike made me cream of tomato soup and it was the most delicious food I had tasted. I had never had tomato soup made with milk before. I thought it was a gift from heaven.

When Mike had his wisdom teeth out, I tried to reciprocate. I made him the cream of tomato soup and he didn’t want any of it. It wasn’t delicious to him and he was in too much pain to eat anything else. All he wanted was sympathy and a nap. I would have never thought that a simple hug and a “there, there” would have helped, but it did. He slept off the pain and ate the next day.

This sentiment should be tempered with the thought from George Bernard Shaw:

It is quotations like this one that have helped me live a better life. A few years ago, I started on a journey that has led me to Starling Fitness. I write every day about all the ways to take better care of yourself. I do it mostly because I am researching all of this for myself. Sharing it with the world is just what I do to keep myself focused.

I always kind of thought that I would be dead by now. My teen years were spent being a punk rocker in Salt Lake City. I lived SLC Punk. Now I’m surprised to find that I’m alive and healthy and strong. I’m not addicted to drugs. I’m not a burnout working at a job I hate. I don’t even have a mohawk or wear too much eyeliner. I was a poseur and I’m glad to find out that it means that I get to live longer than I expected. Yeah!

Getting the butterflies to fly in formation. How do I do that? Fear and anticipation are such motivators for me because I’ve always thought of them as pent up energy. For me, being scared and being excited feel exactly the same.

When I’m scared, I feel like I can’t sit still. I want to move. I want to act. The great thing about fear is that it tells me exactly what I need to do. There is direction. I need to get rid of whatever is scaring me.

Next time you’re afraid and you feel that anxious feeling in your stomach, remember the butterflies. Remember that they are pent up energy just waiting there for you to use. Use it to deliver that speech. Use it to win over the new people you have to meet. Use it to start that neighborhood watch program. Whatever it is that is making you feel fearful is no match to the reserve of energy that you have within you.

I’ve been taking a lot of pictures lately. They have taken up most of my entries on Pick Me! lately. I haven’t written much there for awhile. That’s the nice thing about photography. I don’t have to think. All I have to do is find something interesting and hope the pictures turn out. If I take enough pictures, there is usually one or two that look nice. I just have to arrange them nicely.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and I believe them. Sometimes, though, I like to think that words are more powerful. I tell myself a little lie to make me believe that writing is better than the truth that we have all memorized. One picture is worth a thousand words, but one thousand words is a dictionary, not a story.