Have you ever written down something you needed to remember on your hand? Or placed something you didn’t want to forget right in front of the door so you’d have to step over it when you left?
At times, all of us can forget things — some quicker than others — and so it’s not uncommon for us to implement strategies to help us remember. But what about things in our lives that are more significant than simply this week’s grocery list, or the errand I need to run today? What do we do to remember the big things in life?
Throughout history, people have used different means of doing this. In the ancient world, sometimes tribes or nations would set up monuments — even huge piles of rocks at times — as a memorial to something they had experienced. Or they would take an experience or lesson they had learned, and institute ongoing festivals or rituals to commemorate it.
The Jewish Passover, for instance, is a classic example. Year after year, the Jewish people intentionally bring to memory moments from their shared history — memories of bondage and, more importantly, of deliverance — things they do not want to forget.
In our lives, it’s possible to forget about the transformative lessons we’ve learned or the pivotal experiences we’ve gone through — not because we want to forget, but because we forget to remember.
In our last house (we just moved a couple weeks ago, and many of my boxes are still packed), there was a bookshelf in my office that had a number of miscellaneous items on top. A puzzle piece, a rock, a picture or two, some other miscellaneous knick knacks. To anyone else, they wouldn’t mean much. But every time I saw them I was reminded of moments in my past that I wanted to remember.
The same thing can be done through rituals people create or engage in. It’s easy to see this in various religions and national holidays, but it can also be done on a much smaller scale. I know of different couples who have created their own yearly traditions that help them commemorate important moments from their relationship.
Because we’re prone to forget, the key is to intentionally place markers in our lives that point us to those moments or lessons we don’t want to lose sight of. These markers don’t have to be a pile of stones or a new national holiday — they can be as small or as personal as we want — because ultimately, their value is not in what they consist of, but in what they help us to remember.