Sometimes, sitting looking at my past, I remember special moments. As I wander through these precious recollections I come to the realization that they have shaped many of my attitudes, influenced many decisions, since that point in time. I can connect the dots and see where they have taken me... understand why I went one direction rather than the other when I had choices.
Memory is not merely a data bank for storage of facts - it is an active participant in the shaping of my future. I base decisions regarding what I am facing at the moment on previous, similar moments.
Perhaps I have not remembered everything in the right context. Perhaps I interpreted it differently than another person. Perhaps I have only remembered the good parts - or only the traumatic.
Regardless of how I remember things they influence my decisions and actions in the present; form my story line about my past, which will determine my attitude towards my future.
Do I accept these thoughts without question? Should I question them? Answering my own question, there are probably some that I should. I know that we move forward based on our interpretations of our past, and there are many ideas that I have cast off when I understood they were holding me back - or were to my detriment. There are also many memories that I hold dear. Do these perhaps hold me back as well? Do they hold me to who I think I am in relation to the world around me? Do they keep me being kind, rational, thoughtful, helpful... because that is what was rewarded? Or do I act that way because it is the way I prefer to be?
And then, there is the perspective that we are made up of little pieces of dirt and little pieces of experience. The plants pull what they are created with from the soil of the earth. Animals eat the plants and convert them back in to the chemicals the plants obtained from the soil. Thus, we are what the soil is made up of, functioning as a physical body that wanders through life gaining experiences. Little bits of dirt (or stardust) and little bits of experience.These experiences either move us forward towards more of the same - or cause us to shy away. And when you view life from that perspective, it becomes something different. At least for me it has. I see myself as a three-fold being. Bits of dirt (physical matter), bits of experience (formed from the interactions I have with other beings), and the I that I am which is watching and making choices.