What to do about MEMORY

My memory systems are definitely imperfect.  I forget things, like where I last set down my iPhone. When this happens (too often!), I panic for a short while and exaggerate the potential for calamity, thinking OH NO!! because that device holds a bounty of things I want to remember. At other times, I am convinced I know the right answer to a question but in the end, I really do not. Like, what do you call a group of flamingoes? A flamboyance? A tidings? A parliament? Or when I tell a friend who is driving us to the Botanical Gardens that I know the way to get there, asserting, “Turn right, here” but suddenly discover it was not the correct turning point. My gentle friend needs to zigzag a long time to get back on track and as we zigzag I apologize because I so want my memory to be assured, to be reliable.

But more importantly, the question of what to do in relation to collective memory is on my mind. Like what does it mean when we don’t use our memory systems for mutual good? When we directly or indirectly forge collective memories to be mostly gloomy? When we hear a refrain: “Our world is in a horrible state” or “He’s just a bad person” and we repeat it, or forget to counter it with something positive? When we hear minimizing words about others regularly I think we can start to believe them. And sometimes, repeated bleak statements can lead to unhelpful belief systems. 

Right now, I want to remember that positive refrains preserve positive memories. In honor of the Little Big Believers and the entire LBF/fundSHIFT community, here is poem that reinforces positive collective memory-making. It has a refrain that shores up the persuasiveness of good. It is by Kathy Song, a poet  born and raised in Hawaii who draws upon her Korean-Chinese ancestry along with her experiences as an American woman. It’s a little long but please read it and afterward, remember the power of repeating something good all together:

This Wonderful Opportunity (access it here)

May all beings, seen and unseen, be well, happy, and peaceful, including ourselves.

May there be peace in the world, peace in our hearts, peace in our minds.

May we use this wonderful opportunity of  human life to awaken.

May we be grateful for wisdom and compassion,

this infinite boundlessness that surrounds us,

waiting to be used by us, to open our hearts and minds

so that we may see things as they truly are,

how brief our lives, how dependent upon others we are,

and so with each act may we bring wholesomeness, humility,

and the courage to do no harm, not least of all to ourselves.

As we journey through this life may we move deeper into insight,

and see things as they truly are,

this wonderful opportunity to awaken.

May we be grateful for the teachers in all their guises who appear before us.

May we love those who are hardest to love, including ourselves.

May leaders who will work for the peace of the planet step forward,

and may we support them.

May those who have gone before us rest in peace, rest in comfort, rest in joy,

and may we remember to remember them.

May the next life be a happy one.

May we cultivate in our hearts, in our minds, here and now, here on earth,

generosity, a land of plenty for all.

May our wish for peace spread like a mother’s soothing hand

and reach the distressed, fevered places of the world

and protect each child the right to be fed, to be sheltered, to be schooled.

The right to go to sleep without fear.

May we journey safely, work contentedly, and return home to loved ones well and happy.

May the path of forgiveness and acceptance

be the path of peace,

and may we find it.

May we use this wonderful opportunity to awaken

and together find true happiness, open spaciousness without borders.

You can read more about Cathy Song here. 

An important post-script: It is very exciting to launch our Fellowship Program. (Read more about it below.) The Fellowship is a wonderful opportunity for those in our network to do even more good, to create even more exceptional things. We know that those who participate in this program will encourage one another—and all of us—in positivity, will expand and strengthen our collective memory for “cultivating in our hearts, in our minds, here and now, here on earth, generosity, a land of plenty for all.”

Gayle (originally June 2024)