by Lenna Gonya

Created on: August 28, 2010

Good memories are good medicine. They get us through some of the darkest periods of our lives. They make us smile even when there is nothing to smile about. No wonder we choose to think about the “good ole’ days”, and cherish those days gone by.

Truthfully, every day, or year has its share of happy times, sad times, peace, and chaos. Of course there are times that are much worse than others, but in a normal year, the tally, hopefully, is pretty much in balance. But, time has a way of softening the realities of the past, and, for most people, the good memories of the past supersede the bad. Nature has provided us with the ability to draw on the past, to times that were fun, and life was less hectic and troublesome. We are blessed with the ability to somewhat forget pain, tension, and stress, and only remember the events and people that made us happy.

We also have a lot more events to compare with as we get older. What may have seemed like a terrible event in the past, may pale in comparison with what we have experienced since, making it almost seem welcome now. We may also have developed more of a sense of humor, and sometimes an event that wasn’t funny at the time, becomes hilarious as the years go by.

There is also the distortion factor of memory. Days of yore become sweeter, the sun brighter, people nicer, and life more fulfilling, as we go through the years. Even food tasted better. Overall, the world was a much better place to live in.

Unfortunately, as we grow older, we also find that we are getting less and less flexible about handling problems. There does come a time when people become weary of the down side of life, and we fall back on times when the good times seemed to outnumber the bad, and they did. We may have had fewer responsibilities, more time for leisure, and a more relaxed attitude about handling whatever came along. We all want to go back to a simpler time.

Memories are our built in survival mechanisms, that keep us from overloading on our problems. They are a gift, and if we can choose to remember the millions of wonderful moments in our lives, instead of the bad times, we can retreat into another day and age when we were happy, and refresh ourselves enough to make it through another day.

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