You Will Remember

 

"Beauty exists not in what is seen and remembered,

but in what is felt and never forgotten."

Johnathan Jena

Picture albums have accumulated as I have always been an avid novice photographer.  (My real motivation was to be behind the camera, not in front of it.)  One day my mentor reached over to me and gently pulled my arm down.  He said, "What you need to remember, you will remember with your mind."  

I never stopped taking photos and they have assisted me in remembering my past; however, I am more touched by what my mind captivated.  In my mind's eye I can see women dancing in a circle, hearing the music and feeling the uplifting emotional experience.  I can recall the sweat lodge and feel the moisture still upon my skin.  No photograph would ever capture what I saw looking down at my feet as I walked across the fire.

When our brains absorb what is around us, we are using all of our senses.  Each one attaches to a particular fragment of the experience.  So rather than looking at a flat picture, our memory is tickled by taste, smell, touch, hearing and sight.  We are less likely to remember a one shot flash than to forget an experience that our body, mind and spirit embraces.