Tell Me Your Favorite Memory and I'll Tell You Your Future

Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.  -- Ovid


My favorite memory of all time is my Dad and I playing catch with a baseball in the backyard of our house. Even though I was only 4 or 5 years old at the time, it still gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling just to think about it.

Keeping the feelings from our best best memories in mind, as we move through life, is a good way to stay on track.  I feel that our past memories and our future memories are somehow connected, and both guide us into our future.

We get the same tingly feelings when we do certain things in the present. as we get from past memories, and these present actions generate our future favorite memories.

I know this sounds like a promo for Back to the Future, Part 4, but stick with me for a few minutes, and there's a better than average chance that this will make sense.

The Mysterious Side of Life

I intentionally try to use those warm feelings as a guide as I move through life. When we follow those feeling, we experience a fascinating and mysterious side of life, a feeling that is captured in Johnny Otis' song Harlem Nocturne.

I've had jobs, along the way, that didn't meet that sometimes didn't really give me the warm feeling, such as cleaning out cat cages, mopping floors in a dormitory, working the night shift at a 7-11 store, and many similar less-than-horizon-expanding adventures.

Yet, those types of experiences can be viewed as stepping stones, that take us closer to where our present and future memories are guiding us.

Use Your Memories

At some point, after we have experienced enough things, it starts to become clear what it is that we really want to do, and our memories and warm feelings give us the desire and power to move in the direction that we were ultimately destined to go.

What is your favorite memory of all time? Here are some other people's responses.

Why not use your past and future memories to give you guidance and strength to reach your destiny?

See also: Get Struck by a Spiritual Lightning Bolt - The Importance of Writing Everyday

Upcoming Interviews:

January 30, sometime between 11 am and noon, I will be interviewed on "The Morning Blend," KGUN Channel 9 in Tucson, about my book "Carve Out Your Niche." I will try to get a recording of the interview to post on my blog, for those of you in other states.

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