[7/25 things I am grateful for]
Proverbs 10:7a says that “the memory of the righteous is blessed” and I wholeheartedly agree!
I am super grateful for the capacity of memory space He gave me! It’s so beautiful even knowing that I have the manner of memory I have! Let me explain:
For the longest time and as far back as I can remember, I have had somewhat of a mind that hardly forgets things. I just had it and it has always been amazing to be able to remember things just when they were needed or when I was working with my mum back in my childhood; I would have the entire pricelists in my head just because I could and I could remember exact rows of numbers or amounts just because I had seen them once somewhere or being able to memorize entire hymns and sing them off-hand…I could go on!
I think this “my memory miracle” is a big contributor to why I was recently called “The Human Shazam” by someone. I love music in all its forms, expressions and genres and if I hear a song or listen to a song now, I may not listen or hear that song for the next 10 years but guess what? Whenever that song is played, I’m going to sing it exactly word-for-word and it shocks me how I’m not even trying to remember the lyrics, I just know them by heart!
Another expression of “my memory miracle” is life in general and things that happen around me: I remember scenarios as far back as when I was about 3, 4 or 5 years ago (basically my earliest memory is from that time) and it’s as if subconsciously, I can remember old events or what was said to me decades back and then the person I will be narrating what happened to, will be wondering, “how did you even remember this?”
It got to a point where I had to come to the conclusion that I have a “library” of my life all in my head: experiences, things I’ve seen, heard or gotten to know in my interaction with others, books I’ve read, movies I’ve seen, songs I’ve listened to, etc. I just noticed that if I had to remember something, I would take a 10-second pause and it almost always feels like how a librarian or storekeeper would go inside and look for a certain thing, I will be mentally going through “my memory library” to fish out the accurate memory I need and often times than not, I remember what I need to. So, even if it’s something not readily on my mind, I literally go through that library in my head and I bring up what I need to remember.
I remember being very fascinated by this animation that I watched way back when, “Inside Out” where they literally showed how, most creatively, the mind of a person works…the part that I will always remember is how we say, “train of thought” yeah? In the animation, there was a literal train carrying Riley’s thoughts and I just loved how creative the animation was, I wondered if I could see the inside of my head/skull/brain and how it functions too. Haha!
I remember when I was entering secondary school and my mum gave me a jotter; I can’t exactly remember whether she was the one who suggested it or I took it as that BUT I basically started writing down every assignment or stuff I had to do inside that book and I had many more till even university; I can’t remember now when I dropped having an “Assignment Book”; I guess, in modern times, I can call it my “to-do list” now which my best friend at the time convinced me to stop using pen and paper for, and just go digital and I’m the better for it.
[You see how many times I said, “I can’t exactly remember” in this last paragraph? I noticed that after writing stuff down, they tend to disappear from my immediate memory and I think my mum caused that one; reducing my memory strength from 101% to 69% but trust me, it still works on most days. Haha!]
Growing up made me see how much this was a gift, I still don’t know how this can be used for Daddy but for myself, I began to see how I couldn’t watch rubbish or see rubbish or hear rubbish because my memory would pick it and do some form of replay when my brain is much less idle (not in full use); just imagine that I hear a song that makes no sense and then I want to mediate later and while I clear my mind of all thoughts to focus on a verse I read or a part of a message I listened to, from nowhere, that song begins to replay; my God, it’s the most annoying thing! Or a scene I saw either in real life or in a movie or on TV somewhere that wasn’t the best of scenes just flashes through my memory…nah!
There were times back then when a rush of bad memories came back to me and I would pray that I would like to have selective amnesia so that I can’t even be able to remember if I wanted to! But, everything up to this moment has shaped me to be the person you see and know now and as I continue to grow; I continue to be pruned and broken by God on how to handle my life so that I can have a beautiful recollection at all times!
So, the realization of how my mind and memory work made me realize that I should filter everything that goes on around me! I am too intentional about my space and what I let in so much so that even my subconscious and my spirit are void of rubbish. That’s why I can say I play a song 50 times and I won’t be lying because in the moments when my mind is idle, what comes back to my memory is a great song or an amazing scene from a good movie or a nice book that I read or stuff like that which should be edifying!
Even down to the emotions I let myself feel; I realized back when I was really drowning in unforgiveness for my parents that unprovoked, when my mind is idle, things they had done will just flashback in my head and then the bad emotions begin to rise BUT GOD! I thank God I met and found “THE REAL HIM” when I did because he purified my mind, heart and soul and took care of those bad memories that led to achy feelings in my chest and all that!
So, now I am very intentional about saturating my mental and physical space with Daddy so much that I say that I hacked my social media algorithms because for the longest time, I only followed and liked content that made sense so I could be scrolling through social media and see something that will stir me to pray or check scripture or I will be on X and see something that edifies me and all; so basically, no space for rubbish to filter in!
I think this also fuels my love for taking pictures and creating great memories around me with the people that matter to me because they will come in handy when you least expect them to! So, I do my best to be at peace with all around me so that my memory doesn’t go into override mode when I don’t want to remember a past hurt or pain. Thank God for Jesus that also continues to work on my heart too!
P.S: People who know me know that I do a lot and I’m loud about a lot and I basically put myself on display, for Daddy more than anything else but believe me when I say that everything that comes to me or goes through me goes through a “memory filtering process” before they even get to me!
I am grateful to Daddy for all parts of my memory and what it entails and I’m open to letting Him tell me how I can use it better for Him too!
I know you will be able to take a lot away from today’s post on how you can work better on filtering what you let into your space as well as sanitizing your memory! If you have more tactics you use, let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow!
Discover Her Thoughts 