Remember, Remember.

June 17, 2013

Having been a sort of perfectionist, I have found that remembering can be painful because it's usually what you do when you've forgotten something. And forgetting means a definite lack of perfection, in a strange warped sort of way. But, remembering is much more than that.

I think that remembering is like a prism or a rainbow. White light breaks into different colors. In the same way, what we remember directly feeds into how we act. Any given emotion is not simply the feeling in

and of itself, but rather it is a culmination of several experiences and situations that have come together into one great whole or feeling, and it is feelings, or the lack of such, that motivate us to act. And it follows that what we choose to remember on any normal, average day will be what we will be able to process in a crisis, because it is the most supported train or series of thoughts. This is why practicing any skill is so crucial to its development and long-term retention.

In my opinion, music is all about remembering. It's remembering fingerings, patterns, styles, rules, rhythms, technical placements, and moments of glorious inspiration. Maybe that is part of what makes music so powerful, for in the act of remembering, a performer invites the audience to remember as well. It is a place where things forgotten or buried can be safely remembered.

Remembering is also vitally important in living the gospel. Helaman 5:12 We need to remember what the Lord has taught us, and what He has given us. The most beautiful moments in my life have been when I have remembered the Lord's goodness and mercy in my greatest moments of weakness or trial. It adds guaranteed sweetness to life as we choose to remember truth. Truth that God loves us and wants nothing more than our eternal and complete happiness, that we can trust Him completely, and that no matter what happens, in the end it will make us happier. In other words: "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end." Paulo Coelho