Loose threads....

Catching up with an old friend last night made me become conscious of the multitudinous threads that make up a life. Of late I have been guilty of leaving some of these threads slack. It’s not decided with intent, just that life (dichotomous, unpredictable, rambling thing that it is) swallows up so much time so quickly that soon some threads go unnoticed. And then …time (again) creates such a gap that picking up those loose threads can be hard, phone numbers get forgotten, lost, altered; people move, travel, change jobs; and so on……but wow, we have a new convenience for slack threads…the internet! With Face-book and My Space many a forgotten thread has been found. The only problem here is that we oldies are not always primed for this! Thank goodness for the children (techno babies who embrace computer commutering with oblivious nonchalance!)….for it was through them that I was able to talk again to a very special friend and share my journey once more.

But then in my morning meditation thoughts kept coming about all the other kinds of threads I have dropped from my web…like playing the piano accordion…the relationship I once had with a sister of mine…painting my nails…writing music…dance…baking…tapestry…..and so on….all small items in the rich tapestry of my life actually, but non- the-less important to me. It is again just that thing called Time that seems to get away from us and as we embrace more and newer things some of the old it seems, must of necessity drop away. But to revisit and refresh and remember is a vital part of keeping ourselves whole I think…of not losing touch with who we are and what it has taken to make us who we are…

Often, in our effort to deal with today or to move on from pain or disappointment we let some threads go….and in the upheaval we also let some threads we should hold on to slip through our grasp….trivialities at the time, we are convinced we can pick these up again whenever we choose…but this is often not the case and our past unravels before us like a half made jumper fallen of the knitting needle….the pattern is still there but a lot of picking up and going over old ground is required, and it might never be just the same….how many forgotten projects have we put away in the craft basket and left to sit in the darkness of a cupboard somewhere?

A dictionary meaning of Memory may help us to understand why these past threads can be so important to the NOW of our lives: memory - A general ability, or faculty, that enables us to interpret the perceptual world to help organize responses to changes that take place in the world.

And this from Stefan Anitei, Science Editor, 14th of July 2007, http://news.softpedia.com/news/Why-Memory-is-so-Mysterious-59904.shtml
‘Memories are already not considered pre-established data, but operative processes, responsible for the organization of the perceptions. They are more than a huge collection of sensations, images, and words; it would be a mobile network, an evolutionary labyrinth; an aptitude of the brain's conjunct, a creative and individual capacity. The memories live and die with us, and are tightly connected to our personality, vision over the world, our habits, our love and our way of speaking, walking, sleeping and dreaming. Without memories, we are not persons; the memory is our own being.’

It seems that the value of occasionally pulling on the slack of our loose threads is that this allows us to reconnect with who we have become and essentially who we are! It is not a matter of dwelling in the past but rather of wholly and consciously dwelling in the present!