Moments to Remember

There are moments in our lives that we cherish, and the memories of those moments tend to illuminate our willingness to show compassion. In order to use this selfless motivation as often as possible, we don’t need to remember the exact details of our bestest mostest goodest moments, and we don’t even need to remember images, names, sounds, or any other symbols of those occasions. These symbols are not useless, but they aren’t necessary either. The simple acknowledgement that these moments are still with us is enough of a memory to influence our present experience. All of our memories together define reality, and the memories of our bestest mostest goodest moments miraculously motivate us to conquer the fluctuating shortages of dopamine that we experience as suffering and tolerate within thresholds. Because these memories do not depend on the cycle of discomfort and relaxation, they enable us to replace our restless irks--our universally typical, trivial impulses--with an incomparable selfless joy that is love.

For the purpose of remembering your willingness to love, this insight is a profoundly useful learning experience. The feeling behind it is one of liberation from assumptions. In this state, new assumptions like those of love, fearlessness, and natural beauty replace the past assumptions, so they form the basis of far more sensible contemplation. This is the process of learning. New patterns (assumptions in this case) usually take about 3 months to become habitual, but the initial problem is in identifying and choosing these new patterns. This identification is the process of insight, and along with analysis, it enables and reinforces the process of learning. This reinforcement follows a rhythm between insight and analysis much like the scientific process.

Identify your insightful moments--the ones that inspire and are enabled by love--as your bestest mostest goodest moments. The key to maintaining your compassion revolves around consciously remembering these moments habitually.