General Information
Our mind is a storehouse of memories. These are memories of events, sights, sounds, aromas, feelings, people, and places. They include layer upon layer of stories. Some are readily recalled while others are lost in the depths of our identity. They shape and re-shape our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Whenever we use 1st person, singular pronouns we are talking about the reservoir of memory within our minds.
For the last 500 years, we have relied on our mind for every aspect of our lives. We believe that everything around us is knowable. Mysteries are simply things we do not yet understand. We “live and breathe and have our being” (to borrow a phrase from the New Testament) in our minds. We are who we remember ourselves to be. The world behaves as we remember it to have behaved. When we are caught off guard or surprised, we tell ourselves that we have more to learn. This storehouse of memories is an essential part of who we are and who we are becoming. We will surely suffer if we do not feed our mind well.
The growing edge of our lives exists on the margin of experience, where our mind is caught off-guard and we are encouraged to stretch and expand who we are. The experiences of awe and wonder, curiosity and unknowing, surprise and shock; challenge us to see things differently and appreciate the world and ourselves in a new way. They help us to rediscover forgotten strengths and capacities. They help us to identify our vulnerabilities and weakness. They enable us to renew and refresh our stories and lead us to seek out new stories. Vacations are most meaningful when we journey to these margins of experience.
Vacations are opportunities to renew, refresh, and expand this vast inner storehouse of memories. They may stimulate us to remember old memories that have laid dormant in the recesses of our mind. Or, they may help us to re-remember old stories that have grown stale or no longer inform us about ourselves or those around us. Vacations also help us to create new memories.
In short, vacations give us an excellent opportunity to re-remember. A healthy vacation will help us to reconnect with ourselves, our hopes, our past, our companions, and our world. These reconnections happen in the re-membering of the person we have lost in the “bump and grind” of our day-to-day living. We may rediscover our roots, get in touch with who we are, or see the future in our passions and hopes. And all of this takes place in our memories, in the making and in the re-membering.
For the last 500 years, we have relied on our mind for every aspect of our lives. We believe that everything around us is knowable. Mysteries are simply things we do not yet understand. We “live and breathe and have our being” (to borrow a phrase from the New Testament) in our minds. We are who we remember ourselves to be. The world behaves as we remember it to have behaved. When we are caught off guard or surprised, we tell ourselves that we have more to learn. This storehouse of memories is an essential part of who we are and who we are becoming. We will surely suffer if we do not feed our mind well.
The growing edge of our lives exists on the margin of experience, where our mind is caught off-guard and we are encouraged to stretch and expand who we are. The experiences of awe and wonder, curiosity and unknowing, surprise and shock; challenge us to see things differently and appreciate the world and ourselves in a new way. They help us to rediscover forgotten strengths and capacities. They help us to identify our vulnerabilities and weakness. They enable us to renew and refresh our stories and lead us to seek out new stories. Vacations are most meaningful when we journey to these margins of experience.
Vacations are opportunities to renew, refresh, and expand this vast inner storehouse of memories. They may stimulate us to remember old memories that have laid dormant in the recesses of our mind. Or, they may help us to re-remember old stories that have grown stale or no longer inform us about ourselves or those around us. Vacations also help us to create new memories.
In short, vacations give us an excellent opportunity to re-remember. A healthy vacation will help us to reconnect with ourselves, our hopes, our past, our companions, and our world. These reconnections happen in the re-membering of the person we have lost in the “bump and grind” of our day-to-day living. We may rediscover our roots, get in touch with who we are, or see the future in our passions and hopes. And all of this takes place in our memories, in the making and in the re-membering.
Tips
Very often, even though we may take our body on a vacation, our mind stays at work. We keep the cell phone on “just in case.” We check our work email “just in case.” We keep returning to our internal to-do list “just in case”. Here are several suggestions for how you might take your mind along on your vacation. The “justincase” is one bag that needs to be left at home before you leave. Focus instead on the re-membering. Here are several suggestions for taking your mind with you on vacation.
Go Someplace New – when you are planning a vacation, pick a place or two just because you have never been there before. On a family vacation to Cape Cod many years ago, we decided that we needed to visit Cranberry World Headquarters. I can honestly say that that side trip is among the most memorable trips of any vacation. It still brings laughter and joy to our family in the re-membering of that moment. You do not have to plan a whole vacation around someplace just because you have never been there, but a side trip or two can be very rewarding.
Visit with People who have known you for a long time and listen! – While it is true that you can’t go home again, it is a nice place to visit from time to time. Listen to the stories that your parents, grandparents, childhood friends, cousins, etc. tell about your growing up. Their remembering may not be the same as yours and they may not remember things that you believed were powerful moments in your life. Their stories can help you see yourself in a whole new way. It is well worth the trip down memory lane.
Revisit places you have lived – When in the area, make a swing by your old home or school. On a trip through the Midwest, we made a quick detour to see the house we lived in many years ago. We were immediately struck by the large trees that surrounded the house. We remembered that we had planted those walnut and oaks but they were just sticks when we left. They now provided shade for a yard that was littered with children’s toys. We were re-memebered with our children when they were little, ourselves when we were young adults, and the friends who helped us plant those trees.
Take a class or seminar – If you cannot afford to take a vacation, take a class instead. Find a class at a local junior college, community learning center, or library in something that interests you. It may be a hobby like painting, photography, genealogy, scrapbooking, or woodworking. You may want to audit a summer class on history or literature or computers. You may take lessons in golf, or swimming, or yoga. Find something that excites your curiosity and look around for a short course or workshop for your vacation.
Read a book or two – Another way to expand and renew our mind is to read a book, or two. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a how-to or a history book. Enter into a conversation with the author and allow yourself to travel to their world and listen to their story.
Spend time with Yourself – Take some personal time to just be with yourself. Allow yourself time to explore your memories. You may want to pull out the family photo albums, or look back at that box or memories you have stuffed in the back of closet. Allow yourself the opportunity to get to know that person you once were and the people who were once the center of your life.
Enjoy your journey by re-membering yourself into your future.
Go Someplace New – when you are planning a vacation, pick a place or two just because you have never been there before. On a family vacation to Cape Cod many years ago, we decided that we needed to visit Cranberry World Headquarters. I can honestly say that that side trip is among the most memorable trips of any vacation. It still brings laughter and joy to our family in the re-membering of that moment. You do not have to plan a whole vacation around someplace just because you have never been there, but a side trip or two can be very rewarding.
Visit with People who have known you for a long time and listen! – While it is true that you can’t go home again, it is a nice place to visit from time to time. Listen to the stories that your parents, grandparents, childhood friends, cousins, etc. tell about your growing up. Their remembering may not be the same as yours and they may not remember things that you believed were powerful moments in your life. Their stories can help you see yourself in a whole new way. It is well worth the trip down memory lane.
Revisit places you have lived – When in the area, make a swing by your old home or school. On a trip through the Midwest, we made a quick detour to see the house we lived in many years ago. We were immediately struck by the large trees that surrounded the house. We remembered that we had planted those walnut and oaks but they were just sticks when we left. They now provided shade for a yard that was littered with children’s toys. We were re-memebered with our children when they were little, ourselves when we were young adults, and the friends who helped us plant those trees.
Take a class or seminar – If you cannot afford to take a vacation, take a class instead. Find a class at a local junior college, community learning center, or library in something that interests you. It may be a hobby like painting, photography, genealogy, scrapbooking, or woodworking. You may want to audit a summer class on history or literature or computers. You may take lessons in golf, or swimming, or yoga. Find something that excites your curiosity and look around for a short course or workshop for your vacation.
Read a book or two – Another way to expand and renew our mind is to read a book, or two. It can be fiction or non-fiction, a how-to or a history book. Enter into a conversation with the author and allow yourself to travel to their world and listen to their story.
Spend time with Yourself – Take some personal time to just be with yourself. Allow yourself time to explore your memories. You may want to pull out the family photo albums, or look back at that box or memories you have stuffed in the back of closet. Allow yourself the opportunity to get to know that person you once were and the people who were once the center of your life.
Enjoy your journey by re-membering yourself into your future.
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