September 4, 2008 - Set Your Zippo to Your Bad Memories

We all have bad memories.  We would rather forget them completely, shove them into the back of our minds, erase them from our memory banks, and generally just let go of the pain these memories give us. 

Unfortunately, modern science has yet to invent the time machine, the selective memory eraser, and the mind burner.  You can have amnesia as severe as Clive Wearing, whose entire memory was erased and who can never remember beyond a few seconds and then pfft, nothing.  Then again, is life worth living when you cannot hold the good memories?

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to let go of the memories and let go of the pain. 

Burn Them, Literally

Not your brain, though you probably fried it from thinking too much about ‘em bad memories.  Set a bonfire in the middle of the yard, dump the reminders of those bad memories, pour gasoline over it, and set your  Zippo to it (which you can get by clicking here, by the way). 

You can choose to do a war chant around it, do a witch incantation, do a drama queen act, and do nothing.  Whatever you do, look at it as a cleansing act by which you have burned to nothingness the evidence of your pain.

Step on It

Who would have thought that cigar accessories like your cigarette case (again, you can have these by clicking here) can be instruments of healing?  Put the pictures of your memories inside it, step on it many times over, and vent your anger on completely smashing it. 

Think of it as the Japanese way of throwing plates and stuff on a wall and shouting profanities, except that you can do it in private.  And you can step on his face figuratively since you cannot do so literally, right? Then, you can burn it and burn his soul to damnation.

Talk About It

Okay, your family and friends might be tired about hearing your whines and gripes like a broken vinyl record.  There is always the friendly neighborhood therapist and counselors to help you sort through your emotions.  You can talk to your heart’s content though you will need to fork over cash to their pockets’ content. But hey, it will all be worth it when you do get over the something or someone that caused you pain!

When you do move on, look back at that phase in your life as a learning phase.