The Forgetter Button ( + A Favour!)

This email has a blog about Forgetting. But first the favour: I am going to be taking my show to NYC for United Solo, Nov 6th 2pm. For one show only and could use a little help from you. If you know people that live in NYC and might be interested or you have a good social media presence, and could shout it out, I would be grateful.

 It’s really been getting good reviews and is a great time. Here is the link: Scroll to the bottom for the poster and link to show!

The Forgetter Button:

I was house-sitting at a friend’s house when I saw a beautiful prayer taped to her wall which said, “I feel the weight of my expectations, the burden of my insane thinking, that other people should behave differently. Please teach me I do not have to understand why people do what they do. Show me how to accept with humour what is incomprehensible about them. Grant me the deep knowledge that I can give them love with no expectations that I will ever come to understand them or change their thinking or behaviour. Set me free of expectations. Set me free to love.”

This seemed like the perfect idea for what I was going through at that time. It seemed like it had been written specifically for me. And it was, in a way.

When my pal returned home, I told her how grateful I was for the reading. “Deb, you wrote that,” she said. “Remember? Last summer, when I was going through something with my relationship? You gave me that prayer as a gift?”

Not only did I not remember writing the prayer, but I also didn’t remember having had such thoughts.

What part of us can write or feel something and not retain it as knowledge for ourselves? Can it be known to us on one level and completely hidden from us on another?

I am sure there are many scientific explanations, but this seems to be the function of the human being. We say we will never forget. Loss. Love. Life. But we do. We create the same war with a different person. A different face. Meet Bob, nothing like my old husband Rob. This species called “human” forgets over and over again – forgets what it thought it knew for sure, even a day ago. The human gets lost, then gets found over and over again during one lifetime. In fact, we may need to forget somethings to move on and get better. To survive and thrive. This is not a new condition to this time we live in. It’s not specific to just one person or one aspect of society. It been true for all humans since we first drew breath. Perhaps that is what the journey is. The whole point.

from the upcoming book Windowshopping for God.