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I am a very forgetful person. No, truly! In my growing up years I would forget all the time— I remember my mom always getting mad at me because I would forget to do small things. Having the excuse "I forgot" isn't the best reply to a strict Asian mother ha ha.
Then, developing meaning across the years in high school. I began to figure out what is important to me, I started keeping a list of my "sacred words" so I wouldn't forget them! These would be words that I hear out in the wild and it would strike my soul. It would hit me deep down and invoke a certain special feeling. Here are a few example of these sacred words:
- Pondering
- Learning & Loving
- Enduring
- Striving
- Shift
- and lastly Remembering
Remembering The Small Things
Doesn't it feel good to have a friend that remembers the small details about your life. The small conversation you had 4 years back that you dont remember, the happy moment 3 years ago when you both had a bad day, the funny moment 2 years ago when you were laughing so hard your ribs went tough. I am very blessed with those friends that have a spectacular memory. It feels good to hear, it feels good to be seen.
Now for myself I can say the same exact examples. Man it feels good to write down the tasks you remember and check off each one, it feels good to remember the song you wanted to show someone when you got home from the gym, remembering to text the right person back!
There is sacredness in remembering, it is like staying inspired with yourself. Remembering just comes from synapses firing off in your brain, your hippocampus recalling just little electric signals that fires the memory. There is something inspiring about that.
Hold on! I will get to my point I swear. I am painting the picture.
Remembrance Through Religion
What is this world if we don't remember our God. Through many scriptures and through past ancient civilizations they crumbled without the remembrance of their God. Like mentioned before it is so easy to forget. When forgetting something as big as our identity and purpose on this Earth; the biggest challenges may follow.
Why bring this up?
Remembrance might be the strongest of my sacred words. With my past of being forgetful I loved taking on the identity and the reverence that remembering could bring to my soul. It is inspiring to say the least. From these two examples I shared, I hope that you can think about why I love this word so much!
Now we have heard the context of my past, and why I love the word. Let me tell a story.
I was on my computer a few nights ago. Going through my "Zach Archive". It is a 2TB SSD that I keep my whole life on, all of my creative projects, photo, video, documents, resumes, anything that I need to keep safe it goes on there. I was searching trying to find a file from my past and I stumbled across a document that said "Zach Themes 2024".
Alright— I immediately got discouraged, scared but also intrigued.
I was a little uncomfortable, because I remember this time in my life. I created a 2024 bingo card! It was goals! I had big ambitions I would create a bingo card every Quarter and then any bingo that I got I could reward myself with buying a vinyl (I love collecting vinyls but I spend too much money on them). This was the best reward.
The discouraged feeling came when the memories flowed of me sharing this with my close community and how excited I was for the big year of improvement of 2024. In the later months I ended up being the general population of dropping their New Years resolutions 2 months in (unfortunately).
I Checked It
Even with all of these feelings and emotions flowing through my head I checked to view what my 2024 themes were. I knew before I opened this document that I made this image on Canva and never looked at it again.
The feeling that I felt opening 'ZachTheme2024.jpg' felt like I was kayaking over a waterfall (I have never done that but I could imagine this is what it felt like). I was so proud of myself. (Writing this now I feel inspired to say I dont remember the last time I said that about myself. And that word description of the feeling came so natural).
I was so proud of myself. I remembered!
I have kept those 4 themes close to my heart and wore them on my sleeves ever since that was made in 2024. I have lived by these themes in my spiritual, physical, social and intellectual sections of my life. They have helped me daily and propelled me to become the person I am today by small and simple things. By remembrance!
Memories filled my brain of specific times in the past couple years where I was authentic to my theme I made back in 2024. In hindsight these events have been a blend of my spiritual beliefs blending into my vision of who I am and who I want to become. Ingrained in my daily thinking and daily breath— either through my journal, to my community and to my people, or at the pulpit or in a spiritual setting.
Remembering Character
There is the reflection of character from 2024. My story and the importance of it in my opinion. This is in essence a way for us to grow. For us to set goals to alter or to conform to the vision we create. I was proud of myself and the growth of what I remembered.
In moving forward. I made my 2026 goals bigger and better.
Something that this time I do want to look back on when I realize I forget them.
My hope is that moving forward if I forget my vision or my themes for the year I go back to remember! To remind myself the vision I have created.
I think I invitation if you're reading is to make the themes for your big year of 2026. It is not too late. I obviously made my theme 3 months into the year. This is the year of improvement. This is the time.
Who knows maybe in two years I can hopefully have a similar experience; an experience that I can look back on and be proud of, maybe realize that I conformed to this vision I set a foot.
