Dogs' Memories....etc

Sometimes I wonder what memories are stored in my dog's head.  Obviously there are some...for example...she gets excited when we pick up her leash ...or when we take her down to the dock for a boat ride...but there has to be a trigger for her to seem to recall something.  Can she bring up past memories at will? Does she remember living on the streets of Puerto Rico? Does she recall that she had a litter of puppies there? Animals can remember people after long absences...would a dog remember puppies that are all grown up, after not having seen them for years.  If so, would it be a scent thing?  Apparently parrots name their offspring according to parrot experts.  Elephants mourn over a lost herd member. So there's much more to the world of animals that we sometimes think.  For humans recalling can be glorious thing....or a relived trauma of horrid experiences. For example, I can picture vignettes of trips I took many years ago and enjoy this reverie....being at a watering hole in Africa, going over volcanic regions in Hawaii.  I can think back to yummy foods I've eaten- gelatto caramel with a hint of seasalt, or out of the garden corn, and I know my mouth waters by what my mind's eye is experiencing. Virtual experience, it is.  I can also remember the death of JFK, the morning of  9/11, particularly cruel things said or done to me. The humdrum parts of life just appear as vague happenings, but out of clear focus, and all rather blended together.  I know there is an emotional component to learning and memory. Do these more vivid memories serve to make us yearn and move toward or away from situations we can experience in the future? Sometimes yes, but sometimes no.  Think of how many people recreate and relive the trauma of early experiences by doing things that will certainly lead to those negative experiences....selecting an abusive spouse for example?  Does our brain get wired for the familiar? How can we undo this wiring....conditioning? therapy? Many of life's lessons and belief systems  are formulated  in the earliest years. Yet, because of nature/nurture some people survive seriously traumatic childhoods and do seemingly fine , while other are crushed by them and  just can't seem to get off the track that leads right back to what they should want to escape from.  I think a good form of self-therapy is to bring up pleasant recollections and bask in them.. They say if you smile, you physiologically feel better.  I bet if you bring forth pleasant memories you are doing something physiologically as well.  During meditation you are supposed to empty your mind. But I like my approach better. I guess the lesson is not to dwell on the negative for long unless you are coming up with strategies to make the future better. Dig up those fun, happy, pleasant memories and relive them again and again. There, Sigmund,....How did I do?

True to Form....but...

Most sentences explaining something about yourself that have the word "but" in them are really veiled, or not so veiled excuses or rationalizations. So look at my title again.  BUT, there are some valid excuses, which in that case they aren't really excuses, they are explanations. I have not written for quite some time, BUT I did not feel like writing....or didn't want to put in black and white most of what I have been thinking....serious illness reared its ugly head just about the time of my last post...it isn't over, it hasn't gone away, but it is a work in progress, hopefully a recovery in process.  Unfortunately, we won't know that unless or until the other shoe falls. Negative will be a sign of positive. How's that for a riddle for someone to have to solve. I don't need to go into detail because my close friends and family and others somewhat in my life know what there is to know at this point.  Roles have changed, plans have changed, yes, life has changed. No one goes through this life without some (or a lot) of these inconvenient (that's a euphemism, of course) events. So I don't say, Why me? Why us? Just open your eyes and you will see that this is life....sometimes superb....a lot of the time...just ho hum, and now and then.... yikes ! Many people have walked in these shoes, but each time someone does it's never really the same. We are walking along a road that others have walked and they have left behind bits of information, small discoveries, subtle options, faint clues, that give hope so that those of us who are following that road  now can benefit from a journey that may not have ended at the destination earliers hoped for. If our road reaches the destination we want, we shall be very blessed.  If not, the fragments we leave along the way will help guide those who follow us, as there will be others. Oh...I think I see something ahead....it's a sign saying "Hope.....this way." I will follow it. Is it a mirage or is it real....I cannot say.