Memory Bank*
by Steve Andreas
©2001 

Recently I wanted  to give the teenaged daughter of a family friend a small birthday gift. At a yard sale I had recently gotten a piggy bank with a very large snout stopped with a big cork. I decided to rename it and write up some instructions to go with it. It made a delightful gift, one that she and her family enjoyed a lot, and hopefully one that she will also benefit from in the future.

Instructions for Memory Bank

            Although this appears to be an ordinary piggy bank, it is not. It is a genuine memory bank, and is guaranteed to enhance your life immensely if used as directed. Select and process all memories very carefully as instructed below before depositing them in the bank, since all items placed in the memory bank will earn substantial interest. If deposits are made inappropriately, warranty is void.

    Pleasant memories:

            Before placing these memories in the bank, be sure that you recall them fully, with color and movement, feelings and sound, including smell and taste where appropriate, as if you were experiencing them fully all over again. These will be valuable personal resources that can be withdrawn (with interest) and used at any time you wish, and as often as you wish, either simply for enjoyment, or in order to sustain you through difficult times. Unlike an ordinary bank, frequent and large withdrawals will earn additional interest, and the more often withdrawals are made, the more interest will be paid.

            Additional interest will also be paid if you carefully review each of these memory events fully to learn what you did that contributed to their happening, and deposit these learnings in a separate account. Additional interest will be earned if you wiithdraw them frequently, and also if you periodically sprinkle these learnings liberally into your future, as if watering a garden.

            Note: short memories are just as valuable as longer ones.

    Unpleasant memories:

            These can be even more valuable resources for you, but only if properly processed before placing them in the bank.

            First review the memory thoroughly, with intense curiosity and interest, to determine what you can enjoyably learn from it in order to prevent a repetition of the unpleasantness, and to avoid future mistakes. When you have completed this reprocessing, store these valuable learnings in a separate account, segregated from the unpleasant memory itself. Additional interest will be paid for frequent withdrawals, and also when these learnings are periodically sprinkled liberally into your future, where and when you might most want to have them quickly and readily available to you.

            Then use this information to plan in detail what you will want to do differently in the future in order to respond more resourcefully if you are ever faced with this kind of situation again. Store these plans in a separate account in the same way that you store pleasant memories. These, too, will earn additional interest when withdrawn frequently, and also when liberally sprinkled into your future.   

            Finally, process the unpleasant memory itself in the following way to prepare it for proper storage: See the memory far away from you, as a dim and colorless flat framed still picture, as if seen dimly in a dark dusty attic. Store these memories in a separate account, to be withdrawn only as needed for a particular purpose, such as for occasional review for further learning, or to appreciate with pleasure how much you have changed and grown since then.

Lifetime Guarantee: When used as directed, satisfaction is guaranteed, and fully warranted.

Anchor Point, Vol. 15, No. 2, February, pp.32-33