Memories Pay Dividends

There is this idea that I was introduced to a while ago that goes like this:

Memories pay dividends

Good moments give us happiness when we experience them, and gift us feelings of joy, warmth, and love, every time we remember them.

For most of us, a good experience is not something that will just leave us feeling good at the moment, but something that would keep providing more and more happiness every time we remember it.

I performed with my band during a graduation ceremony at my friends' graduation from an international college a few years ago. The elevated stage was surrounded by white and purple roses, the spring sky was blue, and a few grey clouds were approaching the green grass field behind the stage. The crowds were cheering for us as we went up on stage, and the room was filled with the smell of feminine perfume.

I remember the look on my face when I couldn't find my microphone, I remember how my band communicated with eyebrows while playing, I remember how the crowd gave us a standing ovation, and how I tried to find my loved ones from between the crowd, and I remember the strangers that congratulated me while I was leaving the event.

That was a lovely moment that provided me with happiness when it happened, and has been making me smile ever since. I remember it...and feel the joy of playing music, the nostalgia for the old days, my love for my friends, the excitement of being on stage, a spike in my heartbeat when I remember my solo part, and emotions too complex and beautiful to express.

Hopefully, it will be a moment that I will remember for a long time, and I just wonder how much happiness will I accumulate from that memory over the course of my life.

All it takes is a speaker that plays a childhood tune or a breeze that carries the smell of a specific perfume to revive memories of a sweet past.

"Most of our childhood is stored not in photos, but in certain biscuits, lights of day, smells, textures of carpet" (Alain de Botton).