To remember

To remember to be brave.

To remember what I’m meant to do. 

To remember that the past is past, and that I’ve changed. 

To remember to do things that put me in the mindset to do what I set out to do. 

In the midst of conflicting desires and our recalcitrant emotional impulses, our mind struggles to remember. It becomes maddeningly difficult—when we so desperately want to prove something and teach those who wronged us a lesson, when we so desperately want to indulge in the warmth of blankets, to bask in the innumerable and inexhaustible pleasures that envelop our lives, to wallow in our apathy, to give into the temptation to dip our toes into the idealized freedom that comes from simply forgetting about everything, from giving up, from hiding. 

Mindfulness—the ability to remember, even in the midst of oppressive circumstances—can only go so far. It is but the first step, the impetus to push us to build lifelong habits to become the person we want—no—the person we need to become.