So almost always you can't identify a good memory while you're through it, you only do it in hindsight, after it's already over. So what does it take for a memory to get identified as "good" at a later point of time?
My short answer & best guess is: You were just happy through it. Nothing more, no criteria. When I reflect on all the times I identify as happy, I realize each of them is associated with either *progress* or *presence*.
Either I was doing/going through it as a part of a bigger journey that goes on to be worth it and contribute to an important part of my life, OR, I was fully present through the very moment, partly because of novelty; experiencing novel places/feelings/activities that got me to briefly forget about anything else happening in my life for the length of it. After some deep thought, it's always one of these very two scenarios and nothing more.
In both cases, you were just happy & enjoying the times; they turned out to be good memories because back then you didn't allow any of the 10,000 floating thoughts in your head to take over. And so this begs the question: How to consciously do this more often? How to be consciously present? Because most of us are already self-aware with what makes us happy & what doesn't, but also now that we know: Had we left it to our minds to clutter the then-now, we wouldn't have had any good memories – the question really becomes: How to control our minds?
This article doesn't aim to answer that; the question is a lifelong topic. I touched upon this multiple times, but this year I came into a video that I have yet watched over ten times:
I would say this helped my orientation a bit – at least I now know the answer is definitely in meditation! I'm excited for this particularly new journey; for the more I delve into it the more moments of truth I come into. One of my goals for 2023 is prioritize meditation as a practice & mindfulness as a reading topic.
Note: This Mindfulness series is not necessarily consecutive; these are just thoughts & practices I learn about on how to maintain a clear mind, let go & reduce daily clutter. I’m not a meditation master, and I suffer from overthinking, but I intend to continue writing about what I know, being a bit more right each time and hoping one day I can implicitly make use of these practices in my daily life.