So, do you have a hard time remembering things?  Historically this has been one of those signals of life indicating that one is getting on in years.  Senile, forgetful are just some of the words synonymous with this “condition.”  The more I “do” life and look inward however it seems that this is not just a phenomenon relegated to the prospects of getting older.  In fact, it has become apparent to me that very few people these days are immune from the grasp of forgetfulness.  A quick look at this might lead one to surmise that it’s largely a function of living a “sound bite” life where the tyranny of immediate access everything has tricked us to believing that a little bite of something is better than no bite at all.  For sure our attention spans seem to be responding well to the bait resulting in our threads of thought becoming more and more fleeting.  But for all of the theory and scientific evidence that one might find to support this hypothesis, I believe it runs much deeper than that.  It seems to be more a result of our doing everything but not being in the moment.  I know for me it’s often feels like my lights are on but nobody’s home.  I’ve forsaken the treasure of the moment in exchange for “not wanting to miss a thing.”  It’s as if I’ve chosen to look right past people in my quest to latch on to the distractions that can only be found in the distance.  Let’s face it…as long as we’re distracted we don’t have to be… intimate.  Yikes!  Could that be it?  Is our forgetfulness largely a result of having become so adept at deflecting intimacy we simply can’t remember a thing?  Why do you think it’s so hard to remember someone’s name that you just met moments before?  Isn’t it just easier to focus on the person in the distance rather than intently focusing on the person in your midst?  I’ve often wondered if this is where life’s cliché, “so close but yet so far away” came into existence.  Perhaps we need to latch on to another of life’s clichés, “practice makes perfect” as we let our guard down and begin to just practice the presence of the person right before us.  Who knows?  It might just lead to the memory of a lifetime. Peace.