On Refinement and Cultivation of our Greatest Joys

The meanings of refinement
Include to purify, to reduce
To make more fine or polished
To make elegant or cultured

I have a mind programmed 
To cultivate all the data, to gather all
That could ever
Possibly hold any kind of significance
At any point in the future
You could reasonably imagine

But to pour every single conceivable detail
Into a giant hoard for safekeeping
For resting atop, then wading through later
There are items destined to be missed
To be buried
To be, ironically, forgotten
We risk losing the most treasured
When they remain buried beneath
Piles of less significance
As we are creatures of limitations
With limited time and energy
To devote to finding them again 

Simple is difficult to design
Reduction doesn’t come easily
For as a species who evolved
Through times of great scarcity
How can we instinctively know
How to prune abundance

What we often fail to realize is
We can choose what to preserve
And how to preserve it
And what we can let go
And in this way
We shape how we will feel
Further down this road 

When we love precious things
Sometimes everything surrounding them
Every cell, every frame, every syllable
Feels absolutely critical
But in truth, most things don’t need to
Possess great amounts of detailed complexity
In order to be beautiful or useful
Or meaningful or worthwhile

Old love letters found tucked in the back of a drawer
Photos of our best times piled into hard drives 
Poems from our dearest friends archived on shelves
Our best memories closest to our greatest loves
Are all too precious to misplace or disgrace

So I will try to honour them best
By reducing my collections to their purest forms
What remains will be smaller, clearer
Cultivated with great love and care
Distilled without shame or grief
Into their truest, most honest, most beautiful selves
I will pluck unnecessary complexities
That may detract from their brilliance
Gently release with gratitude in my heart
For their service to me so that
None of the most precious will be lost 

October 3, 2024

Written on reflecting upon the collection and preservation of our most precious memories.