Another idea I want to riff on because I saw someone reacting to the idea that drawing your life helps you remember it better.
I don’t believe it’s about writing or drawing. Nor do I think it's about the making of the memory. It's about finding ways to create something tangible out of the experience of your life. It sounds very woowoo. And it’s going to sound even more woowoo when it get to the point about symbols and talismans. But oh well.
What I mean is that by creating something you go beyond just the vague memory in your head. You make something you can actually go back too. It’s partly the act of creating that makes it more real. But the important piece is the stuff that’s created that links you back to what you want to remember from this part of your life.
Maybe an example will be more telling.
I sometimes write songs. My songs are about stuff that's happened to me. Feelings I’ve had, dreams, emotions, actual experiences. I have this one song about this feeling of wanting to be a ghost/spirit. Wanting not to have a body anymore. It’s a talisman of that feeling. When I feel it now, I associate it with the song. And I remember the words and the melody. It’s not just “oh I’ve felt like that before”. The song IS the feeling.
Another one is about a dream I had. It’s telling the story of the dream : "standing on the banks of the Rubicon, holding on so tight, can’t let it slip… I want to be the snake in the river." It’s the dream I had. I remember waking up afterwards and being SO enveloped in the feelings of the dream. I’m not a magic-believing person. Dream analysis no. But I wanted to turn the feeling into a snapshot. Something I could hold on to be reminded of it. A song is the perfect medium for that.
Talismans. That's what writing songs is like for me. Making talismans. I think that’s a good goal when you want to make art or create stuff.
It’s helping me specifically also not to get any ideas of grandeur. I’m only doing it for me. About what I feel and see and experience. As soon as I try to “make a great song”, I don’t have anything to say. Or it’s really crappy. Making talismans is a much better goal.