Memories have a reputation for being romanticized and inaccurate. In doing so, they shape our worldview and our self. If you use it correctly, you will be happier.
Eberhard Fischer, a 76-year-old man in Allgäu, Bavaria, reaches deep into his treasure chest when reality once again embitters his life. He calls his ritual “Remembering Happiness.” Five years ago, Fischer lost the most important thing he had: his connection to his wife. She had become demented after a stroke. He tried to care for her for two years, then had to put her in a care facility. The two former teachers still had many plans. They wanted to live in Africa, teach children – and suddenly it was all over. He visits her every day, but she no longer recognizes him. When he says: “Hilde, Hong Kong, Chile, the two of us, back then, you still remember that…” she looks at him with a distorted face and murmurs: “Go away.” Fischer says he withdrew from his friends; everything seemed black and sad and incredibly unfair to him.
Then he, who had previously attended courses in Zen Buddhism, began to study philosophy.