Memories are like imaginary time machines that travel from our minds to our hearts. These little moments mostly take us back to simpler times, letting us relive moments that brought us happiness. Memories have the incredible power to transport us back to days filled with laughter and joy—moments we probably took for granted then but cherish now. They are flashes that remind us of where we’ve been and who we are.
Memories help us hold onto the past or can keep us stuck in it. Life is not just about looking back. Our dreams play a huge role, too, because when we travel to the future, possibilities are endless. We journey through time with hopefulness, anticipating what's to come.
I believe memories are stored in our souls. If our bodies are vessels, the brain is the wheel, and the soul is the driver. Just like the car tells the driver the fuel is low, the driver receives the information and, based on experience, makes a choice.
It is important to be able to look back on our lives and the impacts they have had. We do this as we pass through the different stages of our lives. Our past intertwines with our present, and our present determines our dreams for the future.
Memories are all the more precious because they seem so real. They involve real people and events. And dreams? They are just as precious because they are our hopes, which we pursue through hard work, determination, patience, and prayer.
When a person experiences trauma, they often have a difficult time disassociating themselves from that stress. Traumatic experiences can trap individuals in the past by creating "stuck" memories that are isolated and rigid, causing people to constantly replay and obsess over details of the trauma, making it difficult to move forward and live a life not defined by their past pain. These memories get locked into their long-term memory.
If your memory gets stuck, then you get stuck. You obsess about what should have happened, what shouldn't have happened, what you should have done, what you shouldn't have done, and how everything would be better if you could go back and change it all. However, even though we want to let go, we don't know how to live a life that doesn't revolve around our former pain.
False memories can profoundly impact our internal narrative. The stories you tell yourself filter your reality. When you shift your internal dialogue, your external actions will also change. Your current state of life directly results from your story and what you believe is possible—not what you say is possible, but what you feel deep down in your soul.
False narratives are not necessarily misremembering, but they involve getting stuck in the negative loop of the same scene. My life remained stagnant for decades until I could open my eyes and change my story. I received what I was telling my subconscious I deserved. I was telling my mind that I wasn't good enough, and that's what I heard. I stopped looking forward. I wasn't seeing life through my eyes but my mind. When I realized that I was the one who created my story, I understood that I was the only one who could edit it.
One of the most essential steps to changing my life was dismantling the bad and not giving it power. The good news is that we are all the authors of our own stories. You are the one walking and navigating your journey. The various meanings you assign to your experiences become the threads that weave each chapter of your life into the fabric of your story.
The moral of this story is that you always have a choice in how you interpret your life events and how you use them moving forward. Either you can choose to focus on the negative events of your life by looking at all that has gone wrong, or you can choose to look for what's right—to find the gifts or the opportunities—which leads to more potential and more fulfillment. Every new day, we give you a clean blank sheet. The hardest part of writing is picking up the pencil. Stories can be erased if you choose to let them go. You are more than your past, and your future is still unwritten. Make it worth remembering.
French Onion Chicken Skillet Casserole
INGREDIENTS
- 2 pounds (3 medium-sized) chicken breasts, chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ¼ cup dry sherry or white wine
- 1½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons fresh or dried thyme, plus more for topping
- 1½ cups beef stock
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 medium-sized French baguette, cut into 1/2-inch slices
- 12 ounces shredded Gruyère cheese, divided
INSTRUCTIONS
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Preheat oven to 375F.
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Add oil to a 10" oven-proof skillet set over medium. Season chicken with salt, pepper, and onion powder. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken and brown on all sides (about 8 minutes). Remove the chicken to a bowl and set it aside. Cook for 25-30 minutes until onions begin to caramelize. If the onions begin to stick, add a tablespoon of water.
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Add garlic and thyme and cook for 1 minute. Increase the heat to high. Add the sherry, and cook while scraping up any brown bits for 1 minute. Stir in the flour, then cook for 2 minutes.
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Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, Roasted Beef base, and stock; simmer the sauce for 3-4 minutes or until sauce thickens. Stir in heavy whipping cream and heat through.
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Return browned chicken to the skillet and mix well. Top with half of the cheese. Place in the preheated oven. Cook until the sauce has thickened slightly and the cheese begins to melt. Carefully remove the skillet from the oven. Arrange baguette slices on a tray and bake for 5 minutes. Remove both pans from the oven.
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Set the oven to broil.
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Arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on top of the chicken mixture. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, then place the skillet several inches under the broiler and broil until the cheese is melted and begins to brown (about 3 to 4 minutes).
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Garnish with additional fresh thyme.
