We have learned something strange about the human mind: we have two modes, the experiencing self and the remembering self.

The experiencing self is our moment-to-moment experience.  How we actually feel in real-time.

The remembering self is our reflection on the past.  The story we tell ourselves about our life.

It seems, counter-intuitively, that people tend to care more about their remembering self than their experiencing self.  We tend to prefer a good narrative to a good time.

Meaning can come with some struggle, but this seems like a bug in the system.

Our memories often drastically misremember the past.  What we say was a good time was often a miserable experience, one not worth repeating.

Resist the urge to call experiences worthwhile if they really weren’t.  

Trust your own experience.

Don’t settle until you meaning from moments that are actually enjoyable.

We should aspire to have both a meaningful story and actual flourishing.