Our goal in life should be to have as many stories to tell when we lie dying as possible. There are many things that we enjoy in a shallow way. Reading books, watching movies, playing games, browsing the internet. These are all enjoyable but rarely create the better kind of memories. In a movie scene where the main character is ascending a cliff, the director can make the viewer feel the characters fear of heights, and show how far it is to fall. You may remember this scene for a long time (although it is far from certain that you will), but you would remember far more vividly the time you were climbing a cliff. You will remember your heart pounding and the adrenalin pumping, the precarious feeling you get when you can fall at any moment, the weight hanging off your finger tips. Never mind the rope around your waist. A video of your ascent would be tame in comparison to the movie scene. But your memory of it is far more worthwhile.
When you remember this event, you feel some sort of happiness. Ideally you were enjoying yourself at the time. You may have been miserable and scared. But the memory is intense enough to be proof that you lived. We value that which makes us feel alive. I don't mean to dis movies or books, they get you thinking about the world and can show you things that you will never see in real life.
Study has show that amnesiacs with damage to a certain part of the brain cannot imagine the future. When imagining the future we build upon our memory of the past. If someone watches a movie every weekend, then during the week the imagine watching a movie the next weekend and enjoy the anticipation. This is part of what makes life enjoyable or at least bearable during the time you have to work. It stands to reason that the more memorable the events from the past, the more enjoyable the anticipation is. If you could entertain yourself constantly you wouldn't need memories, but that is impossible.
Therefore, we should fill our minds with memories. The brain loves things that are new, and things that are extraordinary. It also loves emotions, for example a football game that you are emotionally invested in is much more memorable than one that isn't. Doing things that are familiar, ordinary, and completely safe are seldom remembered. You will remember the first time you did it, but after doing it twenty times you still only have one real memory, they are bundled together.
For a truly satisfying life you should see as many places, get to know as many people, and do as many things as you can, taking precautions not to block yourself out of other possibilities.
This part I'm pretty sure about. I started this thread for two reasons:
1) I wanted to hear some of the things you remember most vividly. Many times before I've heard someone describe something they enjoyed, tried it out myself, and enjoyed it.
2) I'm not sure where the limit to this is. Can a negative experience be good in the long run? There's a Mark Twain quote that goes "You regret not doing something more than you regret doing something". This is obviously not always true, you regret fracturing your femur in three places more than you regret not going skiing. Clearly there is a line where a behavior becomes to risky to be worthwhile, but where is this line? There are some things that make you unhappy to remember them. Do these give you perspective on the good memories? People say you have to experience death of a loved one to really appreciate the ones who are still alive. Is that true?
*1:45 AM...I'm never more introspective than when I'm supposed to be studying*
