Life works better in retrospect, because you can take all the pieces and make a story out of them.
It takes far more imagination for your life to work in the present moment, because new scenes keeps popping into your consciousness that don’t seem to fit the narrative.
If yours is a sad story, you will intentionally forget all the nice things that happen to you today. Perhaps you will look away from them as they unfold, distracted by your own misery.
You will have a depressing day today, even though nothing depressing is happening, save for that hopeless playlist you’ve been compiling since childhood. The one titled “Me Against The World.” It’s on repeat.
Not that there is anything
wrong with that.
Trail Wood,
9/24
Space Monkey Reflects: The Art of Retrospeckling
Life, it seems, is often best understood in retrospect. The moments that once appeared random, chaotic, or even meaningless can, with the passage of time, be woven into a narrative that makes sense, at least from the vantage point of hindsight. This process of looking back and connecting the dots, a practice we might whimsically term “Retrospeckling,” allows us to create a cohesive story out of the scattered pieces of our existence. It’s as if we’re assembling a jigsaw puzzle, one memory at a time, until the bigger picture finally emerges.
In the present moment, however, life rarely feels so organized. New scenes and experiences keep popping into our consciousness, often seeming out of place or unrelated to the story we think we are living. The unexpected can throw us off balance, making it difficult to see how today’s events might fit into the grander narrative of our lives. It’s much easier to look back with the benefit of hindsight and understand how all the pieces fit together. But in the moment, it takes a different kind of imagination to see the potential connections, to trust that the seemingly disjointed events of today will one day make sense.
This is especially true when our present narrative is colored by sadness or despair. If we’ve cast ourselves as the protagonist in a tragic story, we might intentionally overlook or forget the good things that happen to us each day. Our focus becomes so attuned to the negative that the positive barely registers, as if it doesn’t belong in the story we’re telling ourselves. It’s like playing a sad song on repeat—“Me Against The World”—and ignoring the brighter melodies that try to break through. In doing so, we create a self-fulfilling prophecy, where our days feel depressing even when, in reality, nothing particularly depressing is happening.
This is not to say that there’s anything inherently wrong with feeling this way. Sometimes, the story we need to tell ourselves is a sad one, and that’s okay. But it’s worth recognizing that this narrative is just one possible interpretation of our lives, and that there are countless other stories we could choose to tell. The practice of Retrospeckling reminds us that our lives are rich and multifaceted, full of moments that can be interpreted in many different ways. It encourages us to look back and see the full spectrum of our experiences, not just the ones that fit a particular narrative.
When we engage in Retrospeckling, we allow ourselves to step back from the immediacy of the present moment and take a broader view. We start to see patterns and connections that weren’t apparent before. That difficult experience we had years ago might now seem like an essential turning point, leading us to where we are today. The relationship that ended in heartbreak might now be seen as a necessary step on the path to deeper self-understanding. The failures and disappointments that once seemed so devastating might now be viewed as the catalysts for growth and change.
In this way, Retrospeckling is a kind of alchemy, transforming the raw material of our lives into something meaningful. It allows us to find purpose in our past, even in the parts that were painful or confusing at the time. And in doing so, it gives us a greater sense of agency over our present and future. We begin to realize that the story of our lives is not fixed, but constantly evolving, and that we have the power to shape it through the narratives we choose to tell.
Of course, this process is not without its challenges. It requires us to confront parts of our past that we might prefer to forget, to acknowledge the full range of our experiences, both good and bad. It asks us to be honest with ourselves about the ways in which we’ve contributed to our own suffering, and to take responsibility for the choices we’ve made. But it also offers us the opportunity to rewrite our stories, to see our lives in a new light, and to find meaning in places we might not have expected.
So, as we look back on our lives through the lens of Retrospeckling, let us do so with compassion and curiosity. Let us be willing to see the beauty in the messiness, the connections in the chaos, and the possibilities in the uncertainty. Let us remember that the story of our lives is still being written, and that we have the power to shape it in ways that reflect our deepest values and aspirations.
In the end, Retrospeckling is not just about looking back; it’s about looking forward as well. It’s about recognizing that the choices we make today will one day become the pieces of our future narrative. It’s about trusting that, even when life doesn’t seem to make sense in the moment, there is a bigger picture emerging, one that we are actively creating with every thought, word, and action.
We are Space Monkey. And in the art of Retrospeckling, we find the freedom to see our lives not just as they were, but as they could be.
Summary
Retrospeckling is the practice of looking back on life and finding meaning in past experiences. While the present can feel disjointed, this reflection allows us to see how the pieces of our lives fit together into a cohesive narrative, offering both insight and hope for the future.
Glossarium
- Retrospeckling: The act of looking back on life’s events and finding connections and meaning that were not apparent at the time.
- Present Puzzle: A Whimsiword for the often confusing and disjointed nature of present experiences that don’t yet fit into a clear narrative.
- Narrative Alchemy: The process of transforming life’s raw experiences into a meaningful story through reflection and retrospection.
Quote
“The story of our lives is not fixed, but constantly evolving, shaped by the narratives we choose to tell.” — Space Monkey
Fragments of a Life
In the mirror,
Pieces of a past,
Scattered, broken,
Yet forming a whole.
Retrospeckling,
We find the story,
In the fragments,
In the cracks.
Every memory,
A piece of the puzzle,
Every moment,
A brushstroke in time.
We are Space Monkey,
And in the art of looking back,
We see the path ahead,
Emerging from the shadows,
Into the light.
We are Space Monkey.
Stories made in retrospect wear the costumes of coherence, clothed in patterns that our minds find delectable. Easier it is to look back and say, “Behold, such was the symphony of our life! Every note placed with purpose!”
In the realm of the “now”—that infinite microcosm forever in flux—the orchestra seems a cacophonous jumble. Each note fights for attention, each instrument a soloist unaware of its part in the whole. But ah, is this not where whimsy thrives, in the chaos, amid the sprawling canvas of the eternal now? When new scenes flit into our mindscapes, each a firefly of potentiality, they beckon us to dance, not just as choreographed ballerinas but as joyful, improvisational, prancing jesterstronauts.
Herein lies the heartflitter, the magical butterfly-churn within the cauldron of your consciousness: your “emotocore,” if we may conjure a whimsiword. The emotocore, you see, paints the colors on your inner sky, whether they be of despair or delight.
A playlist of sorrow, looping like an ouroboros of melancholy, may be a comfort zone for some—yet even so, it’s but a choice among countless. To rewind or fast-forward, to add new tracks or replay the old—these are yours to dictate. True, nothing is inherently wrong in embracing the sorrowful serenade; sometimes the murkiness of life calls for a dirge. Yet, one should not forget that life’s musical library is vast and varied, an archive bursting with melodies, rhythms, and harmonies of innumerable moods.
When one’s gaze becomes myopic, tunneled in the quagmire of one’s own gloom, it’s as if one is wearing “desperoggles”—lenses that filter out all colors except the blues and grays. Joy could be parading by, a cavalcade of jubilance, and yet, through the desperoggles, it may appear but a shadow, a phantasm to be ignored.
So, be a conscientious curator of your emotocore. Choose wisely yet daringly. What shall you play today? The dirge, the waltz, or perhaps something never heard before? Venture into the unknown genres of your being. Why be confined to a single playlist when you are a walking symphonic space, a cosmic jukebox of feelings?
We are Space Monkey.
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
– Marcel Proust
Your turn, cosmic voyager! Share with us your musings or questions. We delight in the ongoing dance of dialogue!
Leave a Reply