My passwords are boring combinations of upper and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation marks. They tend to be strong, i.e. 16+ characters that are in no way easy to memorize. They don’t invoke memories of people or events past, they don’t memorialize pets or loves lost. I use lastpass to manage unique passwords for every site I have an account with so I only need to remember one password for all my online activity.
When I heard a podcast from the author of this NYTimes ariticle I was blown away by how people use passwords to remind themselves of affirmations, to remember people places and things from their lives, and a host of other ingredients that comprise their passwords. The story has some really poignant moments. This is definitely worth a read.