Moments are fleeting. Here’s how to catch them so you’ll never forget.

Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt is a poetry and prose writer who has lived in Prince William County since 1999. She has published six books and is working on a seventh. Learn more about her at KatherineGotthardt.com, and follow her work on Facebook by searching #KatherinesCoffeehouse.

One weekend, I went on a little trip with my sister-in-law to the beach, and after, posted this on Facebook:

Walking by the pier at Colonial Beach, Virginia and a gentleman in a wheelchair carrying fishing rods went past me and hooked my hair in one of the lures. So there I am, following after him so my head doesn’t get ripped off, and people are telling him “Stop!” 

After a brief ruckus, a man comes over and helps unhook me. “I don’t think I was what he was expecting to catch,” I say. Then he asks if my SIL and I like ice cream, at which point his friend comes over and asks my SIL, “Who do you think Jesus is?” and does she want an ice cream coupon. 

So then I’m thinking about them as being “fishers of men” but I’m kinda wondering how Jesus would feel about the whole ice cream bribe thing. I start looking around for a white van with no windows. Because that whole thing was bizarre. But it might make a great one-act play.

That ridiculous story got a lot of likes and laughs. And yet, it happened so quickly, and my sister-in-law and I didn’t really laugh or talk too much about it. It was only later that I could see the humor and the value of that little incident. What was the value? It inspired me to write the post and now, this chapter. And who knows. Maybe I will write the play.

Sometimes the most fleeting things make for the best inspiration, motivating us to go with it and take it further. When we do that, we give those moments a life of their own. And we create lasting memories. 

We create meaning and purpose. If you’ve ever made a scrapbook or used a photo as the basis for art, you understand the concept first-hand. It’s these snippets in time that hold more value in retrospect than we might have thought at the time they occurred.

Often, these brief occurrences live in our short-term memory, so if you want to harness them, you need to note them right away or they are easy to forget. Here are some ways you can keep track of those moments so you can return to them for inspiration when you want, all while strengthening memory.

1. Carry a notebook or note-taking app and jot down simple happenings throughout the day. Use lots of verbs and descriptions to keep it vivid.
2. Take photos of little things that catch your eye. Maybe it’s a weird bug on your front door or someone’s colorful shirt.
3. Listen. Really listen. What do you hear around you? Record it if you can. If you can’t, write it down. It might be something like ice from the ice maker falling into a container, the buzz of a toaster that burnt bread or a cat drinking water.
4. Go back and consider where you were when these things happened. How do they make you feel? Happy? Sad? Grateful?
5. What meaning do these moments hold for you? For example, I’ll now always remember that trip to the beach I took with my sister-in-law and the talks we had while we were there.

Besides helping you to live your best life, these practices are useful tools for creating art. Or you can use them in a class or workshop in just about any setting. Try them out and see the variety of applications.

You’ll probably discover that when you invest in fleeting moments, you’ll get many fulfilling returns.

Hooked on the fleeting,

I watched the jet ski fly by,

waves following,

like a memory. 

Until next time,

Katherine

This article is part of a series from the forthcoming book, Get Happy, Dammit. Copyright 2019, All Rights Reserved. Learn more at KatherineGotthardt.com.