Take ‘memory tokens’

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

The advice…

There are some moments in life when you feel: this is it… this is what true happiness feels like. How can you capture that moment to remember that you once felt that joy and that peace? One way is to take a ‘memory token’. Zoom in on a detail around you. Take a mental picture. Don’t let it fade away. Carry it in your mind and heart forever.

Where it’s coming from…

It all started during a school play. I was lining up to go on stage as part of a choir in the all-girl rendition of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. I was excited. Happily surrounded by friends in an uplifting environment.

I didn’t want it to end. I had to capture that feeling.

So, as I waited to walk on stage, I noticed a little piece of white thread stuck to a green curtain hanging next to me. It was on the lower part of the curtain. It had a random shape as it clung onto the drapes.

I looked at it for minutes as I waited and soaked in the moment. It became my first memory token - a mental snapshot of a random object that happens to be nearby when that happiness happens. Till this day, I sometimes think of that little white thread.

I’ve taken a couple other memory tokens over the years. Like a white butterfly I once came across while going through a moment when I needed to be hopeful. That time I actually took a photo of it with my phone.

But the memory token is stronger than a photograph. It does not come with a “memory full” warning. Plus I can see it when my eyes are closed - which is often when I need to, or want to, go back to those special moments.