collecting pieces of the world

Audience participation: Prepare yourself. Ready. and begin.

Recall one of the most beautiful landscapes you've been in. Or recall a lively and fun moment with a loved one. Can you remember the scents of the moment? the sights of the moment? what sounds your ears recorded? how you felt during it? what thoughts it conjured in you?

In moments that I want to capture and remember forever, or experiences during which I want to be fully present, I do Moment Grabbing.

My camera was stolen/lost three weeks into my Sudamerica trip. So I started memorizing scenes, landscapes, and experiences. People always say, "That's awful about your camera," and while yes, photos would be great, I'm somewhat grateful. Instead of a computer folder with hundreds of photos, I am filled and bursting with this beauty I memorized: of private lagoons and wild blackberry stained fingers, of volcanoes and mountain rivers, of the surprisingly un-awkward chatting between tangos, of musty wooden floors and dancing snapping fingers.

So next time you want to memorize a moment, or just be fully present in it, try this: silence yourself. let yourself fully understand that you are THERE. present. nowhere else. let your gaze rest on one aspect of the scene. memorize it. close your eyes to test yourself. stay there until it's perfectly real behind closed eyes. do this until all sights are captured. next close your eyes and memorize the smell. make a metaphor to help you describe it. let the noise hit you, let your body absorb it, and tuck it away. notice the emotions and thoughts that arise in you as you fully live in that one moment. then make sure you can mentally recreate it.

viola. you now have another piece of the world inside you.