It's the Moments That Take Your Breath Away

A friend of mine asked me a great question a few months ago while we were talking about my Revive55 Project. Could we spend too much time preserving instead of enjoying?

I think the shell quote in my recent post sums it up perfectly for me. 

"One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few. " Anne Morrow Lindbergh

It's not every moment that matters...and as I write that, I am reminded of another quote that another friend has on display:

"Remember life is not the amount of breaths you take. It’s the moments that take your breath away." from the film Hitch starring Will Smith

Could we spend too much time preserving and documenting instead of enjoying new moments? I think that this is part of the Memories Bliss Point from my previous post. Do we enjoy preserving and documenting?  We re-experience those moments when we look at, preserve, tag, organize, or scrapbook our photos. In this way, we are still enjoying past memories in the present. We can even enjoy new moments by sharing and telling our stories with others.

If we enjoy making photo albums, it's time well-spent, but if it's a chore, perhaps it's an activity not worth doing. There may be a better way for you to preserve your memories. We can create new memories by returning to places we've been or re-experiencing moments we have loved in the past.

My friend has a good point. If we spend too much time in the past, we miss present moments. We also don't plan future experiences that may be even better than past ones. 

It's a balancing act between the past, the present and the future. This is my take-away from my Revive55 Project. I don't want to spend all my time preserving all my memories. They are more precious if they are few. Recognizing our happiest past memories helps us to see the memories that we will enjoy in the future.

Chase your dreams when you will enjoy the moments worth capturing and preserving. 

They Are More Beautiful If They Are Few

In my last post, I wrote about collecting more and more photos and memories during the months leading to our eldest leaving home for university and during a trip to Quebec for his last March Break. 

Luckily, we managed to have another family trip that summer driving along Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. I tried to remember every detail of this "last" trip together. I collected rocks from every beach we went to. I took photos of the rocks and separated them so that I could remember wich ones were from where. 

The rocks remind me of a special time. One of my favourite photos is the photo I took of my husband taking a photo of our kids skipping rock. Of course, his photo is a better photograph, but I love the moment that I captured.

The rocks were a memento of our time on the beach but not every beach we stopped at was special on this day. The one that 'took our breath away' in relation to the rocks was Big Bay; "The Stone Skipping capital of Canada.

But like I would later read,

"One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few. " Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Or in my case that day, one cannot collect all the beautiful rocks on the beach.

I would also add that although a few are beautiful, the collection as a whole on the beach are most beautiful.

I still haven't done anything with my rock collection. They are in a beautiful box but not being enjoyed or remembered.

Before learning this recent lesson, I continued to collect more and more memories. I took lots of photos and collected more and more mementos.

Last year, I started the Revive55 Project with the goal of preserving all these moments I had been collecting. How could I better remember and enjoy all these memories? During my project though, I read this shell quote and took an uncluttering course which changed my opinion.

While writing about collecting shells in Gift From The Sea, Anne Morrow Lindberg reflects:

"I couldn't even walk head up looking out to sea, for fear of missing something precious at my feet. The collector walks with blinders on; he sees nothing but the prize."

"In fact, the acquisitive instinct is incompatible with true appreciation of beauty." 

"For it is only framed in space that beauty blooms."

I may not need a box full of rocks to remember this holiday, but one (or a few) special ones from this beach. 

Even our kids were looking at their feet and found precious rocks, like this heart-shaped one because they know I love hearts. This rock "framed in space" in my daughter's hands is the most special.

As beautiful as the lake or the sky is, I do have to admit that the rocks are the precious part of this beach.

Although I have read this idea of less is more in various places, and appreciate its message; I still struggle with getting rid of things. During my Revive55 Project, I did select the most precious from some of my possessions. I have gotten rid of some of the least special but there is still more decluttering and deleting to be done.

To help, I have accepted that I need an 'in-between' phase. I am putting more in storage to see what I miss and want to better appreciate and what I am ready to let go of, even if I still like them. That's the challenge with decluttering mementos. We kept them because they mattered but as the years and moments accumulate, our space isn't big enough to keep the growing collection. Perhaps as time passes, our memory of the item will diminish so it will be easier to let go.

As I see my precious keepsakes surrounded by space rather than cluttered with others, it gives me more motivation to continue to make more space.

Write To Taste Life Twice

On August 6th, I received an email from the Team of the Day One app with the following quote that really resonated with me and my Revive55 Project:

"We write to taste life twice, 

in the moment and in retrospect."

Anaïs Nin

I loved the quote and copied it for this blog post. The post was going to be about writing our stories but a few days later, I picked up a book writeen with daily entries that I hadn't opened in a while - Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. I often find that I read something in it that is perfect for when I read it and I hoped that this trend would continue. 

I started by re-reading the entry I had read the last time I opened it:

"A wise woman once advised me not to be a 'would-be-if-I-could-be or a could-be-if-I-would be. 

Just be.' And while I have learned that dreams need doing as much as they need being,

 I have learned that the being always comes first."

This reminded me of what one of my friends said during our weekly progress meeting two days earlier:

"It's not a to do life, it's a to be life."

I stopped re-reading the post at that quote - being amazed at the coincidence and had to write an email update to our group. 

But as I continued reading the entry in the book to quote in the email, it said:

"Today is a day for being. Be with those you love, be kind to yourself. 

Be quiet and call forth the dream you buried long ago. 

The ember is still glowing in your soul. 

See it in your mind, hold it tenderly in your heart. 

"The dream was always running ahead of one," 

Anaïs Nin confessed. 

"To catch up, to live for a moment in union with it, 

that was the miracle."

Another coincidence I told them in the email, reminding them of the quote from the Day One email I had told them during our group call.

I had never "noticed"Anaïs Nai before although I had obviously read this passage before and now I was noticing her twice in one week.

I ended the email saying that I always look at these coincidences as me being on the right track encouraging me to keep going.

Fast forward to today (a week and a half later). To help in writing this post, I searched through my email for the message I sent to my group by searching for "Anaïs". Along with the email I was looking for (and the Day One email), I found one that my sister sent to a group in 2010 to let us know that she had arrived in Paris. A friend of hers replied and this was one of the two signature quotes at the bottom of her email:

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud 

was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -Anais Nin

This quote was so perfect for today. 

Writing about these small coincidences (and bigger moments) allows me to "taste life twice" and to connect the dots to see how one moment flows into another. 

The first quote is perfect for the Day One App. I love the app to capture memories in words, photos and other media. It's a great app to relive memories and "taste life twice".