How to save a FEELING

Today’s post comes from some inspiration I received from my friend Craig, after reading a note he had written a few weeks ago.  Craig writes advertising copy and does online marketing for a living, and it’s cool to see it when he brings a little bit of his style out in some personal notes.  Here’s what he wrote:

 

I was sitting at my coffee shop today and this song came on and give me the chills…

 

I’ve had a crazy fucking year. Some of the highest highs of my life and some pretty low lows.

Gotta embrace them all – without one, you can’t have the other.

This song was there at the start and now here at the end. Nothing to do with the lyrics – not even sure what they mean – but isn’t it crazy how a song can conjure up so many memories?

There’s a song that hits the radio once in awhile that still reminds me of a girl I dated when I was 18 years old… we spent 30 days and nights in a row together… and then it ended, can’t remember why…

But I’ll always be thankful for those magical 30 days… and that song that brings them back.

There’s a song reminds me of the night I was in LA packing my shit and it finally sunk in that I was REALLY moving to NY…

Another that every time I hear it I think of the long walk I took down my street when my parents told me they were getting divorced.

And another that played in the back of my mind when I buried my first pet. It still makes me want to cry.

And then a song that came on on a random Thursday night this year – I was in a crowded nightclub, but I’d arrived by myself.

It came on and all-of-a-sudden – despite being bone-dead sober – a wave of ecstasy SHOT through my body… stronger than anything I’d ever experienced!

It was because at that moment, for the first time as far back as I could remember, everything was absolutely perfect in my life.

Of course, “perfect” never stays, just like every song comes to an end.

But that’s ok. Because I know some day it will be again. And the times when it’s not allow us to appreciate the times when it is.

If it hasn’t happened for you lately, that’s ok. It probably just means you are DUE.

It’s very likely the next special moment in your life is right around the corner.

And when it happens – when the Universe seems to have synced up EVERYTHING exactly for you – make sure you remember it with a song.

-C

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Along with Craig’s note, I’d also like to suggest that a great way to remember a moment is to take a photo.  Of anything.  The only important thing – is that it’s IN THE MOMENT.

If you’ve ever seen the movie “With Honors” – Joe Pesci’s character picks up a rock from nearby wherever he is standing at various important moments in his life.  Each rock tells a story and carries a memory of someone, something, or sometime in the past.

Like I mentioned in my post about my experience in Russia last August – I like to take a photo to remember how I felt during a certain moment.  Looking at the photo of the windshield with the drops of rain across it, I can FEEL what was going through my mind at that moment.  Something I’ve always done with each new place I’ve moved is to take a photo of my new room, and then one more after I’ve decorated it.  It helps me remember what I would see on a day-to-day basis during a certain time period of my life.  Looking back, it’s a pretty crazy feeling seeing where I used to live and thinking what concerns I had on a day-to-day basis.  Try it out for yourself!  And make a collage when you’re 60, you’ll thank yourself, trust me.

In the photo below, it was the first day after receiving the news that I had finished my last class in college.  In addition to writing about it, this photo truly helps me remember how I felt at the time.  And really – THAT’S what matters most.

 

As an extra suggestion for this New Years approaching – I suggest a great way for you to remember 2011 would be to make yourself a soundtrack of your most important memories from the year.  Reflect on the good times, the bad times, the songs you heard the most and will make you feel nostalgia, and put them on a disc!

As for me, this song hits pretty hard for the past year, for a lot of reasons.  I’d love to hear about a song that always causes you to remember a certain feeling – tell me about it in the comment section below!