The vault

lumberjim · 07-11-2009, 11:31 PM

Take a step back from your self when you notice it. You have that feeling like everything is going OK. You're enjoying the moment, and wish you could save the feeling. Maybe you're watching your kids having fun, or the weather is just perfect, and you've just done some yard work, or you notice how much you love your spouse...... whatever... Stop and look around. At the moment when you realize your contentment, take a mental photograph, sniff the air.... Pick out a unique image or color, or something to tie it to, and freeze it. Think of other times when you felt like this.

Now lock it up in the Vault. Visualize physically stashing this feeling inside a big cartoon safe with the big tumbler on it. put it with those other memories, and lock the safe.

the big thing is to remember to open that safe and take the memories out every now and again.

xoxoxoBruce · 07-11-2009, 11:42 PM

Wouldn't it be better to try to recreate it every day?

lumberjim · 07-12-2009, 12:02 AM

YEAH....but you can't. life happens...

and if everyday was like that, it would be nothing special.

Griff · 07-12-2009, 04:54 AM

Brilliant LJ.

Shawnee123 · 07-12-2009, 10:21 AM

I like your posts about remembering to enjoy what's really important in life, jim.

limey · 07-12-2009, 11:46 AM

Me too ...

Sundae · 07-12-2009, 11:59 AM

R S Thomas said a similar thing, in one of my very favourite poems:

A Day in Autumn

It will not always be like this,
The air windless, a few last
Leaves adding their decoration
To the trees’ shoulders, braiding the cuffs
Of the boughs with gold; a bird preening

In the lawn’s mirror. Having looked up
From the day’s chores, pause a minute,
Let the mind take its photograph
Of the bright scene, something to wear
Against the heart in the long cold.

Flint · 07-13-2009, 12:05 PM

About a month ago I was just lying on my back in the backyard, looking up at the canopy of pecan trees rustling gently in the breeze, and hearing the chatter of my kids playing in the yard somewhere nearby, and I thought to myself "Right now, at this moment, this is the happiest I've ever been."

What made that moment possible is a huge structure of events and conditions, chiefly the support and camaraderie of a loving wife and everything that has precipitated from my union with her; and all of that is contained neatly in the snapshot I have of those swaying pecan branches, the soft grass, the warm summer air.

Shawnee123 · 07-13-2009, 12:09 PM

Sundae, that is a beautiful poem.

Flint, your post is poetry.

Flint · 07-13-2009, 12:14 PM

Thanks. I tried to word that the way it felt.

I love lumberjim's very Silva Method technique of utilizing the right brain to set a memory hook.

BigV · 07-13-2009, 12:35 PM

Pay attention *now*. Soon, everything will change.

capnhowdy · 07-13-2009, 08:30 PM

LJ..... sometimes you can really be inspiring. Thanks.

lumberjim · 07-13-2009, 11:11 PM

You take certain things with you into the future. You can surely decide which things they are. In order to save a memory, you first have to notice it.

Here I am sitting on the balcony of a hotel in Cabo San Lucas. I woke up before the sun has risen, and I'm waiting for it to come up, so I can take a good picture to post on the cellar.

Now it's 1989, and I've taken a friend to Temple University, where she will be going to college..... It's January, and we're in a stairwell, and there is a door with one of those high mounted, small square windows in it. There's a bit of grey paint on the glass, and someone has scratched the word 'illusions' into it.

I'm in the back of a furniture delivery truck at dusk, and I look out and see the sun setting over an empty field. the sky is pink fading to orange. It's October, and I can FEEL the Autumn.

Flint gets it.

dar512 · 07-14-2009, 08:52 AM

The best way to take things with you into the future is to write them down. This is one of the reasons some people keep a journal.

I posted a few years ago about a practically perfect day. I still vividly remember that day. I think because I wrote about it here.

But normally I'm too lazy to keep a journal.

lumberjim · 08-02-2009, 10:37 PM

at 10 :45, i decided i needed to go grill my chicken breasts for lunch tomorrow and tuesday......jinx said.....'why don't you put those plantains on the grill too?'

so, by 11PM we had chicken, Plantain, Papaya and Peaches on the grill.

So we woke the kids up and had a fine time grilling the fruit ( and one marshmallow each) and then eating them. At one point, standing in the dark by the grill, looking up at the moonlit clouds, I caught the notion that I'm good to go. If I died right now, I would be fine with it. Glad I didn't and all, but......hey......this is going into the vault.

07-11-2009, 11:31 PM	#1
lumberjim I can hear my ears Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 25,571	The vault Take a step back from your self when you notice it. You have that feeling like everything is going OK. You're enjoying the moment, and wish you could save the feeling. Maybe you're watching your kids having fun, or the weather is just perfect, and you've just done some yard work, or you notice how much you love your spouse...... whatever... Stop and look around. At the moment when you realize your contentment, take a mental photograph, sniff the air.... Pick out a unique image or color, or something to tie it to, and freeze it. Think of other times when you felt like this. Now lock it up in the Vault. Visualize physically stashing this feeling inside a big cartoon safe with the big tumbler on it. put it with those other memories, and lock the safe. the big thing is to remember to open that safe and take the memories out every now and again. __________________ This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan

07-11-2009, 11:42 PM	#2
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Wouldn't it be better to try to recreate it every day? __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

07-12-2009, 12:02 AM	#3
lumberjim I can hear my ears Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 25,571	YEAH....but you can't. life happens... and if everyday was like that, it would be nothing special. __________________ This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan

07-12-2009, 04:54 AM	#4
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	Brilliant LJ. __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

07-12-2009, 10:21 AM	#5
Shawnee123 Why, you're a regular Alfred E Einstein, ain't ya? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 21,206	I like your posts about remembering to enjoy what's really important in life, jim. __________________ A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones who need the advice. --Bill Cosby

07-12-2009, 11:46 AM	#6
limey Encroaching on your decrees Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: An island within the south-west coast of Scotland Posts: 7,016	Me too ... __________________ Living it up on the edge ... of civilisation, within the southwest coast of

07-12-2009, 11:59 AM	#7
Sundae polaroid of perfection Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 24,185	R S Thomas said a similar thing, in one of my very favourite poems: A Day in Autumn It will not always be like this, The air windless, a few last Leaves adding their decoration To the trees’ shoulders, braiding the cuffs Of the boughs with gold; a bird preening In the lawn’s mirror. Having looked up From the day’s chores, pause a minute, Let the mind take its photograph Of the bright scene, something to wear Against the heart in the long cold.

07-13-2009, 12:05 PM	#8
Flint Snowflake Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dystopia Posts: 13,136	About a month ago I was just lying on my back in the backyard, looking up at the canopy of pecan trees rustling gently in the breeze, and hearing the chatter of my kids playing in the yard somewhere nearby, and I thought to myself "Right now, at this moment, this is the happiest I've ever been." What made that moment possible is a huge structure of events and conditions, chiefly the support and camaraderie of a loving wife and everything that has precipitated from my union with her; and all of that is contained neatly in the snapshot I have of those swaying pecan branches, the soft grass, the warm summer air. __________________ **************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio** Last edited by Flint; 07-13-2009 at 12:38 PM. Reason: i before e except after c

07-13-2009, 12:09 PM	#9
Shawnee123 Why, you're a regular Alfred E Einstein, ain't ya? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 21,206	Sundae, that is a beautiful poem. Flint, your post is poetry. __________________ A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones who need the advice. --Bill Cosby

07-13-2009, 12:14 PM	#10
Flint Snowflake Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Dystopia Posts: 13,136	Thanks. I tried to word that the way it felt. I love lumberjim's very Silva Method technique of utilizing the right brain to set a memory hook. __________________ **************** There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio**

07-13-2009, 12:35 PM	#11
BigV Goon Squad Leader Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 27,063	Pay attention now. Soon, everything will change. __________________ Be Just and Fear Not.

07-13-2009, 08:30 PM	#12
capnhowdy Blatantly Homosapien Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 6,200	LJ..... sometimes you can really be inspiring. Thanks. __________________ Please type slowly. I can't read very fast............... and no holy water, please.

07-13-2009, 11:11 PM	#13
lumberjim I can hear my ears Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 25,571	You take certain things with you into the future. You can surely decide which things they are. In order to save a memory, you first have to notice it. Here I am sitting on the balcony of a hotel in Cabo San Lucas. I woke up before the sun has risen, and I'm waiting for it to come up, so I can take a good picture to post on the cellar. Now it's 1989, and I've taken a friend to Temple University, where she will be going to college..... It's January, and we're in a stairwell, and there is a door with one of those high mounted, small square windows in it. There's a bit of grey paint on the glass, and someone has scratched the word 'illusions' into it. I'm in the back of a furniture delivery truck at dusk, and I look out and see the sun setting over an empty field. the sky is pink fading to orange. It's October, and I can FEEL the Autumn. Flint gets it. __________________ This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan

07-14-2009, 08:52 AM	#14
dar512 dar512 is now Pete Zicato Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago suburb Posts: 4,968	The best way to take things with you into the future is to write them down. This is one of the reasons some people keep a journal. I posted a few years ago about a practically perfect day. I still vividly remember that day. I think because I wrote about it here. But normally I'm too lazy to keep a journal. __________________ "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." -- Friedrich Schiller

08-02-2009, 10:37 PM	#15
lumberjim I can hear my ears Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 25,571	at 10 :45, i decided i needed to go grill my chicken breasts for lunch tomorrow and tuesday......jinx said.....'why don't you put those plantains on the grill too?' so, by 11PM we had chicken, Plantain, Papaya and Peaches on the grill. So we woke the kids up and had a fine time grilling the fruit ( and one marshmallow each) and then eating them. At one point, standing in the dark by the grill, looking up at the moonlit clouds, I caught the notion that I'm good to go. If I died right now, I would be fine with it. Glad I didn't and all, but......hey......this is going into the vault. __________________ This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan

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