I use a tool from Matthew Dicks' book, Storyworthy, that helps me realize something. It is a realization tool, something that takes the quotidien world and makes it into a special something, something 'storyworthy'. And it turns out that almost everything is storyworthy. Why? Dicks has an answer.
Here’s the thing about that story: We experience moments like this all the time.
This one may sound special and unique and maybe even beautiful, but only
because I’ve crafted this particular moment into a story. In truth, these moments
are everywhere. They exist in multitudes for all of us. They’re like dander in the
wind. They exist all around us. More than you could ever imagine. The problem is
that we don’t see these moments. We fail to notice them or recognize their
importance, and when we happen to see one, we don’t reach out to catch it. We
don’t record it. We don’t save it. We fail to keep these precious moments safe for
the future.
Years ago, I found a way to recognize and collect these moments, and it has
changed my life. It’s turned me into a storyteller with an endless supply of stories.
Stories that don’t rely upon near-death experiences or unlawful imprisonment or
homelessness to be effective. It’s also made me a happier person.
I originally marked this up in the book this way. I love the turn here: the problem is this--we don't notice these instants as they happen or we don't note them when we do notice them. We don't write them down.
Hence, he created the idea of 'Homework4Life' as a way to reflect, note, and keep these instants safe for...the future. I write mine down in a Google Form almost every day. The left hand column below were my notes for the day that I copied and pasted from Google Form's spreadsheet. The image is the inspiration from Dicks' book for doing the 'homework'. The right hand column is my take on how that particular observation was storyworthy. We really do pass up on thousands of storyworthy moments every....week?
Each of these items is a take on memory and how we can reflect on it in the immediate past and future. Why? Because to fail to do so at all is to give up on my humanity, to give up on what makes my life, as Mary Oliver puts it, so "wild and precious".
I challenge you to note your day's sweet happenings, then reflect a bit on what makes them storyworthy, and, finally, tell the story. I don't always follow my own advice, but when I do I am rewarded with something just like getting back a piece of shiny from a crow.