memory planner | intentional memory keeping
Last year was another great year as found in my 2016 Memory Planner. I found myself faithful to the weeks almost completely. And why I wish there was 100% compliance in my planner, I’m not complaining. Because it was still a great capture of the nuances of everyday life. That’s saying something. I like to say, ‘something is better than nothing’. When it comes to documenting memories, this saying holds very true.
Here’s a bit of a look at a few highlights from last year’s book. A few of my favorite pages if you will.
All of 2016 is housed in the Black Stripe Planner that is still available at Michaels if you can find them. They will also be shipping to independents soon.
This year’s planner is starting with yet another layer of intent. I like to say that we live life ‘line upon line’. For me that means simply that I have established an order in my life, and then I add to it.
I have established the habit of the planner as a way to capture what has happened, as opposed to planning what is to come, and since this has become such an important aspect of my memory keeping, I am learning how to make it even more meaningful going forward.
Although this particular Memory Planner is a place for the memories, it’s also a place for serious inspiration for my life to be found.
The ‘dashboard’ is this place of mindfulness, well, the whole process can be called that, but most definitely this landing place at the beginning of the month for sure.
For me, the ‘dashboard’ holds the expected events of the month. The items that I ‘need’ to be getting to. And almost always a current quote or thought that is pushing me mentally. Sometimes I just stare at this page in it’s pre-month emptiness. In that it is provoking thought for me. It’s causing me to take time in the middle of two months and make some decisions, some plans, and to practice intentionality. Yet another reason to be held captive by this planner.
The month spread probably gets the least of the attention from me in terms of a memory keeping aspect. The days hold the expected events to come in the month. Often I will go back and record a special event…like maybe the birth of a baby in our extended family.
But the heart of the memory keeping quality for the Memory Planner is found on the weekly pages.
As I was reviewing 2016, these were the pages I turned to most. They read almost like a novel in the form of a bullet journal.
The weekly spread is the heart of my personal memory keeping. While my family albums are records of the events and moments in our family’s life, this Memory Planner in particular is me. It’s all about me. This is my place to jot down the words. Add the photos. Keep the moments in an orderly fashion in order to reign in that darn blur.
As Heidi quipped recently with regard to the Memory Keeping collection, this is my approach to ‘memory keeping in real time’. The Memory Planner is small enough to travel with me. And travel with me it did this year to CHA. The team would pause and take time to record the days events. With the help of a Canon Selphy we were able to print our photos and get those babies in place immediately.
That aspect has been one of the greatest benefits to me of this memory keeping system. To be present in the moment. To be intentional with one’s memories. To get them secured in place by word + photos almost exactly while in the moment! What a powerful way to live life and to keep memories.
There are many ways to keep memories these days. There are plenty of options for being intentional with slowing the blur. I owe a great debt to the Memory Planner system for keeping me inspired, motivated, and current in recording my life. It’s a passion I possess that only grows the more I tend to it. My hope, then, is for you to discover the same. I can’t encourage enough for you to tell your story, write it down, keep it safe for your memory and for those to come behind you. Why? Because it matters.
Our stories matter.
Supplies: Heidi Swapp Memory Planner
