the art of creating a moment

or how to squeeze life's juice

a Cute Little Moment at a café in Singapore, July 2019

A little while ago my friend and I had a conversation about how you need to create “moments” in your life if you want to have good memories.

Moments are those little splendid situations, events, circumstances that make you look around and say to yourself: wow, this is a moment. Moments are memorable. They take you out of the mundanity, the routine, the repetitive motion of your every day life, and say: hey—look up! You’re somewhere new, doing something new, experiencing something different.

Consistency, routine, mundanity are important for many reasons (mental health, progress, growth, stability), but they do not create memories. Routine actually blurs time in this weird, warped way that makes it seem like the time never really passed at all—like those 100 similar days were somehow just one day. Our brain doesn’t care to store 100 similar days each as a unique memory (at least this is my theory on memory). It just mashes them all into one blurry, extended period of similar days and then shrinks that time period, which makes it feel like we somehow lost all of that time. This is what the lockdowns during the pandemic felt like for me. My days were so similar, so consistent, so predictable, that despite 5 or so months of time going by, I had almost no new memories. It was very strange, especially after just finishing college where every day basically burned a new memory into my brain!

But now that the world is open, and summer bliss is upon us (an especially precious time for us Canadians <3), it feels like my life is overflowing with moments. 

I seem to have a unique knack for creating these moments. It's like my whole life is one giant, continuous stream of moments. Right now, I am writing this while snacking on a freshly baked croissant at my favourite local café where they only sweeten lattes with maple syrup (again: I’m Canadian).

I’ve come to appreciate moments so much that I almost can’t resist turning any mundane act into a Cute Little Moment. I need to feel totally content with the moment I’m in to settle into it. I simply can’t rest until it is a moment!

This has its pros and cons, of course. Pros: I tend to create really lovely, memorable, beautiful moments and experiences for myself and those around me. Cons: I have really high standards and distinct preferences for how I want things to go, and can be bothered when the moment doesn’t come together the way I envisioned it (lol). 

A funny rudimentary example of this is the way I like to construct snacks. To me: a snack should be a moment. I’m not just going to have any average snack. My snack needs to consist of enough dimension, flavour, colour, and delight that it is worth making. For example: an apple = insufficient snack. But an apple + peanut butter + honey + cinnamon = a moment. Why not create a moment! You probably have all the ingredients you need to do so, except the one key ingredient that every moment demands: patience. 

If you’re in a rush to get something done, to eat your snack, to write your email, to get to your appointment, to get your work out in—you simply won’t be able to create a moment. Moments are deliberate.

The creation of a moment requires patience, intention, foresight. Moments aren’t hard to make, they just require you to step away from your brain’s constant desire to optimize and accelerate, and instead slow down and do something “unnecessary” but enjoyable.

Turn that commute to your appointment into a lovely walk through a scenic path: a moment. Clean your room, make a tea, light a candle, and then respond to your emails. Now, it’s a moment. Pull your yoga mat outside, put on some sunscreen and do your work out in the sunlight. Then, stretch and lay on your mat and take some deep breaths. Moment! 

There’s a trend on the internet that recently emerged encouraging people to romanticize their life: indulge in the little things that make life beautiful. Soak in that feeling of warm sun on your skin. Pick up flowers for yourself to make your space more beautiful. Go on a walk, get a nice coffee, and just sit with yourself and enjoy it. Romanticizing life, creating moments, being present. These are all different flavours of the same idea: ground yourself where you are, wake yourself up to the beauty around you, and bask in it. Appreciate it. Seek it out! Surround yourself with little injections of beauty and delight in your life. 

Create moments. Soak them in. And then, you’ll be able to look back and recall that one summer day where you walked to your appointment and saw those beautiful flowers blooming and the smell of fresh cut grass that flooded your senses and screamed summer is here. You’ll recall the nice little note the barista wrote on your cup wishing you a good day, or the cool pants someone at the coffee shop was wearing that you complimented. 

Ornamenting your life with moments makes you richer. Richer in memories, in joy, in presence, in beauty, and in appreciation for the world around you. Routine is wonderful, and it helps us become better versions of ourselves, but shaking ourselves out of routine and into a moment is what makes life juicy. Create some moments. Squeeze life’s juice :)