Moments Make a Life...

March Madness is upon us. Two teams will be crowned national champions of men’s and women’s college basketball, respectively. Those teams will celebrate their ‘One shining moment’ by jumping across the court, high-fiving and hugging each other, lifting trophies and cutting down nets.

A national championship win is a huge moment for an athlete – one most athletes never experience – a moment they’ll talk about for the rest of their lives.

Anyone who played basketball, at any level, surely remembers the squeak of shoes on the hardwood, the way a whistle can cut through the buzz of crowd noise or the silence as a free throw goes up toward the net.

Yeah, most of us won’t ever have the kind of hardware that comes with a national championship, but any of us who played basketball carry the sights and sounds with us. They become a part of the fabric of our story.

Maybe you weren’t an athlete – maybe your auditory memories come from the years you spent bent over a piano. Maybe brushing your fingertips across the smooth ivory and black keys takes you back to your grandmother’s living room.

Maybe when you walk past a new breakfast spot on the Main Street in your town, you can still smell your mom’s kitchen on a Saturday morning as she rolled out a thick pad of biscuit dough.

Moments make a life, be they little or big.

We spend a lot of time with people’s memories. We’ve made it our business to help people tap into their stories and the stories of their loved ones. Maybe you’ve been thinking about Maybe you’ve been thinking about how to record your own story. We’d love to help you get started. We have the tools for you to record your story at your own pace and in your own way, with our DIY workbook. Or we can help guide you with our concierge interview service.

Memories last a lifetime, but a record of your story lasts even longer. Find out how we can help you today at memoriesinwriting.com

Your Story... a collection of stories, accomplishments, and milestones.

NASA landed another rover on Mars. The incredible feat is yet another milestone that can make you feel small – not in a bad way, but small in the sort of awe and wonder you experience more often as a child.

We live in a big incredible world and the older we get, the tougher it can be to find those moments of awe. When we experience them, it can be profound. It can knock you off your feet if you stop and think about how small you are in the context of all that surrounds you. But those moments can also remind us how our lives contribute to the world at large.

History is a collection of individual stories, accomplishments, and milestones.

Maybe yours doesn’t include blatantly fascinating feats like landing a rover on Mars, but it does include all the memories you made with your friends when you were growing up. Those are the little moments that contributed to who they’ve become and who you’ve become. Those are the moments that build people who go out into the world and make an impact.

It’s easy to dismiss your own story – to consider what you’ve been through to be unimportant to anyone beyond your inner circle.

Maybe you’re guilty of minimizing yourself. But consider the ways you’ve cared for your community – maybe you’ve organized a charitable effort, maybe you’ve traveled the globe to learn more about its varied people, maybe you’ve simply raised a child in a loving home. Each of these things that makes up your story, makes up all of our history. It’s not all rovers landing on Mars, but it’s all impactful. Fostering the passion for your own story is a practice in appreciating the world at large.

Get started sharing your story today.

Memories In Writing is always here to help you and your loved ones track those moments. Maybe you’re ready to start recording what you’ve experienced or maybe you want to help your mom or dad get started. Either way, we have our Captured Memories Workbook, MIW Online and MIW Interview Service that make it easy and we’re excited to help you get started.

Breathe, Just Breathe...

It’s incredibly easy to get sucked into the resolution game this time of year. We’re all looking for ways to do better, be better, look better or feel better as we turn the page on a new year.

There are diets to follow and habits to be made, but it’s not always easy to keep up. In fact, more than two thirds of the way into January, you might’ve already moved on from your initial goals of the year. There’s no shame in that. We’ve all been there.

Being your best self doesn’t have to mean making drastic changes. Maybe you could benefit from practicing a bit of mindfulness and leaning into all you’ve done and seen up to this point?

Here are a handful of ideas for celebrating all that’s made you who you are as you take on a new year with surprises ahead:

• Write down a short list of places you’ve visited and what made you most happy while you were there. At a time when most of us are not traveling like we usually do, think about the impact those trips (be they for work or play) had on your perspective of the world.

• Jot down the names of three people you’d like to call or write a letter to in the next two weeks. What do you want to say to them? Now set the time aside to make the call or write the letter. Put it on your calendar if you’re afraid you might forget or declare you’re too busy.

• Choose a book you’ve had for a while and never read. Commit to reading a little each day, even if you start with just one page before bed.

• Go through that junk drawer -- you know the one -- rifle through the loose batteries, and post-it notepads, test the pens to see which ones actually still work, put your checkbook in a more responsible place. Just take the time to address something small and realize the impact even a little bit of organization can have on your mindset.

• Breathe. We know it sounds silly. You breathe all the time without thinking about it, but try thinking about it for once. Whatever you’re doing, whether it’s a new workout or just having a cup of coffee on your couch, stop for a few beats and focus on your breaths. Recognize how many millions of breaths you’ve taken without notice -- how many significant moments in which your body has carried on with its responsibility of breathing without any effort. Just breathe.

Maybe you’ll finish reading this and get right back to the resolution work you’ve started. Maybe you’ll do one or two of these and that’s it. Maybe you’ll do the whole list. We’re not keeping tabs. We’re just hoping this new year has been and will continue to be one that reminds you to delight in all the moments that make your life.

Memories In Writing is always here to help you and your loved ones track those moments. Maybe you’re ready to start recording what you’ve experienced or maybe you want to help your mom or dad get started. Either way, we have our Captured Memories Workbook and MIW Online solutions that make it easy and we’re excited to help you get started.