Index Cards and the Cost of Remembering
Anne Lamott on the importance of her index cards in Bird by Bird:
I used to think that if something was important enough, I’d remember it until I got home, where I could simply write it down in my notebook like some normal functioning member of society. But then I wouldn’t
Even beyond this very salient point, there’s always a tax to pay for remembering such things in your head. The cost is that you start to reduce or even eliminate new input to keep the notion fresh in your head. For me, index cards are a tool of mindfulness. I touch each though deeply enough to write it down, and then I put my hipster PDA away and focus my attention onto the phenomena in front of me right now. For me, in order to be present in the moment, I have to stop my natural tendency toward attachment to ideas, situations, and emotions from the past.
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