We Need to Take Better Notes

The art of "gathering" the words, photos, and videos that make an impression.

Last week, I wrote about “Zarissenheit,” or “torn to pieces-hood,” the state of feeling scattered and spread thin by the many (sometimes warring) aspects of life. Since then, I’ve been thinking about the opposite state, which is perhaps “wholeness.”

After much thought, I’ve decided that I prefer the term “gatheredness.” It implies action; in a world that’s constantly trying to splinter us apart, we have to gather the many parts of ourselves to have the best shot at creating art.

torn to pieces —> whole —> gathered

Recently, I’ve been receiving a masterclass in this “gatheredness” by content creator Rachel Nguyen. As part of the ilovecreatives Video Creator Course, she shared a lecture about building “systems” to collect your inspirations. The talk has led me down a path of overhauling many of my current (broken) processes in favor of ones that feel like little jolts of electricity sprinkled throughout the day.

And so I’ve been recording them—my every observation, thought, and mood. I’ve been writing in my notebook, saving compelling visuals in digital photo albums, and exporting the most critical information to Notion.

Rachel says that this method helps us “cross-reference” our many thoughts and observations so that we can identify patterns in our lives. This skill is important for creating videos, yes, but I think it’s helpful for any form of art.

Running our fingers across the invisible strings that tie our lives together can help us discover what themes we want to explore in our work. That way, when we look at a word-filled document and wonder, “What is this even about?” we’ll know.

To give you a more tangible idea of “gatheredness” (god I wish I knew the German word here), I’ve included a few bits and bobs I’ve gathered in the last week. I think the critical thing to remember is that nothing is too big or too small to collect. Everything is fair game.

When you’re walking on the beach, you stop to pick up the shells, of course. But you also stop to ogle the otherworldly items—the mermaid purses, the dead stingrays, washed-up jellyfish. We take these sights home with us even if we don’t slip them into our pockets… don’t we?

3 Things I’ve Gathered in the Last Week (and Why)

1. March Inspirational Imagery

Location: Apple Images Album

I wanted to see if I could pick up visual themes, so I went on are.na and started pulling visuals that spoke to me. I also included a poem and a quote sourced from Instagram—just because it felt right.

As you can perhaps tell from the above, I’ve been really drawn to grounded imagery lately. (See the flowers, the bunny rabbit.) In contrast, my mood board contains a lot of lonely imagery. The woman dancing alone is one example.

When I re-read the poem I included, I realized how much it reflected the other contents of my mood board. I would go as far as saying it glues them together. Subconsciously, I was looking for the right words to encompass my March mood—and there they were.