Meaning in frames

In literature there is a technique called a framed story. An author creates a setting and a cast of characters to start a story, but then selects one of the characters to tell the tale that the rest of the story is about. At the end of that tale, the setting switches back to the one from the beginning of the story with the original cast of characters. Switching back to the original frame allows the author to then place a purpose or moral to the story in this original setting at the very end. It's a story within a story... thus, a framed story.

In life we have so many experiences for the mind to mull that it seeks to associate experiences so that it can store them in networks rather than discard them. Many times the mind will assign an experience to a broader one, placing one experience inside of another experience... a framed memory.

This summer I had a very serene Sunday on an island off the coast of Maine. I loved it because I was alone and could focus only on what I wanted to. Now the experience is framed inside a wider experience. And, the thoughts I had are further framed inside that experience. The beauty of framed memories is that they are not buried. They are meaningfully framed. They are not forgotten. They are contained within a vivid frame as if they happened yesterday. So, when I think of my time spent in the Northeast, I single out the frame of that serene Sunday spent on Peaks Island. And when that frame comes up, I single out the thoughts I had while staring out at the beautiful sister islands surrounding Peaks, dotting the Atlantic Ocean... thoughts of the one who stirs my heart... still...