Take notes; it's important.
Is the note taking important, the note important, or those un-returnable spoken words important? Until recently, it never occurred to me to even consider the disconnect between that which you note and that which you know. There might be a real chance that because you took that note, you feel the freedom to forget it. I know I do. Having the interesting (or uninteresting) nugget readily accessible but not taking up headspace is like having the dictionary at the magic call of a quick Google search. Reliable with restraints and never really yours. For the record, the word "note" is first defined as "a brief record of facts, topics, or thoughts, written down as an aid to memory." Admittedly, there's a visceral beauty in capturing that wayward thought before it flickers to empty past. Losing what you thought you grasped is frankly frustrating. Still, I need to take better notice of what I take and why. If that puzzle piece is ever to be utilized, a promise must be made: a commitment signed in ink (physical or digital, these days) that I will indeed return to recapture that moment of meaning.
Oh and that second definition states a note is a "a short informal letter or written message." Friends, do sit down and count the cost of your words (honestly, the postage stamp isn't nearly as expensive as that glass brick in your pocket). I would argue any day for the value of the handwritten sentiment tangibly packaged and enveloped in authenticity. Time may age the paper and roughen the edges, but that message may still be heartfelt all these years later. Text is just one of the contributing pieces- definitely not a substitute. What you say and how you say it are inextricably tied to what it ultimately means. So, take note to communicate well, often, and (it's okay) conventionally. It matters now and later.
Put poetically, a model and an implicit commandment from the greatest written note to ever exist: "...show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." | 2 Corinthians 3:3
P.S. Chase down the etymology of the word. It's a fun connecting flight. And a quick apology to all of you who speak music theory- I didn't get that far.