Virginia Woolf is recognized as one of the great innovators of modern fiction.

Her experiments with point of view have influenced many writers that followed her.

But one particularly interesting technique that does not seem to receive much attention is her use of moment of being.

…to wonder why some moments are so powerful and memorable – even if the events themselves are unimportant – that they can be vividly recalled while other events are easily forgotten.

She concludes that there  are two kinds of experiences: (MOMENTS of) BEING and (MOMENTS of) NON-BEING.

Virginia Woolf never explicity defines what she means by "moments of being". Instead, she provides examples of these moments and contrasts them with moments of what she calls "non-being".

Moments of non being appear to be moments that the individual is not consciuously aware of even as he/she experiences them. She notes that people perform routine tasks such as walking and shopping without thinking about them.

This part of the life is "not lived consciously," but instead is embedded in "a kind of nondescript cotton wool".

It is not the nature of the actions that separates moments of being from moments of non-being