Thoughts: You don't get much time at ALL to work with it.
  Amplify it quickly or it's gone. Repetition. Good ol' Rote. Turn
  it into a short song. Same thing as memorizing a series of
  numbers long enough to get through a doorway [see doorway
  effect]. There's also Roman Room technique as well. My favorite
  little trick is putting thoughts in a virtual mental basket and
  carrying them through doorways. Odd but it keeps them present.
  Otherwise, I have to go back into the other room to remember.
  Relax, look around, try to forget that I was remembering and
  BOOM there it is, pops right up again.