This is my family! Last week I traveled the 3 hour drive south to visit a group who my Dad referred to as “The Happy Gang.” In this photo you can understand why. When I arrived at the door, giant hugs greeted me and I was immediately enveloped into this household of love and laughter. I know I will look back on this photo in the years to come and think, what a great time we had that Thanksgiving!
I’m in the midst of reading a book called “The Art of Making Memories: How to Create and Remember Happy Moments” by Meik Wiking. Meik is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. While there seems to be far too many books, blogs and tips about “happiness” lately, this book drew me in as it is a follow up to one of my favourite tiny, colourful books on living well by Meik called “The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living” where he reveals how creating a gentle, peaceful, light-filled environment can help elevate mood. Think a cozy knit blanket, a steaming cup of tea and a good book on a cold Sunday afternoon. I guess my introvert is showing 🙂
In “The Art of Making Memories” Wiking shares that there are 8 keys to making happy memories that last:
- harness the power of firsts
- make it multisensory
- invest attention
- create meaningful moments
- use the emotional highlighter pen
- capture peaks and struggles
- use stories to stay ahead of the forgetting curve
- outsource memory (think taking pictures)
Unsurprisingly I’m going to spend time on the last bullet today. You know I like to take photos. Lots of them! In fact, most people now do, and the rise of digital photography has certainly made this so much easier. Each year humans take a trillion photos! Sure, not all are keepers, but surely there is a reason why we choose to do this?
In The Art of Making Memories, Wiking talks about the importance of photos as “outsourced memories” or ways to boost our recollections of past events. To illustrate this idea, he talks about a website called The Burning House, a collection of images of things that people would save if their house was on fire. Photo albums came out on top of this list as a must-save. They represent our remembered and often not-remembered past. They remind us of who we are, who we were and how we lived and loved.
When the Henderson/Chalupka’s get together, photo albums do come out! More love and quite a bit of laughter. In fact, the photo albums from when Jenny and I were wee red heads look like a museum for Polaroid! Hazy tones, crinkly white-ish frames, and clothes from That 70’s Show! Such good times!
I for one am glad we have continued to take lots of great, and not-so-great photos of our time together. Some day, as those of us know who have lost a parent or loved one, they will become precious. Reminders of good times well-spent together.
For those of you who are wondering if I have magically resurrected my Polaroid Land Camera for the above photos, I haven’t. There really is an app for everything! I made use of the fun Instant app that mimics not only the output of a Polaroid photo but the experience as well. Once you have taken a photo in this app, you actually shake your phone or blow on it to make the photo appear faster! Remember doing that with Polaroid photos? Way too much fun! As was taking the photo below of our Happy Gang.
Thanks for the wonderful, totally awesome Thanksgiving, Chalupka’s! I know we will look back on this weekend and smile.