how to keep your memory from fading

Do you remember the day you got your first job?  Your first day of college?  Your engagement day?  Bringing your first baby home from the hospital?

Pick one.  Think back to that day.

What can you tell me about that day?

Chances are, if--today--you were to tell me about that day, you might say something like, "It was great."  "It was a wonderful day."  "It was exciting."  "Very special."

But if I had been with you on that day, you would have a lot more to tell me!  There would be details, emotions, sights, smells, nerves, what happened on the way there, what happened on the way home, what you were thinking, how someone else reacted, and more.

So what can we do about it?

Here are some things you can do to keep those memories alive and cherished, which in turn give us increased happiness and fulfillment!  

1. Take photos.  There's absolutely nothing like seeing your beloved grandmother or an angel baby again, or your wedding day or your first day at a new job.  That's what a photo does--it brings them back.  Those events, those people, those times aren't lost when you have a photo.
2. Write.  The old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" is mostly true, but without recorded details, your thousand words are quickly slipping away as the the actual memories literally fade a little every day.  You don't have to be a writer.  You just have to write.  What do you remember?  Who is in the photo?  When and where was the photo taken?  Why was it taken?  What made it photo-worthy, meaningful, fun, special, interesting, hard, good, worth remembering?  Write it down.  I guarantee you won't remember all those things if you wait 10 years.
3. Preserve the photos and their stories (the writing part).  A box isn't where something this powerful belongs.  Photos and memories need to be taken care of.  I call it memory-keeping.  Some people call it scrapbooking.  Whatever that looks like to you, find a high-quality way to preserve these precious mementos of your life's journey.  {Here are three excellent ways to do it.}   
4. Reflect.  Share.  Look through your memory-keeping, your photos and journals.  Take some time to get centered.  See where you've been and see how far you've come.  Share your memories and life experiences with others.  Children especially LOVE looking through scrapbooks and memory books of themselves, but be sure you do it as well.  There are even therapeutic benefits!

 Preserved memories don't fade nearly as much.  

{Get started preserving your photos and memories right here.}

why you should preserve your photos in print

I've talked about this before, but preserving photos in print is a REALLY BIG DEAL.  It's the only meaningful way to store them, as I talked about {here}.  But here's a stark reminder:

This graphic is from a survey from {Professional Photographers of America}, which I saw {here}.

This only mentions the 4.5 million cell phones lost in a year in the United States.  This doesn't mention the ones dropped in a toilet or swimming pool.  And this doesn't even cover hard drive crashes, unreadable files, or any of the other technology-inflicted issues.

Save your photos!  And by that I mean:  RESCUE THEM.  Get them off your camera or computer.  That's only the backup version of them anyway.  Put them in hands, on shelves, on walls, and let connections happen.  Let photos and memories be enjoyed. 

There are amazing, heirloom-quality options for preserving your photos in print right here--and they're so different that there's really something for everyone!  These options are better than anything else I've seen!

You take photos for a reason.  Print them so you remember why.

how to get your pictures off your phone

If you don't know how to get your pictures off your phone, that's the first thing to learn so that you can then preserve your photos.

It's wise to store them at least one way digitally, but {the best way to store photos is in print}.  Think of digital photo storage like old-time film negatives.  Negatives were good to save in case something happened to your printed photos.  But the printed photos were the important part because THEY were the things that got SEEN.  It's not so different today. 

But first you have to get your pictures off your phone, right?

UPDATE 2021:  With a (free) Forever account you can get the Forever mobile app and upload directly from your phone! 

METHOD #1
One way to get your photos from your phone to your computer is to e-mail them to yourself.  Just be sure to select "actual size" or "full size" or "full resolution" when you're asked what size you want to send them.  You don't want to receive them in lower resolution (lower quality) than you took them. 

Once you receive the e-mail from yourself with the photos in it, open the e-mail and then download (or save) the photos to your computer.

METHOD #2
Your phone should have come with a cable so that your phone can be plugged into your computer for backing it up, etc.  It should have a USB end and a phone end. 

If you have this cable, you can actually go onto your computer and open your phone, click on the photos on your phone, and copy and paste them onto your computer.

I have PC and an iPhone, so what that looks like for me is I find "This PC" then "my iPhone."  I double-click "my iPhone" and a window opens that says "internal storage."  I click that and see a folder called "DCIM."  I have videos and pictures inside that folder.  This is definitely not the simplest way to get your photos off your phone because after you open DCIM, each photo and video is in its own folder.  That means I have to double-click each folder individually, and when I see each photo (in jpeg form), I  right-click on the photo, choose "copy," and then go to the location on my computer where I want to save it and click "paste." 

As I said, this is not the simplest way to get your photos off your phone, but it does work.  This is a good method to get the VIDEOS off your phone and saved onto your computer, though!

And there you have it.  Three ways to get your photos off your camera so you can PRESERVE THEM by printing them!

Heirloom-quality digital photo-storybooks are a convenient and fantastic way to print your photos!  {Get started here!}

Since when did "scrapbooking" become a requirement for memory-keeping?

I've always been a memory-keeper, journaler, scrapbooker.  Since their inception, photos have always GONE somewhere--in a family album, or some sort of book.  So I tend to think that for a long while, everyone was a memory-keeper or scrapbooker.  

You took a picture, you put it in a book and documented it, the end.

And somewhere along the line (in the 1990s, I'd say), this thing called scrapbookING came about.  A scrapbook was no longer a noun.  It was a verb--"to scrapbook."  You could be a scrapbookER and do scrapbookING.

I'll never forget the first time I learned that.  I had moved to a new city and was getting to know someone new.  I mentioned that I'd been working on my scrapbooks.  She was THRILLED!  "You're a scrapbooker??"  She asked to see what I'd done.  I thought that was a really odd request because it was just photos organized in one of those magnetic photo albums--you know, the ones where you peel back the protective film and put your photos on the sticky surface.  It wasn't a big deal.  But I gave my three-ring album to her and watched her face fall as she gave a cursory look through my book.  I didn't really understand what she was expecting or why she was disappointed.  And then I learned the term "scrapbooking"--and learned that it meant this:

It meant cute.

Papers.  Embellishments.  Layering.  Cutting.  Cropping.

I later learned that I needed to get my photos out of those acid-filled books and onto acid-free paper.  And I like creativity, so I jumped on the scrapbookING wagon.

But I always knew not EVERYONE wants to sit down for hours to create pages like this.  That's why when Heritage Makers came my way in 2005, I could see the potential.  It could bring back memory-keeping to people who didn't think they could do it because they didn't like (or have time for) scrapbooking.

People who don't like the scissors and the storage space required for traditional paper scrapbooking could create photo-storybooks digitally!

And that is the truth.  It just matters that you DO.

Over the last couple of decades, we've somehow developed this *incorrect* notion that we can't do anything with our photos if we don't scrapbook.  And there are so many people who don't have time for or interest in scrapbooking!

Since when did "scrapbooking" become a requirement for memory-keeping?!

Bombshell, guys.  It's not!  It's NOT a requirement for memory-keeping.

{Get started preserving your photos, memories, and stories digitally with one of these fantastic, high-quality options!}

Want easier scrapbooking or memory-keeping? Find something addictive!

I talk with a lot of people about their photos and memories in my line of work.  A lot of people struggle with regular memory-keeping.  I periodically come across people who have something that works for them, but it's rare.  Most people I talk to don't yet have a memory-keeping method they love and like using often.  (Lucky for them, though, they're talking to ME, so that's about to be resolved!) 

But you know what makes the BEST memory-keeping or scrapbooking??   (I mean aside from quality, flexibility, and everything else listed in the "What Makes Heritage Makers Different" tab above in red.)

It's addicting! 

Not sure how that helps?  Here's an example:

I do my everyday memory-keeping using Heritage Makers digital scrap pages (individual scrap pages as opposed to the hardbound books) just because I like the freedom of a loose-leaf system so I can add my kids' artwork or class pictures or whatever.  WELL!  A couple of months ago there was a big Heritage Makers sale on scrap pages.  It was a surprise sale, and a bigger savings than the usual monthly discounts (see "discounts" tab above for the current sales).  We had just gotten back from a big trip and I'd taken tons of pictures.  So putting them into scrap pages was a project already in progress.  When I saw this sale announced, though, I knew I could save a lot of money if I took advantage of it, so I decided to get all those pages done in 2 weeks.  I worried about having time to do it because I had a lot of other things going on, but I sat down every day to "just do a little" and guess what.  Pretty much every time I would end up telling myself, "Okay, JUST ONE MORE PAGE."  It was so addicting that getting a lot done was really easy.  I kept wanting to come back to it!

 

A vital part of memory-keeping is loving it.  So my tip to you today is this:  if you want memory-keeping or scrapbooking to be easier, find an addicting way to do it!

If you haven't yet, you need to give Heritage Makers a try.  It's fun, therefore addicting, and that makes it easy to motivate yourself to get your photos off your camera or phone and get them into PRINT so they can be loved!  (In case you missed it, here's why preserving your photos in print is even more important than preserving them digitally:  {read here}.)  Heritage Makers is high-quality with lots of perks listed in the tabs above, but equally as important, it's addicting, which will help you get it done!

Or here are some other ideas to help you find something you'll love:

If you don't already have one, open your free Heritage Makers account at www.heritagemakers.com/jenniferwise and watch this short {tutorial video about getting started} then start preserving your photos and memories!

preserving memories and stories of those who have gone before us

Heritage Makers provides so many beautiful ways to honor and pay tribute to those who have gone before us.  It not only respects our loved ones, but it therapeutically helps us grieve, cope, and celebrate their lives.

Even something as simple as a keepsake ornament is a beautiful memory:

 

Books with multiple pictures and room for memories and stories are especially wonderful.  This would be fitting for any grandparent:

(The full preview can be seen here:   http://www.heritagemakers.com/gallery/#/t/61703)

Recording even brief moments leave us something to cherish:

 

(The full preview, page by page, can be seen here:  http://www.heritagemakers.com/gallery/#/t/41580) 

Tributes and life stories can be preserved any number of ways

 

(The full preview can be seen here:  http://www.heritagemakers.com/gallery/#/t/12633)

"Sharing tales of those we've lost is how we keep from really losing them."  -Mitch Albom 

Preserve yours at www.heritagemakers.com/jenniferwise