How to Increase Happiness and Relaxation

This post was updated 2022.

Two things that seem to be in high demand and short supply these days are happiness and relaxation.  Stress seems to be taking their place. Today I’m going to show you how to find increased happiness and relaxation in some surprising places from some unexpected sources.  It’s funny how easily they could be had but how elusive they are until we get a few hints.

The Surprising Sources for Happiness

Something we all have (and sometimes have too much of!) is pictures.  They’re on phones, cameras, computers, and social media.  I believe this leads to an all too common way of thinking about pictures:  big deal.  But pictures and memories are a much bigger deal than we think.

In fact, pictures have been shown to increase happiness!  Gretchen Rubin, author of “The Happiness Project,” says {pictures make us happy for many reasons}, including:

• They help us remember people, places, and activities we love.
• Pictures help us remember happy times from the past, which makes us happier in the present.
• A photo can sometimes replace a thing we love.  (Think about something that was broken or old or impractical to keep–a photo lets it live forever with you.)
• Taking photos increases {creativity}.

Dr. Peter Naish did a study on {how viewing photographs lifts your mood} when compared to other common ways to do so like eating or drinking.  Looking at photos increased mood by 11%, whereas eating, drinking, watching TV/movies, or listening to music increased mood only 1%.  He found, too, that looking at pictures even helped people relax more!  After viewing photos, people reported a 22% increase in relaxation!  (Incidentally, drinking wine came in at 14% and eating chocolate came in at 8%.)

And it’s more than just pictures–it’s what’s behind them.  In the mid-1990s, Dr. Marshall Duke from Emory University took a close look at the American family.  Dr. Duke’s wife, Sara, had noticed something about the children she worked with:  the ones who knew a lot about their families did better when challenges arose.  

So Dr. Duke and a colleague, Dr. Robyn Fivush, decided to further examine this theory.  Through their {“Do You Know?” study}, they found that kids who were connected to their families by knowing family stories were more resilient and had higher self-esteem.  They also had a greater sense of control over their own lives, {even in the face of crisis}.

Another thing that working with our photos and memories does is develop a stronger sense of self, more gratitude, and a sense of purpose.  Our perspective gets better.

"The secret to having it all is knowing you already do." -anonymous

The Trick to Tapping Into Happiness, Relaxation, and Strength

The only trick to using photos and memories and family stories for increased happiness, relaxation, connection, resilience, and strength is that you have to have a way to access them.  If I sit back and try to remember family stories, none come to mind all that quickly (especially when I need them).  When I brainstorm (either alone or with others) and then write them down, I have a place to go to when I need my family stories.  Same goes for pictures.  If they’re unorganized or in too many places, they’re just overwhelming–they’re not useful for happiness, relaxation, or strength.  But if I put them into a book or scrap page and write my memories with them, they’re there the instant I need a lift.

Many people don’t do much with their photos these days because of {overwhelm} and {too little time}.  There’s also a pervading false notion that you have to be a scrapbooker in order to do something with your photos.  

I’ve been a memory-keeper, preserving my photos and memories and stories, for as long as I can remember.  Since 2005, I’ve been helping other people do the same.  So today I’ll share with you the best time hacks I know of for making time for your photos and memories so you can get all the fabulous side-effects of memory-keeping.

Before I share my three favorite time hacks, here are two helps: 

• If disorganized and cluttered photos makes getting started difficult, there are several {photo organization tools and resources (including a video)} right there at that link.
• If the idea of doing anything at all with your photos is overwhelming,  you might want to try {Scrapbooking For Hire}.  This service can be anything you want it to be, from basic tips on where to even start to helping you with photo organization or the actual creating of {digital books or scrap pages}.  Sometimes you just need ideas and directions, and sometimes you need a partner.

My Three Favorite Time Hacks to Make Memory-Keeping Doable for Increased Happiness and Relaxation

1. TIME

One requirement for memory-keeping is time.  That’s true of everything, right?  Learning something, helping someone, Christmas shopping, reading, cooking.  Everything requires time.  Because of busy schedules as well as {the pervading sense of and idealization of busy-ness in our culture}, it’s more important than ever to make time for something as important as our photos and memories.  

I have a whole collection of {ideas and time management helps from experts} at that link, but one of my favorite ways to “find” time for memory-keeping is called a Digi-Crop.  I’ve been doing this for years and years.  Here’s what a Digi-Crop is andhow it can help you.

2. HELP

Another great time-saver hack for getting memory-keeping done is to ask for help!  If you’re writing a family story, the fabulous gals at {evalogue.life} can help!  If you’re trying to get some photos and memories preserved in books or scrap pages, check out {Scrapbooking For Hire}.  

3. MY FAVORITE METHOD AND PRODUCT

My number one favorite memory-keeping time hack is shown in this video.  The idea of a Yearbook broken down by month means that you already know where all the photos go!  (Halloween 2015 pictures go in the 2015 book on the October pages.)  These beautiful templates make your yearbook come together so quickly!

If you'd like more flexibility than the templates offer, I highly recommend Artisan digital scrapbooking software.  It's what I use because I love the flexibility and creativity.  Learning the Design & Print platform (above) takes about 2 minutes, so it's much simpler to use, but I know a lot of people who love all the design capabilities in Artisan (below) even though you do have to learn the program.  (Plus, I have a whole bunch of Artisan Quick Tip videos for you!)

There’s No Time Like THIS Time

Pictures seem to be one of the easiest things to put off.  They pile up on cameras and phones, and before you know it, you’re {swimming in them}.  But memories fade far faster than we think they will, and digital photos left in digital form are always at the mercy of technology.  

If you’re serious about increasing your own happiness, relaxation, strength, and well-being, there’s no time like this time.  Why on earth would you wait?  Take advantage of the hacks I’ve shared, or {contact me} with your specific needs and questions.  

Whatever you do, #dontletyourbabiesgrowuptobejpegs  {Get started here.}

Who do you know who needs more happiness and relaxation?  Share this post via
email, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, or your favorite social media.

This post was originally published at www.livegrowgive.org on October 26, 2018, by Jennifer Wise as part of the #familyhistoryfriday series that ran for a year and a half.  Although this is the last post in the series, you can go back and find many, many more posts about family, photos, memories, stories, and connections!  Just click the #familyhistoryfriday hashtag below next to Labels.  This entire blog is dedicated to the same theme, so explore and enjoy!

Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:

  

Hooray!  This post was a featured favorite here:

What Do You Tell Yourself about Preserving Pictures that Isn't True?

Everyone has pictures!  Unfortunately, not everyone preserves them.  In the “olden days” as I like to call them, we would take a pictures on film and not see them for weeks or months until we printed them when we got the film developed.  We’re in a funny place now where we take pictures and see them immediately but don’t print or preserve them, so we often never see them again.  

What happened?  Why the disconnect?  What is it about digital photos that has made us forget to preserve them?  I find that there are several myths surrounding memory-keeping that are preventing the majority of us from preserving pictures.  What do you tell yourself about preserving pictures that isn’t true?

So What Do You Mean, “Preserving?”

My quick answer to this question is usually, “Preserving a photo means getting it out of digital form into a place where it can be seen and loved, complete with its story (your memories).”  While I stand by that definition, I think it’s important to look a little deeper.  

“Preserving” means “saving.”  So if you’re preserving your pictures, you’re saving them.  Saving them from what?

Now that’s something to think about!  Digital photos come with a whole set of potential problems:  computer crashes, corrupted files, phones dropped in water, etc.  Another problem with digital photos is that they don’t leave us a place to write thoughts or memories or details about the photo.  (Unfortunately, this will eventually make them worthless.  I know that’s a hard pill to swallow!  #truth)

Digital photos also come with an even bigger problem:  overwhelm.  Digital photos are so easy to take that many people just amass them instead of mindfully taking them.  With thousands upon thousands of digital photos, it’s no wonder that preserving them can be daunting.  

If you’re overwhelmed with just the amount of photos you have, help yourself out by reading {When Photo Overload Becomes Photo Overwhelm}.

Why You Should Care

Photos, memories, and family stories have been shown to increase self-esteem, lower rates of depression and anxiety, foster a sense of purpose and belonging, reduce stress, increase present happiness, and contribute to greater resiliency, healing, and coping.  

As time goes on, we are in more and more need of the things that memory-keeping provides:  connection, grounding, peace, comfort, and happiness.  We need to take time to process life, and there’s not an easier way to do that than sitting down with your pictures and writing a little something about them.  Reminiscing is powerful for the mind and the heart.

If you’re still not sure why preserving photos even matters, read {The Secret Ingredient to Self-Care and Wellness} as well as {The Importance of Memories to Personal Growth}.  There is some astounding research and information there!

Start there and then you’ll be ready to tackle the four common memory-keeping myths.  I’ve busted them all for you, in fact!  (Click to read each one.)

• {BustingMyth #1:  “I’m not creative.”}
• {BustingMyth #2:  “I don’t preserve my photos because I’m not a scrapbooker.”}  Think about this one.  Photography has been around for 200 years, scrapbooking for about 30.  This one is obviously a myth!
• {BustingMyth #3:  “I don’t have time.”}  We say this one so much that you probably don’t believe me when I say this is a myth!  Read on!
• {BustingMyth #4: “I can’t preserve my photos and memories because I don’t know what to write.”}

How to Actually Do It

We tend to make things complicated with too many pictures and visions of Ultra Creative Scrapbooking.  It doesn’t need to be that hard!  

Here are my three favorite suggestions to help you go from suffocating under your photos to enjoying them and letting them be {the best kind of retail therapy there is}!

1. {Declutter and organize your photos} (or use this {video tutorial on organizing digital photos}).  Either way, organize then just choose your favorites to preserve so you’re not overwhelmed.
2. Set aside time.  Here’s a suggestion for {making it a family tradition} instead of an item on Mom’s to-do list, and {here’s a HUGE collection of ideas for making time for yourself and getting together with others for memory-keeping}.  (I even have an online group you can join–it’s free, and you can find the information at that link.)
3. Do what you love.  Whether you like printed pictures or digital ones, there’s something for everyone.  Choose a high-quality photo album (make sure it's acid-free and lignin-free) for your printed photos, or try digital books (again, quality matters) for your digital pages.  Digital scrap pages are literally the reason I’m caught up preserving my memories and photos!  No joke.  And for people who are really overwhelmed with the amount of photos they have, digital yearbooks are my go-to, hands down! 

Here are a couple of videos that can help.  

This first one is the fastest way I know of to preserve your photos and memories digitally (and you'll get a PDF version of your book for digital sharing, too), and your books are printed using the highest quality inks, papers, and bindings in the industry.

And for awesome digital photo organizing, preserving, and sharing (guaranteed for your lifetime plus 100 years with no monthly fees), this tutorial can get you started.

Whatever you do, #dontletyourbabiesgrowuptobejpegs!  Don’t tell yourself anything about preserving pictures that isn’t true.  Let pictures and memories and life’s stories be the therapeutic benefit they can be for your heart and soul.

Get started here!

Find many more tips for catching up on your photos {here}. If you need a memory-keeping buddy, {contact me here}.  I can even collaborate with you, working to make parts or all of your digital books or scrap pages {for you}!

Save and share this post by Pinning, Tweeting, Emailing, Bookmarking, or
Sharing on Facebook or other social media.

This post was originally published at www.livegrowgive.org on October 12, 2018, by Jennifer Wise.  You can read more #familyhistoryfriday posts about photos, memories, stories, connections, and family by clicking the hashtag below next to Labels.  This post was updated in 2023.

Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:

  

Hooray!  This post was a featured favorite here:

Three Ideas for Connecting with Family Members

You can never have too many ways to connect with family members!  Given the likelihood of physical distance between family members these days and the tendency to feel like “connecting” means texting, it’s important to find more meaningful ways to connect.  

As the last Giving from the Heart post in this #familyhistoryfriday series, today we’ll look at three creative, meaningful ways to connect with family members.  These are sweet things you could give from the heart for a birthday, holiday, or just because.

Family Tree Canvas

Knowing family stories is the {biggest predictor of a child’s well-being}!  It has been shown to increase self-esteem, make kids more resilient, and even lower depression and anxiety.  Family stories, then, are an ideal way to create connections.  (You can find tips on creating family stories {here}.)  Seeing a family tree each day is a great reminder of those family stories.  It’s a reminder to every family member that they all belong –to the family and to each other.

I particularly love this idea for a family tree canvas because I think it makes a huge difference to see faces on a family tree and not just names.  It’s obviously perfect for a child, but if you leave out the main branch (the baby face there at the bottom), this could be made as a general family tree for all the siblings.  In the same way, it could be an extended family tree starting with grandparents, a lovely gift from the heart for cousins.  (You can personalize your own gallery-wrapped canvases here.  Or you can see the one I have hanging on my wall without pictures here.)

"When our hearts are turned to our ancestors, something changes inside us.  We feel part of something greater than ourselves.  Our inborn yearnings for family connections are fulfilled when we are linked to our ancestors.”  -Russell M. Nelson

Family Calendars

One way I love making family connections every single year is with a family calendar.  My sister-in-law’s family had always done a very simple one that used pictures of each family member during their birthday month.  I have taken that approach with our family’s calendar.  I love that method because in the past 8 years, our little family has lost our mom/grandma and two sons/cousins.  That means we, obviously, don’t have recent pictures of any of them.  Because we focus on each person instead of recent photos, we always have pictures of every single family member each year.  It’s been fun for me to go back and find pictures of my mom as a young mom or as a college student to use for the family calendar.  She’s always there with us. 

Update 2022:  This tutorial video shows you how to make a calendar in a snap using a (free) template and free software called Design & Print.  The print quality is amazing!

If you prefer more flexibility in design and like being creative, this video tutorial shows you how, using amazing digital scrapbooking software called Artisan.  Same gorgeous print quality, too.

Another idea for using a family calendar would be to have a perpetual calendar of birthdays and special days.  A perpetual calendar just lists days of the month (not days of the week, which vary by year) so it can be used over and over.  This would be a great way to remember birthdays, anniversaries, and other special days of family members.  Go back a couple of generations, too, beyond the birthdays you celebrate right now.  It’s really fun to celebrate more family members that way.  It helps emphasize connection.  One of my grandfathers was born on Leap Year day (February 29), so that’s a fun thing to always remember.  We had cake one year, too!

Family Faces Books for Kids

The closest my kids have ever lived to their grandparents was a 7-hour drive.  (The furthest was 8 time zones, but that’s another story.)  It has always been important for us to find ways to help our kids connect with their grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles.  Phone calls and letters have been great ways for our kids to get to know and connect with family members, but when they were small, they needed more.  Small kiddos have small memories.  If they went 6 months without seeing grandparents, my kids didn’t remember them very well.  I adore this idea for keeping family faces fresh to little ones.

{A little book like this} is an ideal way to help young kids recognize and remember family faces.  (At that link you can also read about the special experience I had making one for my niece about my mom who had recently passed away.  It was tremendously meaningful to her!)

Every Day

Which of these ideas would help the members of YOUR family?  You can find even more family-strengthening ideas at {Gift Ideas for the Whole Family} and {Four Creative Ideas for SharingFamily Stories}.

Having something to see or hold every day really helps people make connections.  My niece {reads her book every night}!  A calendar and a family tree canvas can be seen every day.  

Remembering that we belong is {good for the heart and soul}.  Pictures do that for us.  Family stories do that for us.  So let’s share them more and do that for each other.

Save and share this post by Pinning, Tweeting, Emailing, or Sharing to Facebook or LinkedIn.

This post was originally published at www.livegrowgive.org on September 28, 2018, by Jennifer Wise.  Find more #familyhistoryfriday posts about connection, stories, photos, memories, and family by clicking the hashtag below next to Labels.

Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:

  

Hooray!  This blog post was a featured favorite here:

Fun New Ways to Share Recipes

Every family has a great recipe.  I’m a recipe collector myself, and my recipe mantra is that the best recipes are shared.  I wouldn’t have any –ANY– great recipes if I didn’t taste something, love it, and ask for the recipe.  

As we continue our #familyhistoryfriday Giving From the Heart series, we’re going to look at some fun ways to share recipes.  Whether you have family recipes you’d like to share or recipes from friends, sharing well-loved recipes is a great way to remember times together or even just come together.

Recipes Help You Make Someone Happy

A few years ago, I made a family recipe cookbook and gave it to everyone for Christmas.  I had collected three favorite recipes from each person, added a few pictures, and published it.  Everyone loved such a fun and useful gift.  

The next summer, we all traveled to my sister’s house for a family get-together.  She used the cookbook to plan meals for the whole week!  She knew she was making one of somebody’s favorite meals every time she made something.  The kids loved that, of course, and it was fun to find out what everybody likes, too.

My husband often tells me that one of the best things I do for teenage boys is give them good food!  I’m pretty sure this applies to everyone, though.  Fast food drive throughs do the trick in a pinch– they keep you from starving –but I would be so bold as to say that “comfort food” never comes in a wrapper.

Recipes help make someone happy.  They acknowledge taste and preference, and they can even make someone feel at home.  I have a friend whose son has lots of specific food preferences.  They’re not allergies, but they might as well be.  He doesn’t eat some things based solely on texture, and he doesn’t eat meat because it grosses him out.  A recipe that’s preference-friendly for him means the world.  It means someone cares enough to notice and want him to be happy.

Would you enjoy collecting family recipes or friends’ recipes like the cookbooks above?  Would your cookbook be a way of bringing people together or capturing memories of a special event?  Whatever your goal, there are some really fun ways to share family or friend recipes.  All these styles I’ll show you can be created online and professionally published by {following the steps here}.

Thanks for stopping by.  We have a 2023 UPDATE before you read on:  Heritage Makers and Snap2Finish became YPhoto under Youngevity (which purchased Heritage Makers in 2013).  YPhoto uses only templates, so the creativity showcased here is no longer available there, and they also no longer have capability to print previously-created projects like these from the old system. YPhoto is not a photo storage site like Heritage Makers was. 

Best-in-the-industry quality and permanent cloud photo storage with guaranteed privacy are required for anything recommended here by Photo & Story Treasures, so we highly recommend Forever for:  

·        creative digital scrapbooking applicable in a variety of photo products using Artisan software

·        easy photo-memory books using free AutoPrint and Design & Print software programs

·        private, permanent, secure, and guaranteed photo and video cloud storage (triple-backed-up and bank encrypted)

·        white glove digitizing services for old memories like VHS tapes, slides, old scrapbooks (scanning), 8mm film, audio tapes, and much more

Learn more here to  find similar products at top-quality with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

___________________________________________________

Personalized Cookbooks

It’s really fun to have a collection of family favorites.  Plus, you can stop calling your mom every time you need that one recipe *again*!

Find this Forever template (free) to create your cookbook here.

These make great family gifts for everyone at Christmastime, or when a kiddo leaves for college.  Birthdays, too!  

I’ve also seen this size used for Girlfriend Recipe Collections, which would be fun!

Unique Recipe Cards

As much as I like cookbooks, I really like recipes written on individual cards.  Being the recipe collector I am, I often find favorite recipes one at a time.  If you’d like to do a recipe exchange, sharing one recipe with many recipients, do I ever have something amazing to show you!  Both of these ways are the clever use of a product meant for something else!

While handwriting recipes on recipe cards or printing them out with your computer does the job, I think one of the worst things about recipe cards is their susceptibility to drips and splashes and greasy fingers.  Both of the recipe cards I’m about to show you are wipe-able!  The paper is thick and has a slick surface.  I love both of these ways to share recipes with cards.

Recipe Cards from 4×6 Invitations

To make clever, wipe-able recipe cards to share is using 4×6 Invitations.  

2022 UPDATE:  I made these cards below using Artisan, the digital scrapbooking software from Forever.  They're so much fun to give away (I cut them in half) with a ceramic Recipe Mug!

Connecting with Recipes

The ideas I’ve shown you for sharing recipes using high-quality products are really just simple ways to connect with someone.  Whether a unique gift or a way to commemorate an event, sharing recipes creates connection and memories.  I have recipes in my box that I’ve called by name– “Angie’s Italian Dip,” “Diana’s Fruit Dip,” “Kathy’s Frozen Banana Splits.”  When I pull out those recipes, I think of old friends I haven’t seen in a long time.  That comfortable {nostalgia} is a sweet feeling.  

Recipes are essentially keepsakes.

So what will you do?  How will you share a well-loved recipe with someone who will be delighted to have it?  What has fostered a great idea for you here?  Comment below and let me know–I’d love to find out.

"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.” -Voltaire

Pin to save and share!

This post was originally published at www.livegrowgive.org on September 14, 2018, by Jennifer Wise.  Find more #familyhistoryfriday posts about connections, family, stories, memories, and photos by clicking the hashtag below next to Labels.

Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:

  

Hooray!  This post was a featured favorite here: