How to Make Your Special Moments Last Forever
Caring For How We Interact – Part 4
I know the action word “document” sounds like there’s work to do and would take away from vacationing or the recreational activities we all enjoy. You see, documenting helps you with the “making memories” process. This documenting action is there so that your vacation doesn’t end when you return home. It’s these memories that you can keep with you for a lifetime. When you capture your special days with lots of pictures, those days can live long beyond the actual event. In fact, the memories are often better than the experience itself.
The Thought or Concept:
Your vacations and special days, specifically your recreational days with others outside your four walls, in and of itself is a project. Like every other project, it should be planned, implemented, and documented. We’ve discussed planning and implementing your plans in earlier web-posts, but what about this documenting piece? I learned this concept from two people, my brother and a mentor. My brother who believes we should always be making memories has led to my wife being great at taking tons of photos. Secondly, Michael Hyatt encourages everyone to take pictures as a way to record your events. It’s a matter of record. Take lots of photos.
You can never take too many pictures. Documenting an event is made easier than ever as most of us have mobile devices with cameras and the ability to share photos directly or via social networks. Let’s move from here to discuss three of the most important benefits we’ve found in documenting our special days.
The Practice:
You have to admit when you look in a picture album or you’re sitting around with family and friends reviewing your digital camera rolls, it can bring much joy. In fact, it is one of the best ways to influence a groups’ emotions. Pictures have the ability to take you back to a place in times past. They have the ability to bring back to the forefront memories of your best days and experience and even your worst ones. Here are the three benefits that answer why we document our events in photos.
Capturing memories.
Taking pictures obviously allows us to capture memories. Just recently with Tamia turning thirteen, she cringes at seeing photos of the younger Tamia. It’s fun because as we know years from now her attitude towards those photos will be different. Capturing memories gives you a piece of time that you take with you through the present and into the future. Not capturing memories leaves remembering in the hands of aging minds and thoughts that get crossed-up over time. So do yourself a favor and find the best possible method to capture as many memories as you can.
“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” – bible.com/116/psa.56.8.nlt
I’ve read that God collects your tears. He has a record of each one. Wonder why? Maybe He wants to remember the pain and hurt He brought you through. Maybe He just likes having the record so that when you get to Heaven, you’ll get to look back and see what all you went through and overcame. At any rate, He gives us a perfect example of a practice we should implement for reasons we now know and for reasons that will reveal themselves later when we look back.
A family shared album.
One of the more recent ways we share photos came during one of our family vacations. We created a shared Google Photos album where all the members of our family could save their photos as each person took their respective pictures. One of the best parts of this was being able to comment on the pictures and interact with our family through this documenting process that happens in most cases almost real-time. In fact, this form of documenting was not only cool, but fun for everyone.
Pamela came up with another form of documenting our vacations and special events (something she’s done for a decade at least). She has a physical photo book printed of vacations, special occasions, get-togethers, etc. If you visit our home you’re sure to find these photo albums on our coffee tables. You should give this a try and by the way, they make really thoughtful gifts for friends and the older members of your world. They never get old. I guess that’s not true, let’s just say they never lose their value as they get old.
Review the photos for your year-end recap of accomplishments.
This bullet leans more to the business side of life. Your life is your business you know. I’ve learned to review our photos in our cloud storage for a given year so that I can take an account of the things we’ve achieved. I’ve discovered this to be quite helpful as Pamela and I give an account to God at the end of the year for what we did together. The photos make it easy and it helps us remember the things we’d forgotten. In fact, it’s these digital records that make performing such tasks more accurate and inclusive of all accomplishments.
You may not thank me now as you think of this as a chore, but you will thank me later after implementing your own process of documenting the once in a lifetime events of your lives.
Today is Friday!
Let’s quickly review. There are three benefits of documenting life’s special events you experience with others. One, find the joy in capturing memories you never want to forget. Two, create shared digital albums that can be accessed via your mobile devices and use this to connect with your family. Three, lastly, use the photos you’ve taken throughout the year to reflect back over all you and your family have achieved. You can’t go wrong today with taking tons of pictures. So use them since you have them.
It’s been my joy sharing this content with you and I hope it is useful for you. Thanks for visiting Kerry A. Clark & Co. Go and make your life your business. Until next Friday, share this with all your friends.
is available soon. Our team is working hard putting the finishing touches on our Family Plan binder that we’re making available to you. We designed it to help you and your family move the needle forward making your life your business. Find out more about the Family plan here.
