How to Remember Your Life by Johnny Harris
Are the photos we take causing stress or sparking joy? What if we could remember the memorable and special things that happen in our life?
We all carry a camera with us on our phones at all times. We tend to take a bunch of photos wherever and whenever, trying to capture more, so we can relive those experiences. But accumulating so many photos reduces the value of each one, resulting in us never really doing much with them. At this point it just becomes clutter and noise.
How to Remember Your Life by Johnny Harris is one of my favourite youtube videos I’ve ever come across!
This is his process:
The Software
Having a good software such as Apple Photos or Google Photos, that automatically syncs from your phone to your computer, allows all your photos to be in a central location. By having it in a central location, it’s easier to manage.
Delete your photos
Johnny emphasises that the key to remembering your life is DELETING PHOTOS! YES. DELETE MOST OF THEM. Instead of scrolling through social media for once during the day, scroll through your camera roll. When you come across memories that you have captured, which ones spark a memory? Which ones bring joy? Keep those and delete the other 97%.
What do you do if you’re in a beautiful place that you want to capture?
When you are in a beautiful place with a nice landscape, or a family gathering that you are enjoying, we all want to capture that moment, so we can relive it later on. But the paradox is, the more photos you take, the more you hinder the ability to let your brain take it all in.
As soon as you pull out your phone to take a photo, you brain captures a visual image of the moment, but starts taking in less of the non-visual sensations around you.
What if we took some photos, put the camera away, and allowed our brains to take it all in, and be fully present?
When you go back into your photos now, hopefully they trigger the rest of that sensory information that the brain took in. This takes us a little closer to reliving those good times.
The Payoff
If we follow these principles of documenting our lives what is the payoff? Johnny calls it the ability to “explore your memory.”
As someone who loves taking photos and reminiscing on good times, this process has allowed me to relive moments that I’d completely forgotten about. That night on our schoolies trip where all my mates were watching State of Origin. Or the cultural function where everyone was on the dance floor.
Our busy lives and constant stimulation is clouding our minds, clouding our memory.
We have the good times. We have the tools. Instead of adding to the noise, what if we could relive that memory and feel that joy just a little bit more?
Here’s the original video: