A new study has revealed that anyone looking for instant happiness need simply look to their past.
It found that 80% of people admit to being at their happiest when reminiscing about old times with friends and family.
Lifetile, who carried out the survey, found that 45% agreed that reminiscing about past times gave them a greater, more prolonged emotional boost than chocolate (17%), and even sex (38%)!
When asked which memory made them feel happiest, 45% of respondents cited the birth of their children is deeply cherished.
Many also stated that holidays (32%) and meeting their partner (30%) was what made them the happiest. Christmas, birthdays and other celebrations took fourth place followed by wedding day memories, for just over 20% of respondents.
School days, on the other hand, fared less, coming in with 11% and work proved least popular with just 4% citing a job promotion as their favourite memory.
Looking through old photos of happy times gave people the biggest emotional lift with a huge 53% revealing they enjoy to look at captured memories. Talking to relatives and reminiscing about the past came second and looking through photographs of parents and grandparents took third place (25%).
The research was carried out to mark the launch of lifetile, an online service which enables users to securely build and organise the story of their life and share it, or parts of it, with the people who matter most.
Richard Grant, founder of lifetile, explained: “In the past, a shoe box under the bed housed all our most precious memories and sifting through its contents provided us with a simple tangible way of reconnecting with the past, but as technology has advanced, our focus has moved to the present.
“We have now reached a stage where we are so busy capturing everything, the second it happens, that we risk losing sight of why we are doing it – we forget to pause and look back at the unfolding story of our lives, and the things that really matter, moving instead from one status update to the next.”
Lifetile enables users to curate the story of their life through an intuitive user interface which employs hexagonal “tiles” to capture and store memories in various formats including photos, videos, or other files such as Excel, Word or PDF documents. Information such as date, location and notes can be added to provide further context and reminders keep users informed of important dates.
The lifetile sharing functionality means users have complete control over what tiles and memories they choose to share - as well as who they share it with - and what they keep private. Built-in security measures provide peace of mind about the safety of user data, and each tile can also be password protected.
Grant concluded: “It was the loss of my dad which inspired me to develop lifetile. When he died, I realised that all I had left of him, apart from my memories, were a few photos. I had missed my opportunity to discuss where he grew up, what school was like, how he met my mum, and so many other questions. So I began to fill in the gaps and created a place to capture and store the things that really matter, somewhere I can build the story of my life with a view to one day handing this legacy over to my own children.”
For more information, visit: www.lifetile.me
Tagged in Women's Issues Happy happiness