18 Aug Taking Photos of the Good Increases Gratitude and Well-Being
There are many things we all know are good for our health and wellbeing and happiness.
I think we all know that exercise and healthy eating, setting and working towards meaningful goals, connecting with others and even fostering gratitude are all positive and healthy practices.
But did you know that taking photos could boost your mood and wellbeing?
via Psychology Today by Andy Tix
KEY POINTS
- It’s easy to become pessimistic about the town in which we live.
- Research shows sharing photos of the lovely and the meaningful increases gratitude and well-being and strengthens connections.
- Gratitude increases well-being.
My wife and I have often told a pretty bleak story about the town in which we live. Common refrains include “There’s nothing to do here”; “It’s too conservative”; and “There’s nowhere good to eat.” Our kids have picked up on this. They share these sentiments with us and their friends as well and actually have taken it a step further. They have sometimes wondered aloud: “Why do we live somewhere so flat? Why not live where there are mountains, or at least an ocean?”
Most of our friends live outside our town, and we have been gifted with some great ones. Some of our dear friends live in the city, others live outside the state, and some even live in different countries.
One of the ways we’ve learned to connect with our friends is to share photos of our everyday lives. In particular, after recently spending a week with some dear friends from Scotland, we started trading photos back-and-forth as a quick way of staying in touch. After all, a picture’s worth a thousand words.
We really enjoy these friends from Scotland, so much so that we’ve tried to convince them to visit us in our town. Of course, it’s hard to convince someone from another country to visit you in a town you portray so bleakly. So, as we’ve shared photos, we’ve started to make more of an effort to feature locations and happenings in our town we’re pleased with or even proud about.
Turning Perspective to Gratitude
As we do this, we’re slowly coming to a realization: Being intentional about sharing photos of the lovely and the meaningful in our town is turning our attention from what we don’t have to gratitude for what we do.
There’s a small body of research exploring the effects of taking photos on personal well-being. Studies find that taking photos of the good increases positive emotions such as gratitude and overall life satisfaction. When these photos are shared with others, it tends to build connection. Other research shows that the task of taking photos increases engagement in the positive aspects of a situation. Furthermore, feeling grateful is tightly linked with overall happiness.
View of the Mississippi River, taken with my IPhone SESource: Andy Tix
Sharing photos of the lovely and the meaningful from our town has helped us remember why we chose to live in this town in the first place. Very few towns the size of ours have the trails we do, giving us access to three beautiful rivers. There’s a charming vineyard on the outskirts of town that produces the area’s best wine and that features sangria and jazz every Sunday during the summer. We live on a quiet and safe street where we can sit at the end of a long day, kick up our feet, and enjoy each other’s company. In the winter, we have access to some of the region’s best winter adventures, such as skiing and snowshoeing. The list goes on and on…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE