--- title: Brain: Research Shows How to Use Memories to Be Happier description: You only need to remember two things about an event canonical: https://time.com/3923398/brain-error-happy-memories/ author: Eric Barker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-19T04:01:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:34.086Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Here Are 3 Awesome Secrets to Happier Memories, Backed By Research og:description: You only need to remember two things about an event og:url: https://time.com/3923398/brain-error-happy-memories/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5399dc35566cd0fb/698854c4428a9edf11ccdbd2/537632955-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=507&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 507 og:image:height: 285 og:image:alt: family-jumping-beach og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here Are 3 Awesome Secrets to Happier Memories, Backed By Research twitter:description: You only need to remember two things about an event twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5399dc35566cd0fb/698854c4428a9edf11ccdbd2/537632955-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=507&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here Are 3 Awesome Secrets to Happier Memories, Backed By Research > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=f99e702c-ced1-4341-89bf-39cddcf6cd67&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Amnesia and a Camera: Photos as Memories [Watch (HLS stream): Amnesia and a Camera: Photos as Memories](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/31JuBeSh.m3u8) (3:47)  _Published 2010-10-01. After Claire Roberston lost 30 years of memories to a devastating brain infection, a new device called a Sensecam helps her keep new memories_ by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Jun 19, 2015 4:01 AM UTC  Family jumping together on a beach Family jumping together on a beach Getty Images by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Jun 19, 2015 4:01 AM UTC You can’t trust your memory. Memory is fluid. Every time you recall something you’re essentially rewriting it in your head. Yet you’re prone to stubbornly trusting this copy of a copy of a copy — [even if it no longer resembles the original](http://hplusmagazine.com/2011/01/16/science-proves-youre-stupid/): --- > “” --- Eyewitness testimony? Often worthless: Via [Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767928067/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0767928067): --- > “” --- But memory isn’t just something to use when taking tests in school. It’s tightly coupled with happiness: * Reminding people of their childhood [causes them to act kinder](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2011/03/is-there-a-way-to-quickly-and-easily-make-peo/). * Nostalgia increases the feeling that [there’s meaning to life](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2011/12/how-can-you-increase-your-sense-of-meaning-in/) and [decreases loneliness](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2010/02/is-there-a-way-to-easily-counteract-lonelines/). * Evoking personal memories makes people [more likely to donate to charity](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2011/01/how-do-you-get-people-to-donate-money/). * Reminiscing is correlated with [happy relationships](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2011/03/another-quick-and-easy-way-to-increase-relati/). What does one of the foremost experts on happiness say is the biggest cause of unhappiness? My main takeaway from Harvard professor Daniel Gilbert’s bestselling book [Stumbling on Happiness](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400077427/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1400077427) was: --- > “” --- Ever eat too much, drink too much, or stay up too late, say “I shouldn’t do this because it makes me feel terrible”… and then do it again? Ever dread Mondays, going to the gym or get-togethers… and then realize they’re really not that bad? Via [Stumbling on Happiness](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400077427/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1400077427): --- > “” --- So what are the solutions here? ## **1) Keep a list of what makes you very happy and very unhappy** Stop trusting your memory. Write things down. Feelings are fleeting. Keep a list of things that make you very happy and very sad. ## **2) Look at how other people react** Gilbert also has a suggestion that is quick and easy: [Look at other people, what they do, and how they react in the moment](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400077427/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=1400077427): --- > “” --- Sorry, you’re not a unique snowflake. We’re more similar to others than we are different. Don’t fight this, embrace it. It can be the key to a much happier life: --- > “” --- ## **3) Use your brain’s errors to make memories happier** Yes, your brain is imperfect, but it’s often imperfect in the same ways. You can use it’s errors to your advantage. Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner and author of [Thinking, Fast and Slow](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374275637/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0374275637), has shown that your brain consistently remembers only two things about an event: 1. The emotional peak 2. The end Via [The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060005696/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0060005696&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20): --- > “” --- So how can you game the system with this information and have happier memories? --- > “” --- Make sure tomorrow has one thing that will be amazing and that the day ends on a positive note. This is what leads to feeling good about your life in retrospect. Your brain is not a perfect computer. What you will remember is not the same as what happened. But you can game it so your memories are _better_ than what happened. And happy memories are one of the secrets to feeling good about your life. **Join over 190,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://eepurl.com/o6uAD)**.** **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Barking Up the Wrong Tree_**](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/01/what-are-the-three-secrets-to-happy-memories/)**_._** Related posts: [How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done – 5 Expert Tips](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/08/how-to-stop-being-lazy/) [How To Get People To Like You: 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior Expert](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/10/how-to-get-people-to-like-you/) [New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/09/be-more-successful/) ## Transcript >> I've been introduced to somebody one day saying, " Mrs. Claire ", she was our nurse, was. Oh, that hurt so much the whole feeling of being lost for my own life-- was this, was that, and I just wanted to be who I am. >> My name is [ unk ] Claire's husband. We've got four children. And about six years ago, Claire was taken into the hospital ill with virus- induced encephalitis. She was in the hospital for about 11 to 12 weeks and when she came out of the hospital she really have no memory of the previous 20 or 30 years I supposed. She couldn't recognize faces and lead them to names all the people or the memories of people. >> I have no memory of any of it until being told I was in the hospital and I do remember not being able to even find my way to the toilet and back not having any understanding of who my children were or family. >> One of the tactics was used for helping with that is use the Sensecam, which takes photographs and various particular moments either in defining tools or a movement or a change in life. >> I've got the memories but Sensecam pictures fitting back together so that I can relive them. I can't bring back the old memories just like that, you know. But, what I can do is trying to preserve my new memories what the Sensecam has continued the whole process almost like making a new life and it's all right just in the computer and it's there for me whenever I want to look at it, I've got it. >> It produces a sort of visual memory and not I supposed in a way all of us would like to have something by that for a particular events as we go to. And some people write diaries and she's using this part of her store of her friends and family, the people she knows what she previously didn't have. >> I want to manage and go forward and create my memories into ownership in the sense of belonging to a life and living. 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