• Frank Health Insurance: Five apps to manage your mental health

    Frank Health Insurance, Australia’s leading not for profit online health fund which has been providing members with simple, easy to understand health insurance since 2009, has put together a list of five apps to help manage your mental health:

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  • Photo memories for self-growth and reflection

    Writing one sentence every day is a simple and easy way to journal and help you remember the little things in your life. What can be even more powerful is when you also save a photo memory.

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  • Beginnings: Birth of Little Memory

    In 2011, I was co-founder of Dojo, a startup focused on helping people build and keep habits. We set out to truly make a difference in people’s lives by helping them do the things they always wanted to do: work out, meditate, stop smoking, create art, and a whole list of other practices that we were learning from our early beta testers.

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  • Thinking about emotions

    Maybe you’re someone who spends a lot of time in your head: you think big and lofty ideas, and you construct complex structures and worlds in your mind.

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  • Self-growth by getting out of your comfort zone

    When you’re in your comfort zone, you’re in stasis. Your muscles lose their mass and atrophy. You don’t leave space for yourself to grow. You don’t leave space for hope or anticipation or excitement: each of which are in certain ways types of discomfort.

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  • Shoutout from the Sad Boyz Podcast: Dating

    Jarvis from the Sad Boyz Podcast mentioned Little Memory on the Dating episode:

    It’s a little micro-journaling app Every day at 9pm it’s like, “Hey, tell me about your day,” and then you’ll write a tweet’s length of stuff about your day and it’s a little therapeutic in that moment but then it will remind you in 90 days, 3 months from then or a year from then and it really helps me put into perspective the cycles of my mental state because I can be, “Wow, 3 months ago I was going through it,” or I was really deep in my own thoughts and feelings and wasn’t able to take a step back and look at things broadly and have perspective and it really helps contextualize a lot of the things.

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  • Anxiety and Fear of Journaling: the Blank Page

    Blank page journal

    The blank page in an empty journal can be an intimidating sight to see. Where do you start? What if you make a mistake? You end up staring at the page, not knowing what to do. You feel stuck and blocked and uncomfortable with this whole journaling thing.

    Here are some tips to help you out if you’re feeling overwhelmed and could use a little guidance on how to start journaling when you’re staring at that blank page.

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  • Connected: You're Not Alone

    In May, I reached out to Lil’memmers to make sure you were all doing well. I let you know that if you needed someone to connect with, even if just to say hi, you were welcome to send me an email. That offer still stands. I love hearing from you all. Some emails can slip through the cracks, but I do read each one and do my best to respond to all of them.

    It’s taken me a bit of time to take in all of everyone’s words and emotions.

    You are all amazing and I treasure every word from you.

    word cloud

    I asked some of you if I could share your heartfelt words with the world, and you’ve been so generous to allow me to give a glimpse into how much Little Memory’s effected your lives over the years.

    Thank you.

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  • One Little Thing

    Hi Lil’memmers,

    Exactly 2 years ago, I was out camping with loved ones, sharing stories around a camp fire.

    It feels like forever ago since then, especially since the start of COVID-19 lockdowns.

    Many of you may be feeling isolated and lonely right now. When looking at World Public Memories, I see anger, fear, and sadness. I also see hope, love, and compassion. One Lil’memmer gave us all a wise reminder that all of our feelings are valid, even the painful feelings. Thank you.

    Since I started Little Memory, you’ve emailed me about bug reports, feature requests, and words of encouragement. You all are the reason I continue its development so it can help in each of our journeys of personal growth and self understanding. You inspire me, and seeing your range of emotions makes me feel connected to all of you. Thank you.

    Little Memory’s always been about doing one little thing each day and seeing what massive meaning that little thing holds for the future.

    Here’s one little thing from me to you.

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  • Happy Birthday v3.0

    Happy 3 Year Birthday, little memory. Art by Estella Tse Art by Estella Tse

    Today, little memory is 3 years young. My my, they grow up so fast these days.

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  • OhLife Shutdown: Importer, Alternatives, and Reactions

    On September 21st, my support inbox was abuzz with requests from folks asking for a way to import OhLife entries into little memory. At the time, I was yet unaware that OhLife had just announced they were shutting down. OhLife Shutdown: Alternatives and Replacements

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  • Jack London: In a Far Country

    When a man journeys into a far country, he must be prepared to forget many of the things he has learned, and to acquire such customs as are inherent with existence in the new land; he must abandon the old ideals and the old gods, and oftentimes he must reverse the very codes by which his conduct has hitherto been shaped. To those who have the protean faculty of adaptability, the novelty of such change may even be a source of pleasure; but to those who happen to be hardened to the ruts in which they were created, the pressure of the altered environment is unbearable, and they chafe in body and in spirit under the new restrictions which they do not understand. This chafing is bound to act and react, producing diverse evils and leading to various misfortunes. It were better for the man who cannot fit himself to the new groove to return to his own country; if he delay too long, he will surely die.

    The man who turns his back upon the comforts of an elder civilization, to face the savage youth, the primordial simplicity of the North, may estimate success at an inverse ratio to the quantity and quality of his hopelessly fixed habits. He will soon discover, if he be a fit candidate, that the material habits are the less important. The exchange of such things as a dainty menu for rough fare, of the stiff leather shoe for the soft, shapeless moccasin, of the feather bed for a couch in the snow, is after all a very easy matter. But his pinch will come in learning properly to shape his mind’s attitude toward all things, and especially toward his fellow man. For the courtesies of ordinary life, he must substitute unselfishness, forbearance, and tolerance. Thus, and thus only, can he gain that pearl of great price, — true comradeship. He must not say “Thank you;” he must mean it without opening his mouth, and prove it by responding in kind. In short, he must substitute the deed for the word, the spirit for the letter.

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  • The Problem with Minimalism

    A man should have a healthy relationship with his possessions, and that means getting into the right mindset about them, and then not thinking about them very much at all.

    The Problem With Minimalism

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  • 100,0000 Little Memories

    100k memories saved!

    Seems like just yesterday we were at 50,000 memories, or, heck, even 10,000 memories.

    Today, it’s with a blushing smile to share that we’ve reached 100k worldwide memories. What an incredible journey it’s been!

    Here’s a pretty graph:

    image

    A few ups and downs along the way, but it’s been a steady and manageable pace.

    Rome wasn’t built in a single day or by a single person. And similarly, this road couldn’t have been ridden without the great supportive friends whom I’ve made along the way:

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  • 50,000 Memories Saved

    50,000 Memories Saved

    It’s been a long journey since the 10,000th memory. Thanks to everyone for all your feedback, bug reports, and support that have helped make little memory what it is today. There’s still much planned ahead!

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  • Little Memory at Oak Elementary

    Awesome to see Mrs. Holcomb from Oak Elementary using little memory to help kids keep a summer journal. Impressed and flattered.

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  • Thanks: Uncommon in Common

    Thanks to little memory user Angelica for some love in the latest Uncommon in Common dispatch where they asked the community, “Do you have a favorite way to peruse the past?”:

    One of my favorite ways to peruse the past is through an app called the little memory. The little memory is a place for recording short daily memories. The app prompts you to “tell your future self” about a little joke or time spent with friends in less than 300 characters, and when you finish, a notification slides down: “one more memory, one more future anniversary.” As you compile memories, you’ll begin to see past memories appear “exactly one month ago” or “exactly 6 months ago.” What was mundane at the time is now a milestone, a special glimpse into the past. I often can’t believe the passage of time, thinking, “was that only 3 months ago?” or “wow, it’s already been a year?” In any case, I always feel a little thrill to see what I wrote in the past contained in a mini, daily time capsule.

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  • The safest memories are the memories which are in the brains of people who cannot remember

    What is a memory? Is it a physical thing, maybe an object, or a collection of brain cells floating in that space between your ears? Or is it maybe something tied to the thing you call your consciousness?

    Estella Tse pointed me to the RadioLab podcast Memory and Forgetting. In the first segment of the hour-long podcast, they interview several scientists who’ve spent quite a bit of time wrapping their heads around what happens in your head when you remember (and forget) things.

    Got the memory of a goldfish? Source: flickr

    In the 60’s, scientists discovered a drug that could prevent goldfish from forming new memories. That is, when the goldfish were in a tank with a few squirts of this drug, they wouldn’t remember what happened while in the tank.

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  • When Introspection goes Wrong

    You’re a pretty smart person. You know what makes you happy and what makes you sad. When someone asks you why you like that one Chromeo song, you can look deep into yourself to find reasons like, “It’s got an awesome funky beat,” and “It’s great hipster pop.” Great, you’re a bonafied self-actualized hipster. You know yourself, you deep self-reflective person, you.

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  • Mind the Memory Gap: How Appreciation Helps You Remember

    I recently finished reading the book Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer. A longtime Little Memory user and the force behind Tangents & Distractions, Dan Walsh, was so incredibly gracious to send me a copy. Thanks, Dan.

    Memory and Creativity

    We don’t usually associate memory and creativity together; they are likely even considered to be opposites to most people. What kind of creative endeavor is it to memorize the multiplication table? Or that long list of Kaplan SAT words? <shudder!>

    “In our gross misunderstanding of the function of memory, we thought that memory was operated primarily by rote. In other words, you rammed it in until your head was stuffed with facts. What was not realized is that memory is primarily an imaginative process. In fact, learning, memory, and creativity are the same fundamental process directed with a different focus,” say Buzan. “The art and science of memory is about developing the capacity to quickly create images that link disparate ideas.

    The way I think about it is that memory and creativity are both incarnations of the brain’s association machine. Essentially, both are just making connections in your mind.

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  • Hello, Chrome!

    Chrome’s just made a new friend: Little Memory. You can now install the app and use it straight from your browser.

    Little Memory in the Chrome Web Store

    Check it out in the Chrome Web Store:

    Available in the Chrome Web Store

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  • iPhone App Featured in iTunes Dear Diary

    Dear Diary Feature in the iTunes App Store

    also, the app made it into the app store’s Top Grossing chart at #5 in Hong Kong’s Lifestyle category. cool!

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  • Happy Birthday, Little Memory

    TL;DR - little memory turns 1, app on sale for free this week only.

    exactly 1 year ago: the little memory was born.

    i’d always wanted a short-form way to jot down a snippet about each day, and i loved the idea of the one-sentence journal. i’m a bit of a sentimental and nostalgic person, and i wanted something that would encourage me to write succinctly. i know from my own past experiences how a big long page in a journal can daunt me with its vapid white void staring at me. i looked around, and i didn’t find anything that was extremely simple and elegant that really worked for me.

    thus, the little memory was born.

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  • New Premium Feature: Dropbox Backups

    Your memories are pretty important things. That’s why, very early on I wanted to ensure that users always had the ability to get an archive of all of their memories.

    Not only that, but I also keep nightly and weekly backups of the entire little memory database. After all, if I’m serious about really resurfacing your memories back to you years from now, I better make sure that I don’t lose those juicy important nuggets of nostalgia.

    Little Memory: Premium, Dropbox Backups

    Today, I’ve added a new goodie for all you super packrats (I know I’m one). Behold! Premium users, you can now connect your Dropbox and enable nightly backups of your memories straight to any computer.

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