Photography has been my passion ever since I was old enough to pick up a camera, but today I want to share with you the 15 most treasured photos of mine, and I didn’t take any of them. There were no art directors, no stylists, no chance for re shoots, not even any regard for lighting. In fact, most of them were taken by random tourists.

My story begins when I was in New York City for a speaking engagement, and my wife took this picture of me holding my daughter on her first birthday. We’re on the corner of 57th and 5th. We happened to be back in New York exactly a year later, so we decided to take the same picture.

Approaching my daughter’s third birthday, my wife said, “Hey, why don’t you take Sabina back to New York and make it a father-daughter trip?” This is when we started asking passing tourists to take the picture.

You know, it’s remarkable how universal the gesture is of handing your camera to a total stranger. No one’s ever refused, and luckily no one’s ever runoff with our camera.

Back then, we had no idea how much this trip would change our lives. It’s really become sacred to us. This one was taken just weeks after 911, and I found myself trying to explain what had happened that day in ways a five-year-old could understand.

So, these photos are far more than a specific trip.They’re also ways for us to freeze time and reflect on our times and how we change from year to year, and not just physically, but in every way. Because while we take the same photo, our views change, and she reaches new milestones, and I get to see life through her eyes, and how she interacts with and sees everything. This very focused time we get to spend together is something we treasure and expect the entire year. One of the most important things we all make is memories.

So, I want to share the idea of taking an active role in consciously creating memories. I want to encourage everyone today to get in the shot, and don’t hesitate to go up to someone and ask, “Will you take our picture? Thank you.”

Throughout history, generations of humans have passed down their collective wisdom. Learning from the wisdom of great people can benefit you of all ages. 【小题1】

●Promote self-love. The first step in learning from great people’s wisdom is to explore the power of loving yourself. 【小题2】 And it can build a strong sense of self-worth. That’s why it is important to understand the importance of self-care. Taking this time for yourself can help you to recharge and restore your physical, mental and emotional well-being.

●【小题3】 Learning to trust your awareness is an important part of learning from great people’s wisdom. Listening to your inner voice can help you to make right decisions. These decisions match your values and beliefs. Building confidence in yourself and your decisions can help you to make choices that are right for you without worrying about what others may think.

●Build self-respect. Create stepping stones towards your great confidence. 【小题4】 These qualities are important for success in life for all ages. You can build self-respect through gratitude diaries, thinking of yourself as a friend, learning to accept a praise and loving yourself.

●Resilience (韧性) is key. Accept that failure is a natural part of life, but it can also be a source of strength and growth if you treat it with resilience. 【小题5】 And while they can cause other problems, they can also provide an opportunity for growth if you choose to face them with courage and determination. Change your mindset towards growth and resilience in order to see what happens for the greater good.

When asked about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, an absolute delight, which seems to get rarer the older we get.

For kids, happiness has a magical quality. Their delight at winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved (毫不掩饰的).

In the teenage years the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it’s conditional on such things as excitement, love and popularity. I can still recall the excitement of being invited to dance with the most attractive boy at the school party.

In adulthood the things that bring deep joy — love, marriage, birth — also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. For adults, happiness is complicated.

My definition of happiness is “the capacity for enjoyment”. The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It’s easy to overlook the pleasure we get from the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, and even good health.

I experienced my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I was overjoyed when I shut the last lunch-box and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids and my husband came home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a mix of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. I don’t think that my grandmother, who raised 14 children, had much of either. She did have a network of close friends and family, and maybe this is what satisfied her.

We, however, with so many choices and such pressure to succeed in every area, have turned happiness into one more thing we’ve got to have. We’re so self-conscious about our “right” to it that it’s making us miserable. So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren’t necessarily happier.

Happiness isn’t about what happens to us—it’s about how we see what happens to us. It’s the skillful way of finding a positive for every negative. It’s not wishing for what we don’t have, but enjoying what we do possess.