They say money can’t buy happiness. I suppose that’s true. And I sincerely wish I could write this without it becoming a commercial. The last thing I want to do is plug some product but I’m not sure how else to write this without sounding like a big advertisement.

As it is, I’m sure I’ve come pretty late to this game and most of you will probably roll your eyes at the anti-climatic nature of this revelation.

But the facts are that I find myself smiling, mesmerized and smitten as our Apple TV (infomercial alert!) photos do their five-second flip across our TV screen. I am stunned by the impact that these super-sized super-saturated images are having on me.

For under $100.00, I have improved my happiness factor by about 12%. Yup. Those are actual figures.

You might be further shocked to know that I have chosen the AppleTV to be set on Random.

This means our TV screen will fill with an icy dock in the middle of a glowing Norwegian landscape, followed by Kevin overlooking Welsh fields, flipping to a fishing boat in the mists of Johnstone Straits and then a glowing lilac on a windowsill in Roberts Creek.

I am realizing too, how many pictures I have of various food dishes. Amazingly, I can almost always remember where each one was taken. This is a great exercise in memory, but even when I can’t figure it out, I get a chance to once again appreciate a scene that I originally thought was important enough to try to capture.

 And although this new addition to my life is a huge addition to my happiness factor, it is not without its problems. It has a rather annoying habit of repeating some photos. This, in spite of the fact that I have specifically checked the ‘no’ next to the ‘repeat photo’ option.

Unfortunately, the other downside cannot be blamed on any technical glitches. Instead, some of these photos are a very big blurry reminder that I really do need to do some serious editing and organizing so that no one is subjected to a lingering photo of a fuzzy magazine recipe.

On the upside of my lack of editing, and because of the ridiculous digital volume of images that I take, I’m discovering photos that I’ve never seen before and that makes me even happier…especially if I can remember where it was taken and how to find it again.

Memories are wonderful things and these random visuals are like colourful prompt cards.

Now that I’ve debunked the ol’ money can’t buy happiness cliche, I’ll share another discovery. You know how we’re told our life flashes in front of our eyes before we die?

Well, with my new-and-enhanced-memory-rich-life…I’m already halfway to heaven.