Time Required
15 minutes per day for one week to take the photos. One hour to do the writing exercise. While it is not necessary to take a photograph every day, assume that the photography will take you a total of 90 minutes over the course of a week, with an additional hour for the writing.
How to Do It
- Over the next week, take photographs of things that make your life feel meaningful or full of purpose. These can be people, places, objects, pets. If you are not able to take photos of these things—like if they’re not nearby—you can take photos of souvenirs, reminders, websites, or even other photos. Try to take at least nine photographs.
- At the end of the week: If you used a digital camera, upload your photos to a computer. If you used a non-digital camera, have your photos developed.
- Then, once you have collected all of your photos and items, take time to look at and reflect on each one. For each photo or item, write down a response to the following question: “What does this photo represent, and why is it meaningful?”
Why You Should Try It
Research suggests that finding greater meaning in life helps people cope with stress and improves their overall health and well-being—it’s what makes life feel worth living. But finding meaning in life can sometimes feel like an elusive task. In our day-to-day lives, it can be easy to lose sight of the big picture—we tend to focus more on the mundane than the deeply meaningful.
Yet research suggests that there are potential sources of meaning all around us, from the moments of connection we share with others, to the beauty of nature, to the work that we do and the things we create. This exercise helps you bring these meaningful things into focus—literally. By having you photograph, then write about, things that are meaningful to you, it encourages you to pay closer attention to the varied sources of meaning in your life, large and small, and reflect on why they are important to you.
Why It Works
Taking time to recognize and appreciate sources of meaning through photography can help make them more tangible and serve as a reminder of what matters most to you. This greater sense of meaning can, in turn, inspire us to pursue important personal goals and give us a sense of strength and purpose when coping with stressful life events. The use of photography might also benefit people who are more visual than verbal—something for therapists, parents, or teachers to keep in mind as they approach conversations about meaning, purpose, and values in life
Evidence That It Works
Steger, M. F, Shim, Y., Barenz, J., & Shin, J. Y. (2013). Through the windows of the soul: A pilot study using photography to enhance meaning in life. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 3, 27-30.
College students were instructed to take 9-12 photographs of things that they felt made their life meaningful; one week later, they viewed and wrote about each photograph. They completed a battery of questionnaires before and after this exercise. Afterward, they reported feeling like they had more meaning in their lives, greater life satisfaction, and more positive emotion than they had beforehand.
Sources
Michael Steger, Ph.D., Colorado State University
Comments
and Reviews
Kathryn E Styrsky
One of my daily quiet times is my nighttime soak-in-the-tub. Just last week I revised the framed artwork on the wall opposite the tub: now it's a series of photos of places in my life where I was happy and inspired. It's restorative to look at that cafe where all my friends met, and the museum gallery full of objects I admired. And the living room in my former home in Berkeley (good times.) And me,in fancy dress for a gala event. Ahhhh, a bath that soothes the spirit while it scrubs the body.
Fressia Cerna
I have done that. I have my most meaningfull pictures in my phone, and from time to time I see one and I have this feeling of being well. I remember the moment or the person, why I took that picture and how was the moment. I really enjoy it.
Nilza Rivera
I always collect images and photos that are where I wanna be. That encourages me to reach my goals and consistently motivating myself because I have a defined purpose.
Carl Burton
I've been doing this my whole life. I take before, during and after photos of important projects or events. I post them on Facebook, more ti have a second storage place, and often reflect on how each project or event made me feel.
Borja Palacios
The photographs show the effort and persistence to reach my goals and be happy. Reaching my goals and overcoming the obstacles that always tend to appear in the medium-term goals.
Emily
I always take pictures but I've never spent the time to reflect them. Especially when going through a really hard time right now, looking back at photos that mean something to me really helped me to feel better.
Sharon Frank
I also take a lot of photos, and I enjoy looking back at them, but I've never given any thought to their meanings. Love, warmth, self reliance, pleasure, security, gratitude, stability, health, growth. These are my self-selected photos.
Monica KhANNA
I am making a collage of this summer spent with friends. The project began with one single photograph but that did not satisfy our storytelling so I ended up surrounding it with 9 more photographs to fit in a single frame. Each time I add a piece to this project I am reliving the happy feeling of this summer.
Monica KhANNA
I have always been click happy with my camera. I try to click photos daily of my children or events or a particular nature scenery. Whenever I revisit old photos the memories and the emotions connected with them come rushing back.
Bert Dorazio
I reflect a lot during my daily runs. It's a great time to appreciate all the wonderful things I have in my life.
MWL
Thank you so much for this exercice. I had great pleasure doing it and looking at the reslt in the end was very satisfactory. It takes more than an hour though to write the comments. I'll do it again in a few months!
Heidi Geller
I have a question? Can it have the same impact if you simply go through pics already taken and reflect on those or does have to be within the past few days/week?
Fide De Viáncha
Cuando veo las fotografías de los paseos vuelvo a vivir esos momentos agradables
Hilda Hernandez
I see was great enjoy work and all our team can smile, work together because all are agree about what we can do it
Gaby Toloza
I use an app called Collect which is basically a journal app I can pick a picture from that day or any day and write a narrative about it. I just went back through the past 6 months and man was it powerful to see the images but also what I had to say about them. Will definitely use this practice and teach it to my daughter
The Greater Good Toolkit
Made in collaboration with Holstee, this tookit includes 30 science-based practices for a meaningful life.
The Greater Good Toolkit
Made in collaboration with Holstee, this tookit includes 30 science-based practices for a meaningful life.