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
Catherine Hancock
Working in hospice we encourage family members to bring in photos that we can show to the residents to bring to the forefront fond memories.
antonio cancian
photographing myself in the midst of nature reminds me how important it is to have spaces to rearrange ideas and give moments of relaxation and meditation to my being
Kate 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.
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.