What are the therapeutic aspects of meditating on old personal photographs?

Some people find it enjoyable to look at old — almost forgotten — moments of their lives. Others may find it too painful to even glance at old images of themselves.

While organizing a vast number of old pictures, I discovered how incredibly helpful it is to meditate on the emotional experiences that took place when the photos were taken.

I started from birth — from the earliest images I could find — simply “feeling the feelings,” as some might say 😊

If the emotions were mostly positive, I would let the image go or emphasize the experience further by editing the photo to make it look more professional (more or less).

If the experience was negative — meaning that some of the emotions and sensations I felt at that moment were painful — I would feel those as well.

Sometimes I found joy mixed in with the darkness, and I would emphasize that again through editing, or even by using AI (for example, by placing myself in a fantasy world I created at the time to escape painful reality).

I kept going forward year by year, processing feelings, emotions, sensations, thoughts, and beliefs.

I used the iRest technique by first experiencing negative emotions, then positive ones, and then both simultaneously. I’ve been practicing this for many years, so the process has become automatic.

Over time, I noticed the therapeutic effect. I began to experience a sense of ownership of all the elements I had been processing. I allowed them to exist in their own time period, rather than spilling over into my current one.

I don’t know if I’ll need to return to some of those memories and reprocess them. Maybe I will, or maybe I’ll notice something new — almost like rewatching the same old movie or TV show and catching new little moments and nuances.

But one thing is for sure: the whole process is incredibly helpful.

Has anyone else tried something like this?