Life review is the structured process of looking back over your life — remembering, reflecting, and finding meaning in what you've experienced. Pioneered by psychiatrist Robert Butler in the 1960s, life review has become one of the most well-evidenced psychological approaches for promoting wellbeing at end of life. It's also one of the most profound gifts you can give yourself and the people who love you.
What Life Review Is
Life review is more than reminiscing. It's deliberate, structured reflection aimed at:
- Revisiting the chapters of your life with honesty and perspective
- Finding the narrative thread — the story that connects who you were then to who you are now
- Making peace with difficult periods, failures, and regrets
- Recognizing what has been genuinely good and meaningful
- Developing a sense of completion, coherence, and peace
Erik Erikson described the final stage of human development as the tension between "integrity" (a sense that one's life has made sense and mattered) and "despair" (a sense that time has been wasted, that life has been meaningless). Life review is the work of moving toward integrity.
The Benefits of Life Review
Research consistently shows that structured life review:
- Reduces depression and anxiety in people with terminal illness
- Increases a sense of meaning and purpose
- Reduces existential distress
- Improves a sense of dignity
- Creates lasting documents and recordings that matter to families
How to Do Life Review
Life review can be done alone, in conversation with a trusted person, with a trained therapist, or using structured prompts (like those in the Better End app). There's no single right approach. What matters is engaging honestly and reflectively with your life story.
Moving Through the Chapters
A useful structure is to move through your life chronologically — from earliest memories through young adulthood, middle life, and the present. For each period, consider:
- What were the defining experiences of this time?
- Who were the most important people?
- What were the challenges — and how did you navigate them?
- What were the moments of joy, pride, or meaning?
- What would you want to say to the person you were then?
Turning Points and Threads
Look for the turning points — moments when life could have gone a different way. And look for the threads — the qualities, values, and themes that run through all the chapters. These give your life its shape and coherence.
Making Peace With Difficult Periods
Life review isn't only about pleasant memories. It includes failures, losses, regrets, and things done that you wish hadn't been. The goal here is not to minimize but to contextualize — to understand the person you were, the circumstances you were in, and what you were working with. Self-compassion, not self-criticism, is the orientation.
Capturing Your Life Review
The most meaningful life reviews are preserved in some form — for yourself and for others. Options include:
- Recording your life story in writing, audio, or video
- Creating a memory book
- Writing a legacy letter
- Creating an ethical will
For the full picture of finding meaning at end of life, see our complete guide to meaning and purpose.