"They were looking back at themselves during their great moment"

I don't think that this is the kind of self-awareness that I am aspiring towards, but I think that I do this alot. Bad use though, because I rarely remember those photographs of self at present in the mind, and so loose that bit of time and place through loss of memories.

I think I heard some time that the mind records everything. Are all of these subjective memories just a tool for the body to react with an appropriate reaction during a future, similar situation? If so, the does that make beauty, or understanding of the subjective nature of perception, or an attempt to enjoy perception an alarming tampering with a survivalist tool of the brain?