NY Times: This Is Your Life (and How You Tell It)

"Seeing oneself as acting in a movie or a play is not merely fantasy or indulgence; it is fundamental to how people work out who it is they are, and may become", says Benedict Carey in the recent NY Times article This is your Life (and How You Tell It).

In support of his view, author Carey quotes Dr. Dan P. McAdams, a professor of Psychology at Northwestern, and author of the book, The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By. Says McAdams: "[Our personal] narratives guide behavior in every moment, and frame not only how we see the past but how we see ourselves in the future."

What are the personal narratives that frame OUR pasts, and possibly predict our futures?

Said another way, what are the 1-2 stories that we most often tell about our lives? And how do the stories that we tell ourselves in isolation (by ourselves) differ from the stories that we tell our peers (family/friends) and our charges (children or mentees)?

For example, stories that I tell my charges tend to be well-crafted, and confident. Stories that I share with my peers are less polished recountings of personal experiences, happy and sad. Then there are the stories I tell myself: remember the Oprah Miraval contest...

So here's the question for you: are you happy with the stories that you tell yourself, your peers, your children?

If you were to craft a narrative, using the below quote as your theme, what story would you tell, whether written, painted, scrapbooked, danced, photographed or sung?

God calls you to the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. Frederick Buechner

P.S. The above painting is courtesy of the NY Times and artist Otto Steininger.

Comments

[Matt Langdon]

I liked the part in the article that said the people who had been able to recover from a psychological problem saw their problem as an enemy in their story, while those who were still struggling with the problem saw it as part of their own character. This idea of stories really has a lot of power.

[Whitney Johnson]

Thank you Matt.

I completely missed the point that you highlighted about what we struggle with... and it is SO true. When we see something as outside of ourselves it is much easier to vanquish it. Hmmm. So if something is inside, how do we move it outside. Maybe that's where the 3rd person comes in.

My best,

Whitney

[Janika Dillon]

You inspired me, Whitney. I said "no" to something that did not cause me "deep gladness" or fill a "deep hunger" in the world. I now feel a huge relief to be able to discover my dream without the clutter of unwanted commitments!

[Whitney Johnson]

Janika --

What wonderful news.

I can't wait to hear what you are up to.

My best,

Whitney