08_15_2019
Still Evolving: Composing Your Life’s Story
Greetings all! As mentioned in an earlier Blog, I indicated that I would keep you abreast of my latest endeavor of creating a non-credit Course focused on Composing Your Life’s Story. My goal was to have a well-developed draft by the end of July. Once that goal was achieved, I began circulating the draft to trusted colleagues and friends seeking their feedback.
People have been very thoughtful and generous with their feedback, and as a result, I feel ready to include information about the Course in this Blog. For those of you readers who happen to live in the Greater Boston area, I am including this information here in the event that you would like to join the course that begins in September.
As it stands now, the Course will begin on Tuesday, September 17th and run through November 12 from 9:30 – 11:00. Plans include offering the Course through First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Needham, MA. If this project interests you, just email me at info@stillevolving.net, and include the word “Course” in the subject line of your email. I will get back to you shortly. Here is some additional information about the work that we’ll be doing:
Overview: Most of us as we age gain some insights about our lives. Often these insights are fleeting, and without some dedicated attention, we miss out on gaining a greater understanding of our life’s purpose in this world. First Parish in Needham is offering a free course for those who would like to uncover the connective threads that have permeated their lives. Similar to a kaleidoscope, our lives contain loose bits of colorful clues, but until we sharpen our lenses for viewing these clues, we don’t get to enjoy or appreciate the beautiful motifs that have and are emerging in our lives.
Course Takeaways: By the end of the course, participants will have gained:
- Clearer insights into guiding themes in their lives
- Greater understanding of the people and events that have helped shape their development
- Deeper and more joy-filled appreciation of the life they are living
- Heightened sense of peace in claiming and celebrating their lives
Course Information:
- For more information on the course, attend the General Information Session held on Tuesday September 10th from 9:30-11:00
- Course meets on Tuesday mornings from September 17th – November 12th from 9:30-11:30 at First Parish in Needham –Course outline available upon request
- Recommend purchasing Your Life is a Book: How to Craft and Publish Your Memoir by Brenda Peterson & Sarah Jane Freymann
- Course Prerequisites: Sense of humor, Good dose of self-compassion, Willingness to devote time outside of class to complete exercises
- Enrollment limited to 12
The following is an outline of the topics covered each week:
Week 1- Identifying Influential Cultural Norms in Your Developing Years
Week 2 – Unpacking the Hidden Messages that We Absorbed
Week 3 – Gaining Insights about The F-Word (Family)
Weeks 4 & 5 – Focusing on Your Turning Points
Week 6 – Creating One Scene that Explains Your Whole Life (Note: You can experiment in writing other scenes later, but start with one in your childhood for now)
Week 7 – Finding the Common Threads that Run Through Your Life
Weeks 8 & 9 –Beginning to Build Your “Narrative Arc”
- Think of your “narrative arc” as a kaleidoscope…as you “turn over” new insights the patterns within your life may shift
Week 10 – Reaping the Benefits of Reflection
- In what ways are you more accepting of “You” after going through these activities?
- Do you find you have increased self-compassion as you view earlier years in your life?
- Have your awareness and gratitude increased?
- Thoughts on your continued commitment to enrich and update your Narrative?
What’s Next?
Hopefully our work together has provided each of us with a structure and handholds to begin to build out our understanding of the meaning and impact of our lives. But because we humans are complex creatures, there will always be more to learn about ourselves. One of the Buddhist Teachings that I particularly enjoy goes something like this: The greatest spiritual practice is developing greater self-awareness. If there is interest in continuing to explore activities that help us gain greater understanding of ourselves, we can structure a way to do that. If some in the group are interested in composing their memoir, we can also use the tools we’ve assembled to pursue that goal.
Course Ground Rules
In order for the self-exploration and sharing that this course will offer, we have to work from some common ground rules which the group will create and abide by. We’ll refer to these as our Covenant. Typically such items include elements such as the following:
- Treat all information shared as confidential
- Contribute to creating a safe place for all to share
- Refrain from making judgments about others’ experiences
- Listen attentively without interrupting or giving advice
- Be attentive to one’s time in speaking in order to allow everyone a chance to share
- Share only as you are comfortable sharing your life
- Be attentive to when exploring memories makes you fearful or anxious. The solution is to back off, and remind yourself that you are now safe. These memories are behind you.
