Memoir, An Invitation
The tool, introduced in “It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again” - is a call to action, and even if you’re a tad skeptical about that bit - keep reading.
Here’s an invitation to try it - built around my ‘why’.
Until last evening these postcards, ticket stubs, itineraries and brochures existed in a huge file folder - with a “someday” deadline attached to it.
It’s the story of a family vacation which started with what the parents assumed was a rhetorical question of their then 7, 10 and 14 year-old children.
Where shall we go this Christmas?
Emphatically, the 9 year old declared “I want to go to Texas!”
Well then.
… so we went.
Yes, it’s my story - and it is not.
The children are all adults now with families of their own. The oldest in fact, is nearly the age I was when we travelled.
Her story of the trip would read very differently than mine. She was 14 and I was 41. As would her sisters’ and her father’s versions.
My story - as we learned from Malcolm Gladwell on the subject of memory - is at best - unreliable.
That said - it is still my own.
Perhaps what compels me to tell it has been my group work over the last three years employing the Memoir as a tool to get clear about what we want as we imagine an encore career or retirement - or as I call it - an ‘Exuberant Third Act’.
It may have to do with the arrival of grandchildren or a consequence of my pandemic mindset.
It does, nevertheless, reflect my life-long appreciation for the art of the shanachie and my faith in the healing power of stories.
Our stories matter.
So whether you take the process seriously - as a transformative exercise - or simply embrace it as a means to organise and cull your boxes of photos and mementos - join me!
Beginning on Sunday, February 28th - 2021, we’ll begin mining our past - 5 years at a time - to start an outline of our stories.
Using the Memoir tool for prompts, over the course of 9 - 12 Sundays (depending on your age) we’ll complete a ‘first draft’ - remembering and diving into each subsequent five year period, weekly.
You might simply write out your reminiscences, collect photos, record a few thoughts on your phone - or sketch/paint or create collages or your life - or just the times as you experienced what’s now classified as history to half the world’s population.
We all have the capacity to compose the story of our life and embrace the whole of it - or simply appear as a footnote in someone else’s.
Your choice!
It’s a creative process - and remarkably it’s energizing.
Let’s do this.
Register Here or become a Patreon Patron and the workshop is free.
Or consider the transformational power of a course - It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again - Creativity and Meaning at Midlife & Beyond.
