Day 40 of 365 - Timelines and Story Telling
Have you ever done a timeline exercise? It's a common life or career coaching tool to help give a bird's eye perspective of life events, a way to see life patterns. It can be done in different ways, from as simply as using one straight line on which you make a little mark to indicate significant chronological events, to something that is done in a more abstract, graphing way.
I've done a few of these over the years, for both career planning and for more personal exploration. It can be a really useful tool, but, its value is enhanced by making it more a subconscious exercise rather than just a mental one. The baseline can be the concrete dates of significant life events. Then, it can be enhanced by doing a freehand drawing of a path between those points, which may go up, down, zigzag, straight, circular. The idea is to relax the mind and not think too much about it as you do that part.
Looking at your style of timeline can help you see how you have defined the events of your life and the stories you tell yourself about them. Yes, facts are facts, but it is how we interpret them that develops beliefs and patterns of behavior that carries forward in our lives. We are the storytellers of our lives, either in our own heads or, in what we convey to others verbally or behaviorally.
We can look at the influences in our life stories, from what we interpret as positive or negative and see how those overlay ongoing life patterns. If we don't like how things are unfolding we can look at those patterns, examine them and choose a different outcome. Sometimes we are also carrying other peoples' stories too and can make different choices once we realize that.
Here is one timeline example from my own life. Our first child was born ten weeks prematurely, in an emergency situation due to my health. It was a very traumatic event and we heard both positive and negative predictions about how things would unfold from the medical team, family and friends. We went through a very stressful period until our child safely came home to us. So, at that time my story about that event was stress related and strongly influenced how I parented.
Within a few years, I was offered a new job opportunity, working in an infant development program for families of at risk babies. It was my own experience as a parent of a premature baby that made me a good candidate for that job. I did that work for many, many years. So, at that time my original story became a positive influence that I would not necessarily have predicted before.
Having reviewed this topic about timelines and story telling, it's making me think this would be a good time of my life to do another one. My idea would be to see what is influencing how I see myself as becoming a senior and whether there is a potential story outcome that I could change, perhaps one that would lead to more vitality. I'll report back here at some point after I've done the exercise again.
I've done a few of these over the years, for both career planning and for more personal exploration. It can be a really useful tool, but, its value is enhanced by making it more a subconscious exercise rather than just a mental one. The baseline can be the concrete dates of significant life events. Then, it can be enhanced by doing a freehand drawing of a path between those points, which may go up, down, zigzag, straight, circular. The idea is to relax the mind and not think too much about it as you do that part.
Looking at your style of timeline can help you see how you have defined the events of your life and the stories you tell yourself about them. Yes, facts are facts, but it is how we interpret them that develops beliefs and patterns of behavior that carries forward in our lives. We are the storytellers of our lives, either in our own heads or, in what we convey to others verbally or behaviorally.
We can look at the influences in our life stories, from what we interpret as positive or negative and see how those overlay ongoing life patterns. If we don't like how things are unfolding we can look at those patterns, examine them and choose a different outcome. Sometimes we are also carrying other peoples' stories too and can make different choices once we realize that.
Here is one timeline example from my own life. Our first child was born ten weeks prematurely, in an emergency situation due to my health. It was a very traumatic event and we heard both positive and negative predictions about how things would unfold from the medical team, family and friends. We went through a very stressful period until our child safely came home to us. So, at that time my story about that event was stress related and strongly influenced how I parented.
Within a few years, I was offered a new job opportunity, working in an infant development program for families of at risk babies. It was my own experience as a parent of a premature baby that made me a good candidate for that job. I did that work for many, many years. So, at that time my original story became a positive influence that I would not necessarily have predicted before.
Having reviewed this topic about timelines and story telling, it's making me think this would be a good time of my life to do another one. My idea would be to see what is influencing how I see myself as becoming a senior and whether there is a potential story outcome that I could change, perhaps one that would lead to more vitality. I'll report back here at some point after I've done the exercise again.
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