Lifelines™

Of all the experiences in your life, how do you choose which ones to write about?  After all, you fill so many roles; you connect to so many people.  It can be daunting to know where to start, which story to choose.To keep from being overwhelmed, it helps to apply a framework to sort your experience into categories.  One suggested framework is Lifelines.

Lifelines represent seven of the most significant areas of your life:  The Spirit, The Body, The Space, The People, The Work, The Play and The Not.  Using these categories allows you to narrow your focus, making it easier to identify significant moments and to gather information.  Lifelines offer a simple way to begin writing.

The Lifelines are explained more fully in Half Past Perfect:  Writing Simple, Personal Stories to “Re-Story” Your Life, by Barbara Allen-Burke and Elizabeth Taylor, and in the companion notebook, Story Starters, available through the I Am Story Studios Store.  To get you started, however, you can find an excerpts from the book by clicking on the following links:

The Spirit

This represents the core of your belief system–your spirituality, faith or personal philosophy. It includes abstract themes:  values, ethics, responsibility, love and faith. In this Lifeline you may reflect upon why you’re here. Your internal spiritual journey is replete with stories.

The Body

How do you see your physical self? How do you interact with others on this level? Your health, body image, and your relationship to food, exercise and sex all hold stories. Your connection to your physical being resides on this Lifeline.

The Space

This Lifeline reflects where you’ve been.  It includes everything from the environments you’ve experienced–cities, rural areas, mountains, beaches–to the spaces you’ve called home. Have you moved from place to place or have you been planted like a tree and grown deep roots? How has your movement or lack of it affected who you are? This Lifeline also includes the physical possessions with which you’ve shared space. Reflect on where you’ve passed time.

The People

Your relationships to other people are central to many stories. You’ve had connections to parents, children, family members, romantic partners, co-workers, teachers, authority figures and peers. What tales can you weave about love and romance, or a favorite friend? Was there someone with whom you couldn’t get along? The relationships formed with pets or other animals also fall into this Lifeline.

The Work

Work is applied effort across your lifespan, and includes school, jobs and volunteer activities. When were you most engaged or challenged in your work? How did you feel about your chosen career or retirement? What accomplishments or failures need to be explored?

The Play

Play is activity undertaken just for the joy of it. For some people, this is a sport or game. Others are interested in hobbies like reading, music, crafts, chess and computer games. How have you engaged your mind and body in order to restore yourself?

The Not

Although most people describe their lives in terms of what they have done, it is also important to explore life’s omissions. What have you not done that you regret? What areas of absence do you wish you had filled: a lost relationship, a phone call you missed, a trip not taken, an apology overlooked, or a challenge unexplored? This area offers opportunities to integrate those  blank parts into the rest of our lives.