Transformation: an act, process, or instance of transforming or being transformed.
When you look at the transformation from a story perspective, looking back at your life and the journey you’ve had to date, it’s been quite the movie, hasn’t it? It’s easy to focus on what’s ahead without acknowledging what came before.
Transformation is powerful. You can shift your past experience and create a future that you were not seeing as possible an hour or day prior.
Imagine looking back at your life as an observer, remembering life events, making notes, and then as you get to the present time, taking a look at this from an adult’s perspective and seeing what the story of your life so far has been about.
Creating your autobiography
Years ago, I participated in a course where we all created an autobiography. It was a powerful exercise and a true gift for which I’ll always be grateful. I remember thinking how wonderful it would be if every person on this planet would create their version; it’s such a gift.
Collecting images, looking at conversations, people and events while weaving our life stories together. It could be a collage of pictures for every year or words; you get to create it the way you want to; it’s your story, after all.
One of the things I, and many with me, got from this experience was that we have a choice in how we share our story, no matter how traumatic the events were at the time. When you take the time to review and present to your own story, making peace with the experiences, it opens up the door to new possibilities, choices, and actions.
Life is a movie
What if you were to create your life as one of your favorite movies? The plotlines of most stories will include the hero – You, who starts out with a story and a set of circumstances. Next, something happens, villains may appear, and you’re forced to take action if you want to live. Along the way, your own personal Yoda(s) may appear, or there will be challenges continually thrown your way that force you to step up and take action until the threat has been eliminated. The hero is different at the end of the story, often wiser from the experiences and no longer apologizing for who they are.
Much like your own life. What happened to you growing up will stay with you, and depending on the nature of your story, some are great where they are, and others are better off transforming into a story where you get to be your own everyday hero.
Have you ever considered why you’re drawn to the movies you watch or what you experience through them? And why there are other movies that you would never think of seeing?
Your turn
Here are some ideas for an outline you could use if creating your own autobiography sounds fun.
STEP 1
Grab a bunch of papers or create a new document. Number each page from 0 to your current age.
- PEOPLE: Write down the names and roles of the people in your life at that time (parents, family, friends, foes, classmates, teammates, neighbors, etc. List the names.)
- IMAGES: Add pictures from your life or google images that represent you and the people in your life if there are none. Unsplash is a great site where you can download free and royalty-free images
- PERSONAL EVENTS: What were the events that happened in your life during that year – good or bad?
- WORLD EVENTS: What big events happened in the world at that time?
- EXPERIENCE: How do you remember feeling that year about yourself and others? Happy, loved, safe, sad, angry, helpless, abandoned, scared, lonely, …
- NEW STORY: Leave blank for now
STEP2
- REVIEW: Now that you’ve created your life story what do you get present to? Who are you? How would you describe this person?
- INSIGHTS: What did you learn about life this year? What choices are you making as a result of this event? What beliefs did you form about yourself and others?
- NEW STORY: Looking at where you are today as an adult, how can you recreate your story in a way that empowers you? Go through each year and add an empowering statement
STEP 3
Just like the hero in a movie, you now get to choose how you want your story to play out from this day forward. What is the happy-ever-after story you want to experience? You may have heard the proverb, “If there’s a will, there’s a way” in other words, anything is possible if you set the intention and take the actions necessary to create it.
- YOUR NEW NARRATIVE: Who are you now, as a result of the life you’ve lived to date? What would that look like if you were to describe yourself as a character?
- YOUR VISION, what do you want to share with the world? It could be power words, a collage of images, or simply taking 5 minutes a day to tune within and connect with your hero self and see what guidance you get from within.
