MIRROR. MIRROR.

Photo by Phil Warren. 

What is it that motivates us to want to look back through carnival-like multi-directional mirrors to explore times past?  

I look at the photo of my mother on the wall, and wonder what was hidden behind those storied eyes, laugh lines, and tenured silver gray locks.  I yearn to hear mom's stories and dad's jokes, one more time, but now, the responsibility has been silently delegated to a new generation to tell the tales of the past. 
 
The Healing Power of Stories: Creating Yourself through the Stories of your Life by Daniel Taylor, Ph.D. became my go-to bible as I delved deeper into the personal history industry.  The jacket description contends, as therapists have known all along, that “stories have the power to make people whole again.  The key to telling life stories is choosing which fairytales, myths and popular stores we embrace, picking which characters become our heroes and reshaping our world according to the ideals of our favorite stories.”  
 
The academic in me however wanted to know why stories carry so much significance in our lives.  Once again, Taylor offers valuable insight. 

• Story is omnipresent in our lives.
• We live in stories the way fish live in water, breathing them in and out, buoyed up by them.
• We are born into stories; they nurture and guide us through life; they help us know how to die.
• Stories make it possible for us to be human.
• Stories shape how we see ourselves, the world, and our place in it.
   
  Patricia Hampt in Could I Tell You Stories gives us another glimpse as to why we hunger for stories.

• Stories entertain us.
• They provide rehearsals for life.
• They furnish us with the reassurance and guidance we need as we mature.
• Stories teach us that there is a place for us, that we fit.
• Stories turn mere chronology, one thing after another, into the purposeful action of plot, and thereby into meaning.
  
  

These underlying currents may be why we yearn to tell and capture the stories tucked away in the pockets and pages of our lives, especially as we age, so that “my own stories can outlive me”. 
 
Let’s add a little music to our mix.  Born in 1950 you would think I was a Rolling Stones fan.  Not me.  I grew up in the world of Broadway musicals.  But today's technology gives us a chance to relive a familiar past or one we never experienced and revisit the Stones hit Ruby Tuesday - third verse, "there’s no time to lose."  Enjoy.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YJXfcndyvU
 
Let’s Get Started ... Before It’s Too Late! 
 
Mary
 
Mary Patricia Voell
 
 

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