Have you ever compared your version of events with a good friend? A false narrative is a mental framework you use in order to interpret events that upon deeper investigation turn out to be untrue or skewed. The father of cognitive psychology, Ulric Neisser, wrote in the compendium Self-narratives: True and False, "Human beings exist through time, just as everything else does: One thing happens after another. But unlike anything else, people remember what happened to them – some of it, anyway. This is a remarkable achievement. The remarkable thing is not just that past events influence the … [Read more...]
Writing Anxiety: Feeling Feral Writing Prompt
If I said to you, "he is a dog" you would know what I mean, right? Or that she eats like a horse. That kid has the strength of a lion. We use animals at metaphors for qualities that exist in both the animal and human world. We say, he crushed his workout like a beast, or she runs like a gazelle. It is a useful repertoire of metaphors, but there is a dark side to it also. A lot of our anxieties have to do with what I would call our "animal selves." We share our biology with animals - chimpanzees and humans share 99% of our DNA. We share biological functions - the need to sleep, eat, excrete, … [Read more...]
Write the Change
It is very easy to feel like each day brings fundamental changes. In February 2020 I was in New York City enjoying my husband's birthday. In March 2020 I went into my job and was told not to have meetings in the conference rooms. The next day we were told to work from home. Today, the desk I sat at still has my name placard and personal items in the drawers but I may never go back. It is a moment frozen in time of a world with different rules. The Write the Change Challenge was created to document the changes you have noticed in your physical surrounding, attitudes, emotions, and make … [Read more...]
Write the Change Challenge: Prompt #1 AMBITION
It is truly amazing to me that the changes we have been experiencing this summer have been slow to sink in. The gentle creep of time where suddenly I notice it is time to trim back the hedges again. To reshape what is overgrown. To take a look at the roots and decide what needs a touch-up, what is still relevant, and what can be discarded. In this series I am going to be focused on writing prompts that are rooted in the here and now, but that also allow us to consider the past and dream into the future. The first writing prompt is AMBITION. Our desire and determination to … [Read more...]