People grow up strongly wedded to their narratives, but crumble when life diverges from them. We all know overachievers in high school who become depressed in college, or people in grad school who’ve put enormous energy into pursuing a particular path only to realize it doesn’t make them happy. Even if you don’t want to live a completely unstoried life, it’s important to able to separate identity and narrative: you’re more resilient if you realize you have value separate of your story. Going back to Didion—telling stories to cope with chaos works up to a certain point, but there are things that will happen in your life that render every story redundant.
It’s interesting to read this as a senior citizen because there are very few events in my life as I get older. Most events now are either my grown children’s or grandchildren’s. Even though I’m still working parttime, I’ve noticed my life is much more about being than doing. By “being,” I mean being in the moment, noticing birds chirping, the weather as I walk my dog, flowers starting to bloom, etc. There’s less rushing and more enjoying simple pleasures, more paying attention to what’s around me. I wouldn’t necessarily have called it being “without a narrative,” but it is and I’m loving it!!!
Narrative. Exactly and precisely the theme, deeply reshaping, the past two weeks or so. I have been journaling to now create the healthier narratives for fuller, richer existence... and now a new suggestion here is dropping the narrative completely for maximum flow. New goal is to create a personal balance of both. Healthy narrative is a common theme for manifestation and no narrative is a revolutionary theme for deeper living.
but I don’t want to experience my life as a narrative of my own making. I want to engage with it as pure experience.
This essay, well written and all, can be summarized into one well-worn word: present.
Also, see the movie Soul. Same thing.
It’s interesting to read this as a senior citizen because there are very few events in my life as I get older. Most events now are either my grown children’s or grandchildren’s. Even though I’m still working parttime, I’ve noticed my life is much more about being than doing. By “being,” I mean being in the moment, noticing birds chirping, the weather as I walk my dog, flowers starting to bloom, etc. There’s less rushing and more enjoying simple pleasures, more paying attention to what’s around me. I wouldn’t necessarily have called it being “without a narrative,” but it is and I’m loving it!!!
🙏👍
How does Ava know?
Narrative. Exactly and precisely the theme, deeply reshaping, the past two weeks or so. I have been journaling to now create the healthier narratives for fuller, richer existence... and now a new suggestion here is dropping the narrative completely for maximum flow. New goal is to create a personal balance of both. Healthy narrative is a common theme for manifestation and no narrative is a revolutionary theme for deeper living.
☯️ Pure Experience ☯️