We humans explain our life experiences to ourselves (and often to others, often unrequested) by creating a story in our minds and declaring it “truth”.
It is always so interesting to find out that the stories of the people in our lives, whether in the same family, meeting, or conversation, can be so different from our own perspective of the same event.
Welcome to Substack. Thanks for an excellent essay. Reframing is a powerful concept. I’m reminded of a young friend who is starting her law practice in legacy law. She has taken many of her favorite family photographs and reframed them all as black and white photographs that now cover the walls in her law office. A brilliant idea that tells many stories and equals many of the ideas in your essay.
As soon as we are in a relationship we are creating separate stories of the reality we are experiencing. All I have to do to demonstrate this is share a memory (story) with my sibs or my partner of many years. And as the number in the relationship grows the stories expand exponentially. Agreeing on action requires that we first share our stories and listen to the story of others, always aware that none of the stories are “true”. It is perhaps more important to listen to the stories of those we disagree with. We are not as a nation going to move successfully out of the present chaos as long as we are standing on opposite sides of the street and hurling abuse at one another.
Having had to opportunity to be a student of Dr. Kritek, I have learned the value of reframing as a way to step back from my own story and consider other ways of seeing. This has been important in my quest to release my tendency to judge rather than discern. Thanks for providing this useful perspective.
As an original member of the OWL Courage community, I am pleased that we are expanding to Substack. I admire the community that is assembling in this space and believe this blog will be a valuable addition.
A profound and very hopeful post - I am going to reflect upon it before I write more. Having just finished Nathaniel Philbrick's Sea of Glory, a history of the U.S. Exploratory (Wilkes) Expedition last night, I realized (at 79) that my entire sense of historical time has shifted.
I want to thank everyone who took the time to share their reflections in the comments; I had asked for this and you graciously responded. Thank you also for the affirming feedback. I have been pondering the varied comments and realized that they essentially were examples of the topic itself, Reframing. Each tells a story about a dimension that this topic evokes, a story of an individual response. I had not imagined that, and find it enriching. Lets keep the conversation flowing!!
It is always so interesting to find out that the stories of the people in our lives, whether in the same family, meeting, or conversation, can be so different from our own perspective of the same event.
Hi, Phyllis!
Welcome to Substack. Thanks for an excellent essay. Reframing is a powerful concept. I’m reminded of a young friend who is starting her law practice in legacy law. She has taken many of her favorite family photographs and reframed them all as black and white photographs that now cover the walls in her law office. A brilliant idea that tells many stories and equals many of the ideas in your essay.
I look forward to your stories!
Happy writing!!
This move to Substack seems useful in allowing conversation to develop around the topics you are writing about.
As soon as we are in a relationship we are creating separate stories of the reality we are experiencing. All I have to do to demonstrate this is share a memory (story) with my sibs or my partner of many years. And as the number in the relationship grows the stories expand exponentially. Agreeing on action requires that we first share our stories and listen to the story of others, always aware that none of the stories are “true”. It is perhaps more important to listen to the stories of those we disagree with. We are not as a nation going to move successfully out of the present chaos as long as we are standing on opposite sides of the street and hurling abuse at one another.
Having had to opportunity to be a student of Dr. Kritek, I have learned the value of reframing as a way to step back from my own story and consider other ways of seeing. This has been important in my quest to release my tendency to judge rather than discern. Thanks for providing this useful perspective.
As an original member of the OWL Courage community, I am pleased that we are expanding to Substack. I admire the community that is assembling in this space and believe this blog will be a valuable addition.
Thank you. I appreciate the thoughts
about reframing and rebuilding.
A profound and very hopeful post - I am going to reflect upon it before I write more. Having just finished Nathaniel Philbrick's Sea of Glory, a history of the U.S. Exploratory (Wilkes) Expedition last night, I realized (at 79) that my entire sense of historical time has shifted.
I want to thank everyone who took the time to share their reflections in the comments; I had asked for this and you graciously responded. Thank you also for the affirming feedback. I have been pondering the varied comments and realized that they essentially were examples of the topic itself, Reframing. Each tells a story about a dimension that this topic evokes, a story of an individual response. I had not imagined that, and find it enriching. Lets keep the conversation flowing!!
Anyone else who wants to respond to another's comment...that is the next exciting option we can explore....