Interested in memoir and story-telling?

I’ve been enjoying Writing About Your Life: A Journey Into The Past, written by one of the masters, William Zinsser (On Writing Well). He weaves his own life stories into advice on how to write clearly and effectively and the transitions are seamless. Thanks, Colleen, for the recommendation!

“Nick Hornby’s columns are as rich and varied as the world of literature itself, with Hornby perfectly cast as both tour guide and host…insatiable bibliophiles will devour them with delight.” – San Francisco Chronicle

Photo credit Ravages

A collection of interesting items I found this week…

The Einstein Factor – a review

A visual meditation using Hubble telescope pictures accompanied by lovely music

Life is too short – seen from a different angle

Way too cute

Amazingly colorful photo

photo credit capturedbythe light

Now that my new website design is complete, I can say that one of the new features I’m happiest about is my ability to put up a new inspirational quote whenever I feel like it.

I first started to keep a Quote Book in 1971. That volume is an unlined journal with a canvas-cloth cover and has held up remarkably well. My first quote:     “What is friendship? One soul in two bodies.”  — Aristotle. Most of the quotes relate to my interests and issues in the 1970′s – friendship, relationships, sex, meaning of life, identity. It’s been interesting to see how my focus has widened and yet kept true to certain themes.

Quote from there that still captures me today: “Man grows according to his interpretation of his self.” — Victor Frankl

Continue to check out my home page for a changing panorama of inspirational quotes through the decades.

photo credit Chris Halderman

In the latest issue of “Newsweek”, science editor Sharon Begley examines psychologist Lera Boroditsky’s fascinating research on how the language we speak shapes the way we think and see the world.

According to Boroditsky, “The private mental lives of speakers of different languages may differ dramatically in all manner of cognitive tasks. Even a small fluke of grammar – the gender of nouns – can have an effect on how people think about things in the world.”

While there are a number of very interesting examples cited in the article (check it out), the subject got me thinking about something tangentially related — Twitter. Because Twitter has its own unique “language” of just 140 characters per post, I believe that it’s affecting us in a similar way. I know, myself, that I have begun to think thoughts that can be easily summarized in just those 140 characters.

I wonder what impact this will have on us down the road; will tweeple (people who use Twitter) develop a different type of cognitive process than others?

photo credit Cindy Andrie

Most people, if and when they think about leaving a legacy, think in terms of bequeathing money or valuables. But there’s something else you can leave behind that will benefit your children and their children and the generations to come.

And that’s your Story. Oh, how I wish I knew the stories behind the faces that stare up at me from the old photos I’ve inherited. I wish I knew what their childhoods were like, what they valued and who they looked up to. I know the few tales that were passed along by my parents but those are mostly facts about what happened to whom and when. I want to know how those people felt.

I’m reading a wonderful book that I hope will help me give my own future family something more to go on. It’s called The Legacy Guide: Capturing the Facts, Memories and Meaning of Your Life. The authors say, “It’s your experience, the details of your journey, that’s your real legacy…Let the children of your children know you as a person, so they can know themselves. Let them learn from your experience. Let them benefit from what you’ve worked so hard to understand. And, not least, give yourself the satisfaction of seeing your life whole.”

What I like best about the book is that it divides one’s life into stages, so no matter where you are in the process, you can distill the facts and memories that will allow you to derive meaning. The authors ask the questions and you can answer those that seem pertinent. Put together, you eventually have a notebook or a scrapbook or a memoir to hand down. 

This seems to be an original and innovative approach and I’d be interested in hearing from anyone else who is working their way through The Legacy Guide.

Photo by Wendy Peskin/
Heifer International

Just read a great article by the wonderful writer, Barbara Kingsolver. It’s guaranteed to bring tears but will also educate you about the truly outstanding program, Heifer International. Definitely worth the time!

The past few days I’ve been enjoying Listography Journal: Your Life in Lists by Lisa Nola. She writes, “…I believe everyone should have an autobiography, if only for their loved ones to read and even in the simplest form: a list.”

A few of the lists she provides space for:

- Favorite toys you played with as a child

- Things you’re glad you did

- Things you’d save if your home was on fire

- Bad things you did as a kid

- The most memorable friends from your past

- Your biggest acts of kindness

I was intrigued by “bad things you did as a kid” because I’ve never thought about myself along those lines. But memory starts the wheels turning and darned if I didn’t come up with a list. (Apologies to Sue M. for the time I convinced her to throw some of her toys down the sewer so we could listen to the splash they made.)

Pick one list from those above. I guarantee you’ll be surprised by what you come up with.

If you have more than you can handle, here are some amazing ideas for creative recycling.