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The sense of satisfaction that comes from chronicling one's life story
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Chronicle Your Life Story Blog

reminiscence, life review, personal narratives in medicine,satisfaction in storytelling

Chronicling Life Stories: Approaching the process from different angles

This past week I had the good fortune of meeting with two other women who are involved in working with people  to  preserve their life stories.  The meeting was arranged by one of the women, who realized that we are all members of the Association for Personal Historians, and that we live in close proximity to each other.

What immediately became apparent in our discussion was how passionate each of us is about this pursuit of preserving personal histories, but that each of us  approaches it from very different angles.  As anyone who reads this blog probably knows, I am working with people to preserve their stories in a video format, creating both video memoirs and narrated video photo albums.  Pam Spence, www.pamspence.com, offers a range of services including assisting people in writing their personal memoirs and ethical wills, conducting oral histories, and creating annotated photo albums and family cookbooks with stories incorporated into them.  Pat White, www.postersastherapy.com, creates wall posters for people with cognitive impairment.  These posters are created using the individual's photos, with each photo captioned. Not only do the pictures on the poster aid in keeping memories alive and provide comfort for those with memory impairment, but they have the added benefit of being a conversation assist for those who visit. In addition, for those who live in a nursing home or other facility, the presence of this poster helps caregivers see the individual as a unique person who has had a full life and meaningful connections--not just as a patient with a disorder.

If any of you readers would like to share your ideas for other ways to preserve people's life stories--and family histories--please do. 

An example of Pat White's posters

The sense of satisfaction that comes from chronicling one's life story

Perhaps the most common reaction I get after completing a personal history is surprise.  People are taken by surprise at just how satisfied they feel about the process of reflecting upon and recounting the stories of their lives--particularly because often this sense of satisfaction comes after initial reluctance to participate.  Many of the clients with whom I work agree to be interviewed only as a "favor" to their children, who want a record of their parents' lives.  Either they are worried that they won't have enough of interest to say, or they won't be able to remember or say what they want well enough, or they just don't want to be in front of a camera.  And yet, once the camera starts rolling, and we (the client and I) begin to converse, really without exception, a certain transformation of attitude seems to occur.  There seems to be something almost soothing about having the opportunity to talk about one's life (e.g., about one's childhood, parents and grandparents, personal challenges), knowing that not only am I listening, but that their words will be available for posterity.

Below is a link to a NY Times article about the healing potential of telling and listening  to personal narratives.  Consistent with my own observations, patients who listened to personal narratives of other patients actually showed significant improvement in health status!