#internallandscapes

I’ve been thinking about stories lately. 

Specifically, I’m thinking about the #formative stories that unfold throughout our upbringing. The ones told to us, intentionally and unintentionally, by our family, community and the media. The ones that help us realize how high or low our potential. The ones that shape, months and years later, our beliefs - the stories we tell ourselves today. 

And not just these stories, but the #gaps within them, that we fill in various ways. We do this all the time in literature. (It’s usually referred to as “concretization,” a co-creative reading in which we fill in missing details and resolve ambiguities. These details we create become realities we interject, often without even realizing it.)

I’m thinking about the stories that show us what it means to be a #twenty-something or a #thirty-something. (I’m hoping by the time we get to our forties and our #goldenyears, we’ve learned how to define life for ourselves, on our own terms.) 

I’m thinking about the collection of stories that create a framework for how to process choices and make decisions. How to approach relationships. Get through challenging times. Or how to handle an exceptionally difficult person. (I’ll tell you mine, if you’ll tell me yours!)

You and I will face many of the same decisions, same situations – but I’m guessing that my approach is (at least somewhat) different from yours. And I’m curious about the internal processes that get each of us from point A to point B to point C. Each of us has well-traveled, internal landscapes that we follow. We perceive them - and our role within them - in different ways. (If you want an inspiring read that contrasts different internal landscapes, try this story by Paulette Perhach.) 

I suspect that I have taken my internal landscapes for granted, being rutted in tired landscapes and/or unaware of them, to some degree. 

Exposure to others’ stories is waking me up to my own, though. (This is, in hindsight, why I was drawn to majoring in English Literature and why I write.) It’s why I enjoy watching Sunday Morning every week. (Fittingly, one of their stories today was on TED Talks, one of my favorite compilations offering inspired and inspiring #perspective on countless topics.) And why I enjoy conversations (preferably over wine, coffee, and/or a pan of brownies) with friends. It’s why I devour books. (Most recently, Committed by Liz Gilbert, and currently, The Circle by Dave Eggers.)

We can learn a lot about ourselves this way. We can also learn how to define and redefine, shape and reshape our internal landscapes - if we’re open to it. And maybe in being more intentional, we can help others as they shape and define their lives, too.