Yeah you heard me right. How often have you felt like there is this idealized version of yourself: the gardener, the artist, the parent, or…
Yeah you heard me right. How often have you felt like there is this idealized version of yourself: the gardener, the artist, the parent, or whatever it is, and that somehow, every day, life finds ways to stretch you away from that feeling of satisfaction and magic? So there is this big disconnect between who you see yourself as and then the lifeless, soul sucking life problems that keep you from being your real self, right?
Right…I mean if that’s what you think then that’s what you get. But if you want to think and feel something much more romantic; if you want to feel like the tribulations of life have a relevant place with depth and meaning in your life, I have a quick and easy Personal Mythology technique for you:
1. Identify what you like and associate with in life: gaming, gardening, movies, music, etc. Break it down to traits. Let’s say it’s gardening, so the traits might be: peace, growth, nurturing.
2. Identify your life issue and break it down into traits as well. Let’s say you are frustrated trying to help someone you love and you are becoming overbearing in the process. Traits you might list: frustration, love, caring, worry.
3. Look at the traits you listed for the issue. How can they be related back to what you love in life? Create a metaphor. In our example, perhaps the sun. It normally nurtures the plants but if it becomes overbearing it destroys them.
This simple exercise will give you a mythic foundation from which you can find better understanding, empathy, solutions, and meaning in your problems. It opens the doors for mythic conversations to convey your feelings to others, and for poetry, art, and deepening the metaphor over time. I’ll cover more details of these benefits in my new book ?.
