"Your past is your story up to now. The future is the story yet to come. The present is where you live with that experience, your hopes and your dreams."

Opening Remarks: How You Make People Feel

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While the main focus of this newsletter is to share thoughts, ideas, and insights on life story writing you should know that I offer various services and also mention some products and services that can be helpful. You are under no obligation to purchase anything, but if any of these products or services are helpful and you decide to utilize them then I am most grateful.

Thanks for reading. – Tom

Featured Article: Personal History Starts with Awareness

May is Personal History Awareness Month and I’ve been blogging about it, sharing ideas and observations on social media, and also reflecting on my own story. One of my driving passions is to help other people become aware of their personal history. Your story begins with your awareness that you have a story to tell.

On Friday, May 30, I will be a guest on The Book Hound radio program (online at www.renegaderadio.org). The host, Janice Hermsen, will be facilitating a discussion on the importance of personal history and how awareness of our stories can provide the incentive to preserve our life stories.

Becoming aware of the importance of your life, and therefore, your story, is like awakening from a pleasant dream. In the brief moments as you transition from sleep to consciousness you have that wonderful sensation that you want to remain. But just like the dreams from our sleep, the sensation of your life story's importance can often slip away. It’s understandable; we get busy going about our daily activities and we become distracted by the often mundane things of life.

Yet our stories really matter. I know from my own experience that I must have times of purposeful reflection to better become aware of the value of my life events. Reminiscence and reflection are essential to the awareness of my personal history, or for that matter, the history and importance of my friends and family. This is why I keep a journal and write in it almost every day. I also meditate. Some of my best reflections come when I go for a run.

The business of personal history includes analyzing lives, reviewing previous writing, looking at photographs, creating timelines and recording interviews. It is multi-layered and a lot of work. But it is fascinating to discover people’s stories and to help them find ways to preserve them.

If you haven’t yet started on the journey of your personal history I encourage you to take those first steps. Spend some time reflecting on your life. Use valuable tools like memory lists, journal and diary writing, photographs, helpful books and helpful professionals. A valuable resource is the Association of Personal Historians. On their website you can find members (like myself) and what they specialize in. You can also discover the many reasons why you should have your story told and the various formats you can use to do that.

You can read other life story articles here.

Featured Resources

May is traditionally Personal History Awareness Month . Personal Historians are doing a great service for people by helping them preserve their lives as life stories. This can be done in many ways and various formats. I present a few suggestions on the Your Life Is Your Story website.

Closing Information

Any comments, ideas or feedback is greatly appreciated. Just reply to this ‘zine and tell me what you think!

Until next time, – keep your story alive!

Tom Gilbert