writing your own fairy tale

I realized in reading beautiful blog stories this morning that a person can really frame ones life (or reframe it) in the blog. This can be a very good thing. (It also could be a bad thing and has the potential for a good psycho-thriller if the re-framing is off the deep-end ;-). The art of storytelling of ones own life can be powerful. Such is the blog.

What was originally a vehicle for me to just do "morning pages" a-la julie cameron-artist way has evolved. Of course the point of morning pages is to brain dump and are never supposed to be read by a soul. But for me this (blog) vehicle created an incentive. Then it became a way to really work things out. Then it became a beautiful way to record the adventures of my family which I will be able to treasure when I am eighty. But it does something else too...

keeps my accountable.

The books say this. You know all those books that have all that wisdom... pick one they all mention the act of writing something down as a necessary step to making something happen.

I have always been a list maker, a goal setter, and a planner. Sometimes this practice has granted me the fulfillment and satisfaction of something accomplished and other times it has been a source of torture. That might depend on where I wrote it. Did it land on a sticky that was easy to toss... or one of my fine sketchbooks that you wouldn't dare tear the page out.

Sounds kind of crazy doesn't it?

Maybe so... but sketchbooks and stickies aside... what about the blog? Doesn't it have even more power than a piece of paper, no matter how fine?

It is like making a promise to the world that you are going to do something or be a certain way. And I wonder if when proclaiming to the world what you plan to do, or who you want to be motivates you to do that much better...

or be that much more.

The idea that someone someday (or tomorrow) will read about what you are up to may make you think twice about what you do or neglect to do today.

Like a cosmic accountability group...

or a promise to god.

But how precious it is to understand that we have choices. Whether we write them down or not, we have choices to make every day. And those choices are like pebbles in a stream that direct the flow. That may sound like a scary idea but even the smallest act of kindness can have big results.

But I digress...

A few months ago I started reflecting on the idea of versions of the self. If there was a possibility of having other versions of you what would those versions look like? How can a person help or hinder the creation of a good version versus a bad version...or even a mediocre version.

Mediocre...hmmm is that what it means to be "luke warm"?

Anyway, I became fascinated by this concept of versions of self. Maybe it is my age that makes me suddenly reflect upon this. I am statistically in the "middle" of my life, and I guess that means looking back and looking ahead which makes your reflect on what you have done in the past and more importantly what you still have the power to do with your future.

What a beautiful opportunity to imagine what the best version of "you" might look like and go for that.

Which makes me absolutely stunned when I bump into blogs where someone writes about making choices towards destruction. I don't get that. To willfully choose to proclaim to the world how bad they want to be... I guess that is a notion of youth that will catch up to anyone.

That might make me sound hypocritical, because of course no one is perfect...

but to try for a better version of self seems more sane doesn't it? Unless you are locked into some romantic notion that self destruction might lead to something better... the hollywood ending...

Thelma and Louise, anyone?

And then there are those beautiful blogs where letters are written to babies by their moms and dads for future reading by the child. Hopes and wishes given in love for prosperous futures. Sort of setting the scene and launching pad for the child to become the best version of themselves. These are the best kind of blog posts.

This thing we call blog is such an interesting phenomenon. Ok... it used to be journals, but truthfully I never kept a good journal until the blog. Pictures are key. And now, whether anyone reads what I am up to or not I feel accountable to it because of my own future readings. What a great thing to be able to read about all the richness of your life when your memory might fail you. And in the here and now, isn't it wonderful to be able to write your own fairy tale while you are actually creating it?

If you had the ability to frame your life and write your own fairy tale what would it look like? What would you change?

What version of you do you want to see when you look in the mirror?