Getting Started 

Composing Your Story - Where to begin?
Here are some ways to get started:
• Write it, as prose, as poetry, as a journal, or as a book
• Talking it, with a family member, trusted friend, or volunteer
• Record yourself, via audiotape or videotape or both
• Paint a picture, sculpt something, or create a collage

Some suggested approaches
• Chronological: Year by year, chapter by chapter: e.g., childhood, schooling, marriage, career, retirement
• Life Themes: e.g., health, work, love, relationships, leisure, education, faith, money, guided autobiography
• Random Memories & Incidents: Recount whatever stands out, then go backward and forward in time to fill in the blanks
• Scrapbooking: Using photographs to re-visit and re-live particular and various parts of your past
• Combination of Different Approaches: Start off with any approach you want to, then see what emerges as natural for you

Where to begin
• List/chart the important people in your life
• List/chart the jobs/careers you have had
• List/chart the places you have lived and traveled
• Identify the main branching-points in your life journey so far
• Graph the highs and lows of your life-line to date
• Identify a specific theme and then map your life in terms of it
• Collect and read personal papers, letters, diaries, etc.
• Gather and pore over old photographs & memorabilia
• Prompt yourself with triggering words or questions 
  (e.g., who was my first kiss with?)
• Ask others for their recollections of you
• Ask someone to interview you

Resources
STU faculty members have authored several books on narrative.

Visit Dr. Bill Randall website here
Pathways to Stillness Through Exploring Your Stories workshops here