Using Storytelling Techniques to Reframe Your Life

A Review from Pysch Central

Our lives are a story. There are characters, conflicts and resolutions. There is joy and pain, comedy and drama. There is mystery and adventure. How we tell our tales, and thereby how we see ourselves, plays a huge role in how we live our lives. Because perception is everything.

If we view a failure as a stepping stone or an opportunity for growth, this is very different than viewing it as a billboard shouting our inadequacy. We will likely make very different decisions depending on which narrative we choose.

Right now I’m reading the fantastic book Step Out of Your Story: Writing Exercises to Reframe and Transform Your Life by Kim Schneiderman, LCSW, MSW. Schneiderman is a psychotherapist, columnist and workshop facilitator in New York City.

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Lesson 1: Soul Narrative vs. Self-Defeating Story
Lesson 2:  Exploring the Power of Choice and Voice
Lesson 3:  Your Adversary as Your Personal Trainer
Lesson 4:  Embracing Your Strengths and Superpowers
Lesson 5:  Getting to Know Your Inner Antagonist(s)
Lesson 6:  Dialoguing with the Parts that Get Triggered
Lesson 7: The Yoga of Character Development
Lesson 8: Supporting Characters, Tools and Resources
Lesson 9: Giving Ourselves the Blessing We Seek
Lesson 10: The Golden Happy Ending

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Psychotherapist and freelance journalist Kim Schneiderman utilizes research-based methods to help people who are stuck – in a dead-end job, relationship, of life stage – imagine themselves as the star of their own stories with the power to reclaim their personal narratives. Drawing on the elements of a story that many of us learned in high school (premise, scene, plot, conflict, climax, resolution), readers will assign titles to different chapters of their lives, observe recurring themes, identify supporting characters, and explore how conflict creates opportunities for personal growth that can lead to a meaningful resolution. They will also be asked to examine how the decisions we make, both big and small, affect our storyline – the relationships we choose, how we spend our day, and how we nourish ourselves, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Unlike most self-help writing workbooks, most of the exercises in Step Out of Your Story are framed in the third-person voice, freeing readers to see beyond their usual point of view. Psychological research suggests that people are more likely to view their lives favorably when they see themselves as characters in a story. In a 2005 Columbia University study reported in the Journal of Psychological Science, test subjects who spoke about difficult chapters in their lives in the third person narrative displayed more confidence and optimism than those who recalled bad memories in the first person. By retracing their steps from the perch of the third-person narrative, people were more likely to regard their problems as something outside themselves – challenges they had conquered or adversaries they had defeated - instead of character flaws. Additionally, the perception that they had overcome obstacles left them feeling more confident to face the future.

Using Storytelling Techniques to Reframe Your Life

A Review from Pysch Central

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STEP OUT OF YOUR STORY

Writing Exercises to Reframe and Transform Your Life

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