I’m writing my life story, my autobiography for a number of reasons. It’s thought provoking, stimulating and challenges both the subconsicious mind and the higher self to work in different dimensions. Writing your life story puts you into a meditative state or an altered state of consciousness. It opens the door to the power of the human mind, and a vast array of interesting memories.
You might well say: “But my life has been boring. Nothing happened.” Not true. If you feel your life has been boring, start putting down your reasons on paper. That will immediately put you into another dimension.
RESUMES ARE LAUNDRY LISTS
If you have a resume, you can start by picking up items from that. Resumes on their own are little more than laundry lists. Think about it: Do they say anything about the real you? Writing your life story is a chance to realize the true self.
Me? I was born at Maidenhead in Berkshire, U.K. February 14th 1932. That’s probably on every resume I’ve ever written. Apart from saying I’m an Aquarian, born on a Sunday in a pretty grim news year, it says nothing.
But when I start looking around, asking questions of Mum and Dad, grand parents and others who were around, I find a treasure trove of information. I find that father did not want to marry my mother, but was cajoled and threatened by his mother, my grandmother. Apparently he met my mother at the local skating rink. Dad liked to hang out at such notoriously famous places as Skindles on the banks of the River Thames where authors, movie stars, royalty and other celebs spent their time. There was also the Showboat, a lido that attracted bathers—and Dad.
I first went to the Alwyn Road Elementary School in 1937. That was the year my favorite comic was born – The Dandy and it featured my hero Desperate Dan. This is true. How did I recall the Dandy, well you have the world at your fingertips on the Internet. I went to Google and put in “Events UK 1937” and what a fascinating news year it was. They were crowning new royalty and dumping others. The Internet is a global encyclopedia.
Then I remembered that two years later (1939) when I suffered a normally fatal disease, my mother found stacks of old Dandy comics and also the Beano, another great comic that started the year before. And they cheered me up no end and helped with my recovery. In these three paragraphs I have talked about myself and the environment—what was happening in my world so many years ago. Start, and the memories just flow.
Your environment is your home. The thing about writing your life story is to observe what was going on in your environment. Who were the people around you? What did they do? What were their hang-ups, their successes? How did their being in your environment impact you? Did you join the scouts? I did, for a little while. I found I had a mad crush on the scout-mistress. Her name was Isabel and I would have done anything for her. Now, as I write this, the scouts memory has just came up out of the blue and I realize I forgot to mention this when I was writing “My Early Life” in the book I’m working on. No matter, computers are great for adding and deleting, so I’m going back to include it. Remember the days of typewriters when one had to re-type a page. They are long gone.
WRITING TRIGGERS MEMORIES
See what I mean about memories popping up, and for me being in the Boy Scouts, that was 1947 – one long time ago. That’s just popped another scout memory: we used to go camping at Selsey Bill…. See what I mean, one memory leads to another, so allow yourself to go with the flow. Remember, your subconscious is a most powerful resource. It’s a biological computer or enormous powers, and you have one. You just have to start using it.
If you have memories that may trigger a traumatic period in your life, you would be advised to clear them before you write. Check in with a psychoanalyst or hypnoanalyst before you tackle your life story. They will help you de-energize those memories, so that you can observe and write about them as an impartial observer. Make sure you pick a good practitioner.
Incidentally, if your ego is or has been giving you trouble in your relationships with such faces as anger, resentment, jealousy, boasting, lying, guilt, obsession – write how you feel about these things and how they have affected your life. And remember, your ego-mind developed through learning from other people in your environment. If Dad or big brother taught you how to be angry, boastful and resentful, write how these faces of your negative ego have weighed heavily on your life. Work to write these things objectively in your life story. Do not be vindictive but rather observe yourself and your feelings as if you were an impartial reporter. Also, forgive those who unwittingly helped you create the negative ego, the false self within. You do not need to carry burdens from the past.
CRACKING THE GLASS DARKLY
If you continue to have a problem with the negative ego and it continues to impact your relationships, get a copy of my first book “Cracking the Glass Darkly.” In easy but effective terms it shows you how to effectively dissolve the ego, and learn to love yourself. It’s based on ancient teachings which are as powerful today as they were many centuries ago.
As you progress with your life story, think about all the achievements in your life. You haven’t got any? If you are alive and relatively healthy, that’s an achievement. You had four kids and they have flown the nest? That’s an achievement. Your soccer team won a cup! That’s an achievement. Write how you did it with them and how you felt.
As you write about your life, you will be surprised at all the memories that simply spring out of nowhere. And one memory will lead to another, and another. Write down your feelings about yourself and your relationships with the people in your environment.
While you are at it, get as much information on Mum, Dad, your four grandparents, and if you can, anything on your eight great-grandparents. You didn’t realize you had eight great-gradparents? Do some multiplication and go back about fourteen generations. Some one million people had to get together to produce you!
My great-grandfather was a poet, a composer and a laborer in Reading, Berkshire in the U.K. He died the year before I was born, but my great-grandmother was a mine of information. What she told me still affects my life today. She was a gypsy and a seer. Get as much on the family and your ancestors as you can. Their names, birthdates, places they lived. What was your interaction with any of them. Did they help you in any way emotionally, physically and materially? Did they help you spiritually?
YOUR LIFE’S PANORAMA
When you include grand-parents and perhaps one or two great-grandparents in your life story, you are stretching your life’s panorama. Both my great-grandparents were born about 1860, that’s 150 years ago. Now let’s project into the future. If my grand-children’s kids when they reach thirty or forty, in say 2050, and are suddenly gripped with curiosity enough to want to read of what happened in my early life, they will be able to look back almost 200 years.
Some day, some time, some where one of your descendents will probably ask: “Does anyone know anything of my great-great grandparents?”
And no doubt someone will respond “Funny you should ask that, here’s a life story they wrote in the early 21st century…it’s in a folder, no a book. They published it themselves.”
And that fresh young mind will start reading and for a while will come back into your personal world that you took the initiative to write about. And while they read and mull it over, they will feel part of you. Writing your life story, no matter how long, providing you write it truthfully and with love, will becomes a time-capsule for your future kids. What an investment!
As I write this, out in the other room on a laptop my life story is being written. This brings up one more point. Do not compare your life story to anyone else’s. In other words do not be influenced, intimidated, put off by autobiographies of national leaders, politicians, movie people, out of work generals, agitators or even me. Just write it your way, with your thoughts and your love. Yes, write what has been happening around you. That helps create a picture, a painting. See your life, not as a single person standing against a blank canvas, but a person in a picture with things happening around you. That’s life.
Finally, what you do with your life story is up to you. You can print it out, place it in a folder and an envelope, seal it and write a note: My Life Story. (Date to Date) Do not open until I have passed on. You might even request a future time way into the future.
A SELF PUBLISHING OPPORTUNITY
Or you might choose to have it self-published. There are a growing number of publishing houses. Just write “self-publishing” in your favorite search engine and a list will appear. Be careful. Shop around. It’s quite possible you can have one or two copies of your book nicely bound and printed…or a couple of hundred copies for a small outlay. If you wish to study the subject, join the 2,900 plus members of self-publishing@yahoogroups.com and you’ll learn a lot in a short time. This group has the benefit of some great professional gurus freely sharing priceless information with group members. Moreover, it is closely monitored to avoid nonsense emails.
Or you might find your work has universal appeal and you have a New York Times Best Seller of the Month on your hands. If it happens, it happens. But your month of glory is completely overshadowed by your personal long range benefits, that is leaving an information resource for the future.
Whatever you do, writing your autobiography, your life story, is a challenge. It’s not easy but it is gratifying and worthwhile, and the important thing is that you will learn a lot about yourself. Chances are you will become enlightened about yourself and see your whole being in a different light. Enjoy.
NOTE: Robert’s own life story, currently in the writing stage is entitled: “Kings, Killers and Kinks in the Cosmos.” Publication is planned for early 2011.
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