Hi

I’ve nearly finished the first draft of the next Day Crafting: Workbook, this time on Self-care. I’ve been looking forward for a while to writing about the idea of Day Crafting days we’ve already lived. Let me explain (with the draft copy from the page). It’s from a section in the work book looking at self-care in the context of the quality of our inner lives (QIL).

Day Crafting past days

When your attention is captured by past events, what impact does that have on your present-moment QIL and your purpose for your future? It might depend on your storytelling twist.

You can’t change any of the days in your past, but you can change the story you tell yourself about what they mean, and that story can change your present and future. You can use the same events to tell a story that enhances your identity and confidence or diminishes and victimises you. You can imagine different events in your past as told by your Labourer, Architect, and even Mystic. [Terminology from the Introductory Workbook]

You might use this idea to change your interpretation of a day where you currently see yourself through the Labourer’s eyes, ‘this happened to me, it was unfair, I made a fool of myself, that good thing only happened by chance...’ to the Architect’s version, ‘I reacted as best as I could to the challenges, I can be proud of that. I accepted and dealt with the situation amazingly, even if the outcome wasn’t what I wanted – I rock! Any good thing that happened was probably caused by me, anything bad was someone else’s fault’. (A lot of these are another kind of cognitive distortion but they’re common ones in people with an optimistic reframing of past events.)

Your overall satisfaction with life is significantly influenced by whether you can recall and interpret moments that paint a positive narrative of your identity. You are the interpreter and storyteller of your life. When you look back, what do you see? Do you focus on flaws and failures, or do you celebrate joy and moments of happiness? It’s important to remember that memory is not a fixed record of events; it’s an interpretation. Psychologist Dan McAdams refers to these options as redemption or contamination sequences - the processes of turning bad experiences into good ones, or vice versa. If you feel like you want to give this a try, here are three gentle exercises to experiment with. [You’ll need to get in contact with me ... or the workbook for those]

............................................................................................

I’d love to know what you think about this idea.

Do you think it’s possible? Is this something you’ve tried? Let me know.

Yours,

Bruce

PS: according to my sources, it’s National Blueberry Cheesecake Day (definitely a fan). And World Lindy Hop Day (not a fan).