Fulfillment as a Process of Becoming 1
Narrative Therapy
Authenticity
We have been discussing fulfillment in relation to authentic engagement in our projects.
What about over a lifetime? Is a fulfilling life found in our authentic engagement in a specific project? Or does it relate to all of the projects we engage in, and all of the meanings and values we find in those projects?
Is there a coherence we should seek to discover when we reflect upon authentic engagements over the course of our lives?
When we articulate, reflect, interpret on the values and meaning associated with our authentic engagements, should we seek to discover or create a coherent story of our lives?
Narrative Therapy
In the 1970s and 1980s, Michael White and David Epston developed a form of psychotherapy they named “narrative therapy.”
Narrative therapy seeks to help one identify his or her values, and the skills associated with them. It provides one with knowledge of his or her ability to live these values so as to effectively confront current and future problems.
The therapist seeks to help the individual co-author a new narrative about him or herself by investigating the history of those values.
Stories We Tell Ourselves
At the heart of narrative therapy is the notion that there is not a true self, but only stories we tell about who we are.
In the course of narrative therapy, the therapist seeks to assist individuals with reconstructing the stories they tell about themselves, in a manner that emphasizes the ability or freedom to change the stories they tell.
Individuals are encouraged to identify the values they find important, and how they might live a life consistent with such values.
The therapist seeks to carve out of the stories values or ideas handed down by society or via personal circumstances that are destructive and not life affirming.
I hope you enjoyed this article. Thanks for reading!
Tomas
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Excerpt from my forthcoming book, Becoming: A Life of Pure Difference (Gilles Deleuze and the Philosophy of the New) Copyright © 2022 by Tomas Byrne. Learn more here.
