The narrative construction of the Self

Kenneth Taylor at Stanford University has an interesting lecture  where he talks about the self.
He comes to the same conclusion as many others do; we construct our selves with our stories about our life.
But he adds, like a mindful person should, we also includes other people in our story and we tell their stories too. We have to, but perhaps we should be careful - we should know that it just are our stories about others.
  ( the full lecture here: http://vimeo.com/22352839  )
The stories may not be exactly true, but it is anyway important to tell your own story.

Jackson has the perspective of black people in America in mind. He cites from "Song of Solomon", a novel by Toni Morrison:

"She threw away every assumption that she had learned and bean at zero.... Then she tackled the problem of trying to decide how she wanted to live and what was valuable to her. When am I happy and when am I sad and what is the difference?
What do I need to stay alive? What is true in the world?
Her mind traveled crooked streets and aimless goat paths, arriving sometimes in profundity, other times in the revelation of a three year old."

Sometimes you have to throw away the narratives that others have laid on you - to be really free you have to tell your own story.

Many black people do that know - another example of that is the film "12 years a slave".


So remember, your story are without an end. You can change it whenever you want. You can find new perspectives to your background and you can find new goals for your future.
And you can find out what you really want...
And that can be, as for me, to find moments in your life when all the stories in your head fade away.
But then you have to meditate - and that's another story....

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