Life Review

Many years ago, I had the privilege of working with the now late, Ira Progoff and deeply studied and worked with his Intensive Journal Process. This process has been something I have used in various times of my life especially in times of transition to get clarity on what my life was wishing to become.

Since I have been focused on Midlife and in particular on the Life Review Process, I am finding once again that I am turning to this process for guidance.  Along with other techniques and processes that I have learned over the years, this process has grounded me and helped me to see how EVERYTHING in my life has a place and a purpose.
The purpose of my unfolding product, the Life Review, is to support you in doing just that as well.  It will give you the opportunity to reflect on past experience, to clear what needs to be cleared and even more importantly, to discover the potential that still wants to be born.  It will also help provide profound meaning for both the past and the current events of your life.

In the comments below, I’d love to hear what you’d like to see in a course of this kind. I’d also like to hear how you’d like it delivered – privately online; through private or group coaching or in public seminars either live or through the web.  It’s coming soon.

In the meantime, I’d like to introduce you to :

Ira Progoff
Since the 1950’s, Dr. Progoff devoted his life to the exploration of new ways to encourage creativity and to enhance individual growth. He is a leading authority on C.G. Jung, depth psychology and transpersonal psychology as well as journal writing.

The Intensive Journal Process
The Intensive Journal workbook is the basic instrument in which you write about your life. It is a three ring binder containing tabs, each of which covers a specific area of your life. Examples include personal relationships, career and special interests, body and health, events, dreams, and meaning in life.

 

The structure of the Intensive Journal workbook is an active instrument. Each exercise is used with specific procedures that seek to evoke the contents of a persons’s life without engaging in conscious thought processes. Drawing forth your life process stimulates additional inner perceptions and movements. Through the relation of the sections to each other, an inner dynamic is built moving in two directions: outward and inward.

Progoff emphasizes the difference between the Intensive Journal method and diary writing:

“Diary writing usually involves the unstructured, chronological recording of the events of a person’s life….the mere fact of continuously writing entries…is not sufficient in itself to bring about deep changes in a person’s life. To achieve a significant transformation in a personality, strong forces of energy must be generated.”

 For further information on how to find materials or a workshop near you, Click here.

Click these words to – Take a look at a video of Jane Fonda on Oprah where she talks about doing a Life Review

I saw Jane Fonda’s interview on Oprah and I wanted to share it. And, recently I read her new book, Prime Time where she talks more about doing a Life Review when she was 59. I’d like to suggest that while that is as good a time as any, it can be even more powerful to BEGIN the second half of life by doing a review of the first.

Now, you ask, when does the second half begin? And the answer, of course, varies. But, I’d like to suggest that you give it to yourself as a present for your 40th birthday (or anytime after if you’ve already passed your 40th.)

In the weeks ahead, I’ll be telling you more about the way I’ve done a life review process, and for me it has not just been a one-time thing, but an ongoing revelation. Each time I do some of the exercises I’ll be sharing, I find myself going deeper and finding new insights depending on what I am dealing with at the present moment. I believe that the answer to all of our life questions is within us and when we ask the right question and put ourselves in the right frame to hear the answer, our life sometimes brings us back to a memory that has the seed of possibility for the present still waiting to be born.

If you’d like some help doing a life review,  call me at (941) 330 -9922 to set up an appointment for some guidance. I promise it will be the best gift you ever gave yourself.

One of the important things to do during the time of Midlife Transition is a LIFE REVIEW. It has been said that those who review their past in  midlife are more certain of a successful transition to a healthy aging process. The following information (although it was created as an interview process for older adults) might be one way of beginning the process.

In other articles, I will be reviewing other methods of creating a life review.  In the comments section below this article, please post your views on doing a review and/or suggestions on how you have done one.

This group of initial questions can be used in interviewing family members and is reprinted with permission from E. Rhoda Lewis and Dr. Phyllis Massing, professional interviewers and authors of “From Generation to Generation,” a practical guide that helps create family histories.  However, for more information and a more complete set of questions, or to order their informative guide, call Life Stories / A Video Legacy, at 818-995-3315, P.O. Box 260436, Encino, CA  91426.

“Today is (Date) . I am ________________ and it is my pleasure to be interviewing ______________ my ______________ in her/his living room in (City) (State).

“Please tell me your full name, date of birth and place of birth.” “Who were you named after?”

Note: If the interviewee needs help with facts – state the information and then ask a question that does not require facts. This avoids having the interviewee feel self-conscious about memory lapses and alleviates the need to correct misinformation.

Suggested type of presentation in this situation: “You were born on September 28, 1920, in Atlanta. Your parents are Sam and Sonia Johnson who were married in Atlanta on September 30, 1918.”

Family

GREAT-GRANDPARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS

Names/Dates of Births/Dates of Deaths

Where they lived

Business they were in

Memories about them

How did they impact your life (favorite story)

MOTHER

Maiden name/Date and Place of Birth/Death

Where did she grow up?

What kind of person was she?

What kind of work did she do?

What is your favorite memory of her?

FATHER

Date and Place of Birth/Death

Where did he grow up

What kind of person was he?

What kind of work did he do?

Your favorite memory of him

How did your parents meet? Date of marriage

SIBLINGS

Names/Dates of Births and Death

A favorite story about each

Childhood

What were you like as a child?

Where did you live? (City & State)

What elementary school did you attend?

Were you a good student?

What is your favorite memory of school?

Teenage and Young Adult

TEENAGE YEARS

What high school did you attend?

What were you like as a teenager?

What is your most/least favorite story about high school?

What did you and your friends do for entertainment?

YOUNG ADULT YEARS

Where did you go to college? (Name and location)

What did you study?

What were your goals?

What is your most/least favorite story about college?

What was your first job out of college?

Where did you live?

Did it meet your expectations?

What else did you do?

Marriage and Family

When did you meet your spouse? Name/Date of Birth

When did you get married? Where/Date

Describe your wedding

Did your parents like your spouse?

Did her/his parents like you?

Where did you go on your honeymoon?

Where did you live?

What was your spouse’s business or profession?

CHILDREN

Names and Dates of Birth

What were they like as children

Favorite story about each

Describe your family life

Celebration of holidays (also, religious holidays)

Family vacations

Family reunions

CHILDREN AS ADULTS

Name of child/where does he/she live?

Work he/she does

Name of child’s spouse

Names of children and dates of birth

Favorite story about each child

Career

What has been your primary career?

What did you like best/least about it?

Would you do it again if you had a choice?

Retirement/Hobbies/Special Interests

What hobbies do you have?

Do you have friends who do the same thing?

Are you enjoying your retirement? How?

Reflections

What, if anything, would you have done differently?

Over time, how have you changed the way you look at life and people?

What would you especially like your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to know and remember about you?

Is there anything you would like to add before we end?

“Thank you.”

© Copyright 2000, E. Rhoda Lewis and Phyllis Massing