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Chapter 4: Rewriting the Self – Part I
Narrative identity and the evolving self
Voice, perspective and positioning
Dominant and alternative stories
Literary tools as therapeutic interventions
After lingering in the symbolic space, then gradually creating a movement to the reflective space, navigating between explicit and implicit dialogues, we will devote the next two chapters to working with self-narratives in various ways and forms. Self-narratives are those stories that we carry, that we tell and re-tell, that echo inside even without words. Stories that are asking to be unveiled or stories that are asking to be re-visited, re-thought and re-constructed.
We will discuss the process of meaning-making and how literature and poetry can open space for deeper, multi-layered, multi-dimensional and integrated self-expression.
July 22, 2026
Assignments
Read Grace Paley's poem "In the Bus" once more, paying particular attention to its closing invitation:
"Begin again... you'll see... it's easy... begin again."
Choose one childhood memory that has stayed with you over the years. It does not need to be dramatic. Sometimes the smallest memories carry the deepest emotional truths.
Write three different beginnings for the same memory.
Each beginning should enter the story through a different doorway. For example:
Begin with a sensory image or a place.
Begin with a feeling or an internal thought.
Begin with someone saying something.
Begin with “if I had a time machine and could go back to that moment when - “
Begin before the remembered event—or long after it.
You do not have to rewrite the entire story. It is possible to focus only on the first paragraph.
When you have finished, spend a few minutes reflecting:
What kind of picture is portrayed through these 3 versions?
Which beginning felt closest to the child who lived the experience?
Which beginning felt closest to the adult who now remembers it?
Which beginning allowed more of the story—and more of yourself—to exist?