I Resolve to . . . Revise My Memories?

Or, The Power of Personal Stories

When I snapped this picture on New Year's Eve, was I looking up from a crowded parking lot at a hectic store while running an annoying errand or taking a moment to savor the last bit of sunlight at the close of an amazing year?

Which word is most accurate: attitude, framing, perspective, agency, delusion, dishonesty, self-deception, fantasy, empower, acceptance, or something else?  I think my choice is: fascinating.

Editing Your Life's Stories Can Create Happier Endings

 . . . Wilson has been studying how small changes in a person's own stories and memories can help with emotional health. He calls the process "story editing." And he says that small tweaks in the interpretation of life events can reap huge benefits.

This process is essentially what happens during months, or years, of therapy. But Wilson has discovered ways you can change your story in only about 45 minutes.

Wilson first stumbled on the technique back in the early 1980s, when he found that a revised story helped college students who were struggling academically. "I'm bad at school" was the old story many of them were telling themselves. That story leads to a self-defeating cycle that keeps them struggling, Wilson says.

The new story Wilson gave them was: "Everyone fails at first." He introduced the students to this idea by having them read accounts from other students who had struggled with grades at first and then improved. It was a 40-minute intervention that had effects three years later. . . . 

The idea is that if you believe you are something else — perhaps smarter, more socially at ease — you can allow for profound changes to occur.

You can even try story-editing yourself at home with these writing exercises. Simply pick a troubling event. And write about it for 15 minutes each day for four days. That's it.

These exercises have been shown to help relieve mental anguish, improve health and increase attendance at work. . . .