Writing Your Life Story Part 5: Finding the Perfect Container

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Open for Browsing © 2010 Bo Mackison

Awareness is not the same as thought. It lies beyond thinking, although it makes no use of thinking, honoring it’s value and it’s power. Awareness is more like a vessel which can hold and contain our thinking, helping us to see and know our thought as thought rather than getting caught up in them as reality. ~~ Jon Kabit-Zinn

The Memoir Project invites you to take a writing break. Go on a treasure hunt instead.

This is a treasure hunt to find the perfect vessel to “hold and contain your thinking,” those bits of memoir writing and projects you are collecting as the months pass by. (Although if your schedule permits, you could both write a story or two and go searching for that special container.)

Your container can be as plain or fancy as you wish, as decorative or functional as suits your own temperament. Of course, you may already own a special container and simply need to re-purpose it. Or a trip to the local shops may inspire you to examine boxes, baskets, and bags.

Leather Bag - Antique ShopAntique Leather Bag © 2010 Bo Mackison

I scoured the antique shops for a sewing basket to hold my growing stash of memoir projects.

My grandmother, a seamstress by profession, had a varnished wicker sewing basket, maybe fourteen inches in diameter, with a flat wicker lid. The top was decorated with a tassel of threads and buttons. I record many memories of my early years when I lived with my grandparents, and it would be meaningful to find a similar basket for my memoir storage.

What kind of container is right for your memoir collection?

A cookie tin for the baker in the family? A pink vintage suitcase for the traveler or wanna be traveler? A picnic basket for the outdoors enthusiast?

Set of Pink Ventana Suitcases - Antique ShopPink Vintage Luggage © 2010 Bo Mackison

Maybe an old-fashioned doll trunk to hold a trunkful of childhood memories? A bamboo box for the naturalist? A quilted bag to hold an accumulation of old letters and memorabilia? Or one of these great hat boxes to hold reminders of the “good ol’ days?”

Marshall Field Hat Boxes - Antique ShopMarshall Field Hat Box © 2010 Bo Mackison

What container will you choose for your memoir stash?

When you find the perfect container to contain your collection of writings and other memoir media, why not take thirty minutes to write about your choice and how it relates to the life story you are recording.

Then gather your memoir projects and put them all in their new home.

Next: Part 6, Collect Memories in Letters

About Bo Mackison

I'm a photographer, book-artist, traveler, naturalist, and creator of the Contemplative Creatives Journey, An Online Workshop and Community and Desert Wisdom Cards and Workshops. Though often not well known, I find the desert a welcoming place - a healing space. Its mysteries and gifts transformed me several years ago. Since that first encounter, I return again and again to fill my well in what most people think of as a desolate region. I'd love to share my desert discoveries and wisdom with you. Please subscribe to receive my five part mini email course The Gifts of the Desert. It's my gift to you.

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