How to heal through life writing
Learning to write about trauma helps you to process the painful experience, and gives you the life skills to overcome it
by Uddipana Goswami
Memoir
Learn the art of journaling and archive your life
Journaling is an art and a daily practice that allows you to write your life and find your way, one sentence at a time
by Sarah Boon
How to tell a better story
Personal stories have the power to connect, entertain, persuade. Use a pro storyteller’s tips to pick and prepare a great one
by Micaela Blei
My synaesthesia is no mere quirk but a self-shaking strangeness
My initial is pale pink, the month of June is cerulean blue: synaesthesia gets my senses crosswired, and makes me who I am
by Catherine Taylor
How I met my mother: dementia brought back her true self
In dementia, my mother lived with the friendly ghosts of her past – and I got to know her as someone other than just my mum
by Ina Kjøgx Pedersen
Chronic pain forces a strange dance: performing wellness for others
Living with chronic pain has taught me that pain is boring for others and that our bodies are fragile containers for life
by Jude Cook
The power of slow therapy, revealed in two pioneering memoirs
Two therapy memoirs by Lucy Freeman, an overlooked mental health pioneer, remind us of the value of slow, convoluted therapy
by Elliot Jurist
My failed analysis gave me confidence and taught me when to quit
What does successful psychoanalysis look like? I’d read all around Freud and I didn’t know, but then neither did my analyst
by Lisa Levy
The divided self: does where I live make me who I am?
At home in Delhi, I am a more social, interactive person. A quiet balcony in Frankfurt gave me space to be by myself
by Anandi Mishra
On the consolatory pleasure of jigsaws when the world is in bits
It’s not memory that makes us human but meaning-making. When life falls apart, jigsaw puzzles help us put some pieces back
by Melanie McGrath
Time, like memory, is fickle: days wrap back on themselves
Time, like memory, is structurally fickle: days wrap back on themselves. The experience of it is hardly ever chronological
by Grace Linden
Why I’ll never forget the day I met Daniel Kahneman for lunch
He was an octogenarian Nobel-winning psychologist, I was a nervous 20-something film producer. Here’s what struck me most
by Namir Khaliq
In a journey through time I’ve seen the past imprinted on the present
Memory allows us to break free from chronological time, to extend ourselves beyond a single life to embrace earlier generations
by Vicky Grut
My great-grandfather poisoned drinkers during Prohibition
In a grim irony, his descendants – my grandmother and mother – struggled with drink. Here’s what I’d tell him about addiction
by Rebecca Lester
In defence of memoirs – a way to grip our story-shaped lives
Even the non-linear memoir creates meaning by shaping the hot mess of life into a narrative arc. What’s wrong with that?
by Helena de Bres