🧠Mindset Preparation

Not every memory needs to be monumental.

Sometimes, the best stories tiptoe in on four paws, or pop up when Grandpa made a slip of the tongue. 

Before you dive into your writing this week, take a breath.

Give yourself permission to giggle. To a memory that makes you smile—or maybe roll your eyes in fond disbelief.

Let your mind wander to the mischievous, the mundane, or the unexpectedly sweet.

✍🏽Writing Tip

✨Don’t be afraid to cast yourself as the bunt of the joke.

Or you may recall a memory where someone else—a parent, a best friend, a classroom crush,—was the star of the moment.

That’s okay.

That’s powerful.

Sometimes stepping back in the story helps the emotion step forward.

Try this: Write a memory where you weren’t the main character, but the experience still warms your heart.

Like the time I discovered that I only had to hum a few bars of Brahm's Lullaby and my second daughter only a few months old would pick up the tune and finish humming herself to sleep. (Yep! This really happened.)

💗Encouragement

You don’t need a Pulitzer-worthy plot. You just need a pulse.

If your story has heart, it’s worth telling. 

Maybe you'll recall the time you stepped off stage after delivering a compelling speech to over 200 people. As you descended the stage, an audience member pulled you aside to point out that a price tag was hanging from your gorgeous white suit the whole time. (Yep! that really happened to me.)

Your life story is not just about trauma and transformation. It's also about levity, mischief, and even embarrassing moments you can laugh about.

😅Takeaway

Every memory is a stage.

Sometimes we strut across it with our big dreams and even bigger hair.

Other times, we sit in the front row feeling embarrassed watching our 5-year steal the show because she's the only kid in her pre- school class enthusiastically singing and doing the movements that went with "The Peppermint Twist". (Yep! That really happened to my oldest daughter.)

Either way, these are the stories your readers, your family—and your future self—will treasure.

So write them.

All of them.

Yes, even one about the time your grandpa asked you to write a proposal letter to a long-time lady friend  to move half way across the country to marry him after his second wife (my step-grandmother) had been dead only a few months. 

As he dictated what he wanted me to write, he got straight the point, no sweet build-up, just asked her to uproot her life to move from Arkansas to California to take care of him.

I laughed, "You expect her to leave her home she's lived in all her life to move here to live with you in an apartment?"

That didn't deter him. He just urged me to "pen" the letter as he phrased it, and mail it. 

And she said "Yes!" (Yep! That really happened.)

Enjoy the story featuring my mom 
⬇️

💡Insider Tip

Keep a “Cast of Characters” list.

I like to write down key words of memories as they pop up until I make time to go back to complete the whole story.

As you go through your memory box or daily life, jot down names (or nicknames) and a few words about the unexpected stars: the nosy neighbor, the feral parakeet, the dancing aunt, the stray dog who flirted with your mom.

Each one is a short story waiting to happen. Give them the spotlight. You’ll be surprised how much story lives in their shadows.

🥅Final Note

As you write, laugh out loud if it bubbles up.
Let your memory be the playground. The rules are yours to make, the leash is off, and the story is yours to chase.

Your pen doesn’t always have to heal or reveal—it can also delight.
And that matters too.

Thank you for letting me be a part of your life story journey.

Flora M. Brown, Ph.D.
P.S.  I'm a great coach and an enthusiastic cheerleader. Let me open the door and point the way.
Book a 30-minute Discovery Chat with me at Dr.FloraWillChat