So let's get right to the meat of the matter: perception and reflection.
We've all heard the expression, "Things will look better in the morning," which points out that our perspective changes our attitude about any given situation. That change in perspective is, by and large, one of the main attractions of memoir. But how do we express that in our writing.
Well, there are actually any number of ways of doing it, and we'll spend the next few weeks doing just that. But to get going, I'd like to look at a visual strategy to pursuing your own reflections of your experiences.
Getting started:
- Think of a memory from this summer, a past summer, or an experience that you have repeated across summers.
- Notice the reflective surfaces around you. How would you perceive your surroundings from just what you can see in one of those reflections?
- Now reflect upon your memory. Consider that you are like the object with reflecting surfaces that you have just been observing. Try to apply the thoughts you had about interpreting surroundings now to your own "reflective" surfaces.
- How has your perception of the event changed since the day that it happened?
- How have you changed since then, and what has that change meant to your perception?
- Thinking of the distortions you have seen around you, is there anyway to flatten out your distortions or point out the fact that your view is distorted without correcting it?
