Recently I began a new social post feature I call Before You Sleep. I felt like I wanted to have another daily touchpoint with people and it seemed natural to make it something personal and reflective, like Story Mining itself. As I was hatching the idea of Before You Sleep, it dawned on me that this is not the first time I’ve created a space to reflect at the end of the day…
You see, about eight years ago, my husband Scott and I had an idea for a gratitude project called Thank You Token that featured customized poker chips, to be purchased and handed to strangers in recognition for gracious behavior. You know: a small, random act of kindness, an unglamorous, unexpected right thing, a warm smile shared. The goal was to encourage kindness as well as heighten awareness of things for which to be grateful. The project didn’t take off, but something that grew out of it has lasted. On the Facebook page I’d created for Thank You Token, I began a nightly hashtag, #GratefulNightcap where I would share one thing I found throughout the day for which I was grateful. When Thank You Token didn’t take off, I shuttered the page, but kept the #GratefulNightcap hashtag going on my own Facebook profile. I’d grown accustomed to the habit of a nightly reflective practice and found that it served me well, before I slept, to put the day in perspective. It’s precisely that mindset that guided the conception of Before You Sleep.
As I think of the beautifully organic way that both #GratefulNightcap and Before You Sleep grew out of my desire for daily reflection, I’m struck by a clear pattern in how I operate: I build processes and habits that serve me, then I extrapolate them to meet the needs of others. I did it with my journal, which turned into the Story Mining methodology – and now I’ve done it again with #GratefulNightcap as the basis for Before You Sleep.
I’m bolstered by a sense of satisfaction and pride knowing that the underpinnings of Story Mining are based in my own reality – not devised as a business plan from the outset. My authentic personal work didn’t stay contained to the area of life in which it was born – it became infrastructure for everything else. It transformed into a business only once I realized that I’d inadvertently developed a system that had the potential to help other women find themselves after, or within, an abusive relationship, like it did for me. The parts of my past keep showing up year after year, pointing my business compass in the right direction.
The piece I’m reflecting on as I write this is that my reclaimed agency has resulted in lasting, self-sustaining practices that have rippled into every other aspect of my life, and everything I touch. I feel as though a circle has been completed, and its name is Story Mining.
I sincerely doubt I’m the only one in whose life this phenomenon occurs. What small, unglamorous practices or habits have you adopted that might be secretly working behind the scenes of your life, doing more than you realize – or may someday realize?
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