Allowing Life :)

On “Writing Your Life Story” event Bashar recommended that we study story structure, in order to write our life story in such a way, that it would be believable to us, as it would match a certain archetype, “Hero’s Journey”, that we have embedded very deeply.

So starting to look at the story structure points, I’m starting to understand, what he meant. Indeed, looking at my life like this opens a lot of new doors for me, as now I can see it in a more empowered way.

Victor Frankl said, that a person can survive any challenge, if they know, what purpose it has, what goal it serves. If they know, that there’s some sense to it, some point to it.

I think, that’s the first thing that the story structure opens for me.

Here’re two I just found, very interesting:

“One good model for story structure (taught to me by Bruce Holland Rogers) is Algis Budrys’s seven point story structure. It has:

a character,
in a situation,
with a problem,
who tries repeatedly to solve his problem,
but repeatedly fails, (usually making the problem worse),
then, at the climax of the story, makes a final attempt (which might either succeed or fail, depending on the kind of story it is), after which
the result is “validated” in a way that makes it clear that what we saw was, in fact, the final result.

Another good one (taught to me by Steven Barnes) is Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey:

The hero is confronted with a challenge,
rejects it,
but then is forced (or allowed) to accept it.
He travels on the road of trials,
gathering powers and allies, and
confronts evil—only to be defeated.
This leads to a dark night of the soul, after which
the hero makes a leap of faith that allows him to
confront evil again and be victorious.
Finally, the student becomes the teacher.”

“For example, lots of stories can be thought of as the first few steps on the Hero’s Journey: a challenge, a rejection of the challenge, and then an acceptance of the challenge. The acceptance of the challenge is the climax of the story. The “validation” segment of the story should imply the rest of the Hero’s Journey. The reader should end the story knowing that there will be a road of trials, that evil will be confronted, and so on.

Lots of other stories can be thought of as just the dark night of the soul and the leap of faith. The early steps along the hero’s journey can be filled in with flashbacks or simply implied by the circumstances of the characters as the story begins. However it happens, the reader needs to learn that the hero accepted the challenge, confronted evil, and was defeated. The story ends with the reader knowing that the hero will face evil again and this time be victorious.”

“Geoffrey A. Landis had a pretty good description of the essential core of a short story. A story needs to:

Require the character to make a choice,
show that choice by actions, and
those actions must have consequences.

That’s bare-bones enough that you really can’t leave any of those elements out. It isn’t good enough for the character to make a choice that isn’t required by the story. It isn’t good enough to have the character make a choice that is entirely in his head with no resulting actions. It isn’t good enough for the character to make a choice where the result is that everything is the same as it would have been anyway.”

Philip Brewer, Story Structure in Short Stories

How interesting! It’s like, I’m reading about my life. Starting to understand it better. Seeing it more as exciting, intriguing, interesting, worth to live, valuable, having sense.

Or this:

“Classic story structure begins with plot; plot is WHAT HAPPENS.”

“A theme — your message or meaning — is revealed through plot.”

“plots that work:

Action
Background
Conflict
Development
End”

“Development usually accounts for 70 to 80 percent of the mass of the story.” (and you’re waiting for the manifestation, like me? :))

“But you must offer your readers a definite resolution to the story’s Conflict.”

“When the Conflict of a story has been resolved, what’s left? The Consequences of that story. How have your protagonist and his world changed — or stubbornly refused to change — as a result of the story? The French call this part of the story the ‘denouement’ or ‘unraveling.’ At the end of Dickens’s ‘A Christmas Carol,’ Scrooge shows us that he’s changed. How? By climbing out of bed, throwing open his window and asking an urchin on the street below what day it is. When he learns that it’s Christmas, Scrooge instructs the boy to buy the biggest turkey in the butcher’s window for Tiny Tim’s family. When the boy returns, Scrooge pays him, laughing while he hands the money over. That’s right — Scrooge laughs while paying for something! He has changed! It’s a textbook denouement.”

“But if it doesn’t have Conflict, Development, and Climax, it isn’t a story. If you don’t believe that, just try to tell a satisfying anecdote that lacks these components. Or tell a joke that lacks classic story structure, and see if anyone laughs.”

“Of course, you aren’t required to use this structure in telling stories. But if you do, however, your stories, novellas and novels will work. That is, when people are done reading one of your pieces of fiction, they will feel as if they’ve been told a story. Not a ‘character sketch,’ but a real story.”

Adam Sexton, Classic Story Structure Begins with Plot

“Once upon a time, there was a thirsty man on a couch. He got up off the couch, went to his kitchen, searched through his refrigerator, found a soda, drank it, and returned to his couch, thirst quenched.

That was “perfect story structure.” On the other hand, the story sucked.

Here’s a converse example:

Once upon a time, a car exploded. A Navy Seal killed a werewolf. Two beautiful naked women had sex with each other, then a robot shot the moon with a Jesus-powered laser. The world became overpopulated by zombies. The End.

Lot of exciting, creative stuff happening, but very little structure. Again, boo, but the lesbian scene did give me a boner.

What do you want? You want both. You want to be cool, but you’re going to be cooler if the structure is there. Cool stuff with no structure is like that perfect scene you recorded when you left the lens cap on. “Guess you had to be there.” Show me an army of zombies and I might say “cool zombies,” but I’m not going to “be there.” “

That’s exactly what Bashar was saying: when we’re trying to rewrite the scenario of our life, but do not do it with the story structure, we’re “not there”.

Then I started thinking, but if I’m expecting that I get something through troubles, okay, “journey”, then it will surely come through troubles, won’t it?.. And maybe I could expect it easier?

Then I found, that I can say, that I’m already on a stage, where the development is close to its end, all the “bad stuff” is already in the past, and now I can expect good things. This matches the way AH tell it, by the way: that step one is actually behind me (as is step 2), and now I can just align with my Vortex and get the good stuff. That made me feel good. :)

“And what are those steps? Class?

1) You
2) Need
3) Go
4) Search
5) Find
6) Take
7) Return
8) Change”

Dan Harmon, STORY STRUCTURE 106: FIVE MINUTE PILOTS

What an interesting thing life is.. Thank you, Bashar, for showing me this angle. :)

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* Q. I freaked out.
A. Well, perhaps it would be better if you have freaked in, going inward.

* excitement is an overall organizing principle. Overwhelment comes only from resistance from takin on your natural expansion.

* Q. Sometimes it seems too complicated.
A. I know. But that’s what makes it most exciting for you. You like that degree of challenge. You can change that, if you wish to. But understand, that’s why you created these challenges.

* Do you see the version of yourself that exists in the parallel reality you say you shift to?
How does that version of you behave differently, than you are? Observe, how she is behaving, and mirror her. And you will be able to shift to that vibration.

[O.F. By the way, when I was thinking about it, I noticed, that when I’m thinking “what it is in the Vortex”, it is somehow harder for me to connect to it, because I perceive it as of hierarchy, as it is “better” than where I now am, and so it is “higher”, and I, like, cannot quite connect to it, take from it something. And here, when it is about the parallel realities, I suddenly find that I can quite easily connect to that version of me in the reality I prefer to live.]

* the best protection is in not needing any.

* it’s not that you’re learning to shift, you’re just becoming conscious that you always have been shifting, thus you can direct it consciously in the way you wish.

* when you arrive at a place that seems like a dead end, very often it’s simply an arrow, pointing in an unexpected direction.

* if you’re experiencing something that feels like 80% of your excitement, it’s not the idea of your excitement! that’s a whole different idea all together.

* when you stay in the vibration that IS representative of your wholistic excitement, even when not all the components are represented by that moment, by staying in that vibration you will receive the understanding, the inspiration and the knowledge, that will let you know the difference.

* you will come out of it a different person. You’re not there yet, but you will be.

* heaven is right here. Hell is right here, too, if you want it to be.

* when we’re speaking of excitement, it doesn’t mean only jumping up and down. Excitement can be also expressed as a state of balance, rest and peace. (I love it!) Perhaps, it would simply be more appropriately labeled your signature vibration, whatever way it wishes to express itself.

* anytime something like that seems not to be working for you, it’s a good indicator you’re using someone else’s definition, instead of the one you would prefer to invent. (simply brilliant!) :)

* Q. sometimes I have resistance to my excitement.
A. why?
Q. I don’t know..
A. yes, you do. You’re simply also resisting knowing that you know. You can amplify in your imagination, asking yourself, what the worst case that would happen, if I went forward and act on my excitement. By acknowledging it that way, you can paint a more clear picture of what it might actually be.

* Q. so how do we make that bridge?
A. by allowing yourself to express the idea that only by allowing yourself to be your true self by acting on our highest excitement and joy, which is your signature vibration, will you allow for the smoothing out to occur that will allow you to encounter anything you need to encounter, without resistance and without fear. (that was there for me :))

* Q. so how do we change those people?
A. it’s not about changing those people, it’s only about changing yourself and shifting to a reality, where versions of those people already exist in a way, that’s more reflective of the vibration you prefer. (I love the wording of it!) It’s never about the way for you to change someone else, because there is no way for you to do that.

(how not to remember Bashar’s “it’s not about power, it’s about clarity.”)

* Live your life story as fully as you can,
for it adds to All That Is in immeasurable and beautiful ways.

The CD & DVD are here: http://bashar.org/store.html#hurricane

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