ABSTRACT This article will share the preliminary findings from a wider and ongoing interpretative... more ABSTRACT This article will share the preliminary findings from a wider and ongoing interpretative synthesis of narrative identity literature. First, we provide the analogy of Dante’s journey through the “inferno” to contextualize the review. Second, we share interpretations of literature pertaining to how life stories create meaning and suggest polarity might play an important role in forming complex and coherent meanings of life and selfhood. Meaning making in life stories is seen as a dynamic position of equilibrium between polarities in experiences that lead to themes and patterns. We suggest as an example the interplay between self and the world creates a person’s sense of agency, the extent a person believes they create their world or are created by it. Third, we interpret literature pertaining to how meaning creates life stories and suggest some examples of practise that may increase complexity and coherence of the expression and embodiment of meaning. Finally, we consider if it is the balance between these different experiences of meanings that may provide a person with the greatest sense of who they are.
ABSTRACT This article will share the preliminary findings from a wider and ongoing interpretative... more ABSTRACT This article will share the preliminary findings from a wider and ongoing interpretative synthesis of narrative identity literature. First, we provide the analogy of Dante’s journey through the “inferno” to contextualize the review. Second, we share interpretations of literature pertaining to how life stories create meaning and suggest polarity might play an important role in forming complex and coherent meanings of life and selfhood. Meaning making in life stories is seen as a dynamic position of equilibrium between polarities in experiences that lead to themes and patterns. We suggest as an example the interplay between self and the world creates a person’s sense of agency, the extent a person believes they create their world or are created by it. Third, we interpret literature pertaining to how meaning creates life stories and suggest some examples of practise that may increase complexity and coherence of the expression and embodiment of meaning. Finally, we consider if it is the balance between these different experiences of meanings that may provide a person with the greatest sense of who they are.
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Papers by Lee Newitt