Writing Coherent Narratives

“Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers” ~ Issac Asimov

This statement has resonated with me for years since I enjoy writing!

Recently, I realized that writing, to me, is more than thinking. It also helps me transform my cognitive narrative by integrating what I learn. When my narrative becomes coherent, it not only makes sense but also nurtures my mind by offering insights.

A cognitive narrative could be “I am not good enough to keep my flowers alive.” A coherent narrative could be “I do my best, and it doesn’t work out. I know how to manage it next time.”

A cognitive narrative starts with how we make sense of “what happened.” It can trigger old memories of “who I am” and old emotional responses. The old memory may be embedded in the implicit memory and hard to access, and this not-knowing makes us wonder why we respond in a certain way. “Why am I in fear?” “Why did I blow up?”

When we start to process our emotions and responses and integrate the experience, we learn to convert a cognitive narrative into a coherent one. Old memories and responses that don’t work for us will no longer restrict us. No wonder the saying is “A person with coherent narratives is a happy one!”

What is one of your ways to bring a cognitive narrative to a coherent one?