Tag: Narrative

A Shaggy Dog Story

by Ebb Then Flood

IMG_3179 (2)

Shaggy dog story (definition, Wikipedia): ‘An extremely long winded anecdote characterised by extensive narration of typically irrelevant events and terminated by an anticlimax’

The border collie’s story:

“I love waves. It is my life’s ambition to catch one. If I did, perhaps I would take one home and perhaps proudly display it next to my food bowl. I found a new beach that seemed a likely spot to catch a wave. There were plenty of them to be found there. In fact, there was a succession of waves. Wave after wave, rolling on to the sand. Some were small. Others were larger, especially those created by the wakes of  ferries sailing by on the way to the islands in the gulf . There were white ferries; red ones too. I didn’t get to catch a wave the first day; nor the next day; or the day after that. My owner didn’t seem to mind. She is incredibly patient like that; sometimes I wish she would actually show some disappointment and lose her rag. She doesn’t even get angry with my male master. Never. Don’t you think that’s weird? Maybe if she got angry or disappointed, perhaps she wouldn’t bother take me to the shore to catch a wave. The day this picture was taken I had high anticipation of chasing waves and actually securing one. You can see it in my eyes if you look closely. I didn’t catch one.”

Shift Yr Narrative : Comment

by Ebb Then Flood

I hope that the pictures in the preceding post ‘Shift Yr Narrative’ tell a story, or perhaps two stories, of one subject ,on their own. But since I am talking about narratives I will add some words as well….

A narrative is the description of a thing or event from a certain perspective. It can be as sweeping  as an entire world view or, in the telling of a tale, merely a different narrator ,tense or location, for example.

So, what does it take to shift the narrative in our own lives?

A momentous event of change;maybe a crisis of some sort ?

Or perhaps changing  the tense of our story, so that we do not live in the past ,or in  a future yet to arrive ,but in the present?

What would our life look like if we fully authored it and not allowed the manuscript to be ghostwritten by others?

And, can multiple narratives of our lives each be true, wholly or in part?

Many questions and no right answers – but if our lives are not unfolding as we think they ought to be ,and that uncomfortable reality cannot otherwise be altered  , maybe changing it around and taking another  perspective will assist us to move on.

Shift yr narrative!