Coaching practices for Narrative Self Reflection
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Narrative Self Reflection, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I can recount exactly what happened
- I’ve spotted a few moments where I was braver than my usual story says, but they feel like isolated flukes
- There are a handful of moments where my whole life pivoted, and I’ve quietly decided what each one means
- There’s a story I tell about my past
- My life feels like one undifferentiated blur of stuff that happened, and I can’t step back far enough to see the shape of it
Practices that may help
- Landscape of Identity and Action Questions
Use two question types to map both what the person DID (action) and what that reveals about who they ARE (identity).
Narrative Therapy: Rewriting the Stories That Define You - Re-Authoring the Alternative Story
Build a preferred story of identity by thickening the exceptions into a narrative with a plot.
Narrative Therapy: Rewriting the Stories That Define You - Identifying the turning points that shaped you
Single out the three to five moments where your trajectory genuinely changed — and examine what you made of them.
The Life Line Exercise - Narrative Identity, Made Practical
Dan McAdams’ narrative identity theory holds that identity itself is a personal myth — an internalized, evolving story that integrates your past, present, and imagined future into a coherent sense of self. The structure and tone of that story (whether it moves toward redemption or contamination, agency or communion) predicts psychological well-being, and the story can be deliberately revised. Evidence is primarily observational but robustly consistent. - Revise your life narrative when it limits you
Identify and reauthor the story you tell about your past that constrains what you believe is possible.
The Life Crafting Intervention: Scripting Your Future Self - Map your life in chapters
Divide your life into named chapters to see the arc you’ve been living.
Narrative Identity, Made Practical - Periodic life-crafting refresh
Revisit and revise your best-possible-life narrative every 6–12 months as your context changes.
The Life Crafting Intervention: Scripting Your Future Self - Include a trusted other in high-stakes AARs
Self-conducted AARs have blind spots; a peer or coach who was not inside the event sees the causal story differently.
After-Action Review: The US Army’s Tool for Continuous Learning - Definitional Ceremonies and Outsider Witnesses
Invite meaningful others to witness and retell the new story — being known differently by others consolidates the new identity.
Narrative Therapy: Rewriting the Stories That Define You - Observe from multiple angles before drawing conclusions
Deliberately take different perspectives on the experience before deciding what it means.
Structured Reflection: Kolb’s Learning Cycle in Practice
Related concerns
- Narrative Identity Revision
Dan McAdams’ narrative identity theory holds that identity itself is a personal myth — an internalized, evolving story that integrates your past, present, and imagined future into a coherent sense of self. The structure and tone of that story (whether it moves toward redemption or contamination, agency or communion) predicts psychological well-being, and the story can be deliberately revised. Evidence is primarily observational but robustly consistent.
- Narrative Identity During A Big Change
Identify the parts of your self-narrative that are contradictory or no longer true.
Test your story for coherence and credibility
- Narrative Identity Exercise
Use two question types to map both what the person DID (action) and what that reveals about who they ARE (identity).
Landscape of Identity and Action Questions
- Narrative Identity Reflection
Dan McAdams’ narrative identity theory holds that identity itself is a personal myth — an internalized, evolving story that integrates your past, present, and imagined future into a coherent sense of self. The structure and tone of that story (whether it moves toward redemption or contamination, agency or communion) predicts psychological well-being, and the story can be deliberately revised. Evidence is primarily observational but robustly consistent.
- Narrative Identity At Work
Dan McAdams’ narrative identity theory holds that identity itself is a personal myth — an internalized, evolving story that integrates your past, present, and imagined future into a coherent sense of self. The structure and tone of that story (whether it moves toward redemption or contamination, agency or communion) predicts psychological well-being, and the story can be deliberately revised. Evidence is primarily observational but robustly consistent.
- Narrative Identity For My Teenager
Dan McAdams’ narrative identity theory holds that identity itself is a personal myth — an internalized, evolving story that integrates your past, present, and imagined future into a coherent sense of self. The structure and tone of that story (whether it moves toward redemption or contamination, agency or communion) predicts psychological well-being, and the story can be deliberately revised. Evidence is primarily observational but robustly consistent.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.