Lifelong Themes

There are four other main themes that run continuously through a person’s life:

WORLD EVENTS

HOLIDAYS

Family Members

You-Your Personal Growth

Again, think of each theme in relation to the different stages of your life: Early childhood, teen years, young adult, middle age and retirement years. What stayed consistent? What changed?

World Events
When does your memory and awareness of certain events (ie. stock market crash, World War II, the first man on the moon, etc.) kick in? How did you respond? Do they trigger memories of what life was like then? What society was like? What values and principles were important then?

Think of the inventions you’ve seen in your life time. What was life like before them? (How was toast made before toasters were invented? Was there really life before television?) Are there “old-fashioned” ways of doing things that you miss?

Think of yourself as a child or a teenager or a young adult landing your first job — What was going on in the world then? How did it affect you? How did you feel about it at the time? To trigger some memory, check our historical events a listing of over 500 world and national events including a listing of U. S. presidents in office in the 20th century.

Holidays
Take any of the major holidays or celebrations and follow it through from childhood to adulthood. How did they change as you matured? Did you start your own traditions as you got older? The following are sample questions to get you started:How did your family celebrate holidays:

Memorial Day, 4th of July, Other Holidays and Family Get Togethers
Take each holiday and use the same type of questions to trigger those early memories.

Thanksgiving
How was Thanksgiving celebrated? Where was dinner held? Who was usually there? Who did the cooking? What kind of food did you eat? Who did you play with?

Christmas
How was Christmas celebrated? Did you always have a tree? Where did you get it? How was it decorated? What did the ornaments look like? How was the house decorated? Did you have any manger scenes or religious statutes? Did you have Christmas stockings? Where were they hung? What was in them? What kind of presents did your family give to each other? Did Santa Claus come? Did you leave him treats? How did he get in? When did you find out Santa Claus was a myth? Who told you? How did you react? What kind of Christmas dinner did you have? Did your family have traditions (going to church, baskets to the poor, singing carols, sleighrides?)

Family Members
Think of family members who have been part of your life, perhaps for a short time (like a grandparent) or maybe many, many years (like a sibling). Who are they? What kind of relationship did you have with them? How have they changed over the years and how has your relationship with them changed?

Parents
What kind of relationship have you had with your parents over the years? Has it changed in many ways?— What kinds of lessons did you learn from them?— What do you think of your father or mother? What kind of people were they? What qualities, values, advice did they give you?— Did you see changes in your parents over the years? What were you most proud of? Least?— What traits in your parents do you see in yourself?

Siblings
NOTE: Use the same questions as listed above for your brothers and sisters. You might also think how they would respond if you asked any of the following questions:

• What did we do together that you especially liked?
  
• What was the nicest thing I ever did for you? The meanest?
  
• What was my most annoying habit? What did I do that secretly tickled you? That you were envious of?
  
• How did you feel about my boyfriend/girlfriends?
  
• How has our relationship changed over the year

You, Your Personal Growth
This is the time to ask: Who was I then? How have I changed? What’s unique about me? What have I learned about myself?

Think of your life cycles, the ups and downs, the growths, the pains. How healthy was your emotional and mental state at different times in your life? When did you feel the surge of independence? The fear of not fitting in? Anxiety about the unknown? Did you get happier as you grew older? Did you lose your sense of humor through adulthood?

Did your personal taste change? In food, music, entertainment, clothing? Did your values change as you got older? Religion, politics, family, honesty?