Grace's Elevator

This is an exercise that I learned from Grace Cavaleiri. It is not unlike the Carter-Stapleton Exercise. I like the idea of exploring early memory because of the fact that we are all, as George Kelly said, little social scientists plunked down in the crib, and our earliest memories serve as a template which we use to overlay the world we see and interpret what is going on. Which explains why each member of the family remembers the history in their own unique way.

Grace recommends taking a pen and paper, or your computer, or quill and ink pot settling yourself down in some comfortable and safe feeling place. Breathing easy and then thinking of your life as a crystal building. A many storied crystal building—one that has one floor for each of year of your life. Imagine yourself going onto this elevator and riding it up and down and allowing it to stop at what ever floor it chooses to stop on. Step off the elevator, and look around. See why the elevator chose to stop there on that floor…what happened in that year that is of interest to you on this particular day? Write down what you see there, who you see there, and what you remember about that time. You may be surprised what you write down.