Milan Kundera writes that every person envisions the events of their lives as a narrative.  All of the coincidences and changes in our past are not just plots on a line but a narrative, a series of events joined together by common themes and ideas.  He notes that our personal narratives are mere inventions of our mind.  They are plots made up after the fact, but even as inventions they are incredibly important to how we as people perceive the world.  This idea of narrative, of building stories of your life, is the essence of humanity.

Right now I’m on the verge of a new chapter in my story and it has dawned on me that I’ve lost sight of the plot.  There are times when an author will sit and put his thoughts to the page in a steady stream of consciousness.  That can be beautiful, but it can also be completely incoherent.  It seems to me that since I returned from Sweden my life has been just that, an incoherent stream of thought, words written without intention or introspection.  That way of living is not necessarily bad or good, at times it has been beautiful but right now I need to step back and look at the structure and form of the story I’ve been writing in my life and the lives of others.