We are not a TV watching family- we watch movies on DVD and we watch shows on-line. One of my all time favourites is The Generations Project on BYU TV. It just finished the second season. I am so inspired by every single episode. I love how they help facilitate the process of searching out one's roots.
They did an episode early in this season about the steps they follow in creating a generations project. I have spent a lot of time thinking about these steps and I find that they really help in my quest for understanding more about who I am and why this search is so important to me and how it shapes me in my thoughts and actions.
Step 1: FIND OUT YOUR WHY. Some sample questions: What do you want to change? Who do you want to become?
Step 2: POPULATE YOUR TREE do the research, talk to living relatives and find out what info you already have, go on-line, go to archives and get names, dates and stories
Step 3: MIX IT WITH HISTORY find out what historical events were occuring at the time of their life
Step 4: WALK IN THEIR SHOES go to where they were, try to experience life the way they would have lived
Step 5: SHARE IT AND WATCH IT RIPPLE write about it, share it some way- through a blog, website, family reunion, and if possible make some sort of video to share.
I have been taking these steps as I pursue my family history research. I am grateful for this guidance.
MY WHY
I applied to be on the show. In my application my why was: Why is community so important to me? I guess I never fully understood how important community has been to me until we moved to a large urban center two years ago. I was VERY uncomfortable, uneasy and incredibly unsettled (my husband had never seen me like that). We had moved from a town of 1000 people to a suburb of 500000 which is part of a very large centre (5.5 million).
As I reflected on this I realized that my whole life has been spent in small town (my dad would commute so that we could be in outlining towns). I loved the security of a small town- everyone watching out for each other and people knowing who you are. This got me thinking about my grandpa- Mike Bowie. He grew up building up the town of Claresholm. The only time I ever heard him say anything negative about anyone was when he spoke about a certain group of people who were not community minded.
Then I thought about John George Bowie who came to Claresholm from Halifax, Nova Scotia and built this community. His father came from Scotland to Halifax and built up that community.
I often think about William Bowie and wonder what that would have been like for him to leave his community and start over in a new county building a new community.
Another aspect of this community being so important to me is that I have moved a lot in my life for example from a baby to high school grad I lived in 6 towns, 2 provinces, and 9 houses. Since I've been married (ten years) we have lived in 4 towns/cities, 2 provinces and 5 houses.
Since applying I have thought of a lot of others WHYS
-why is creativity so important, why do I love quilting- cutting up perfectly good fabric and creating something my own
-why is being a mom so important to me- why I walked away from my career and am so eager to be a stay at home mom and make those lifestyle changes that are necessary
-why do i feel it is so important to grow a garden every single year of my married life-NO MATTER WHAT (community gardens, gardening in other peoples back yards, gardening when very pregnant, etc)
-fitness, why is it so important to me and to my siblings
-why do I have such a strong desire to know about my ancestors lives and why do their stories mean so much to me.
I am grateful for the WHY's, the many WHY's in my life.
-why
They did an episode early in this season about the steps they follow in creating a generations project. I have spent a lot of time thinking about these steps and I find that they really help in my quest for understanding more about who I am and why this search is so important to me and how it shapes me in my thoughts and actions.
Step 1: FIND OUT YOUR WHY. Some sample questions: What do you want to change? Who do you want to become?
Step 2: POPULATE YOUR TREE do the research, talk to living relatives and find out what info you already have, go on-line, go to archives and get names, dates and stories
Step 3: MIX IT WITH HISTORY find out what historical events were occuring at the time of their life
Step 4: WALK IN THEIR SHOES go to where they were, try to experience life the way they would have lived
Step 5: SHARE IT AND WATCH IT RIPPLE write about it, share it some way- through a blog, website, family reunion, and if possible make some sort of video to share.
I have been taking these steps as I pursue my family history research. I am grateful for this guidance.
MY WHY
I applied to be on the show. In my application my why was: Why is community so important to me? I guess I never fully understood how important community has been to me until we moved to a large urban center two years ago. I was VERY uncomfortable, uneasy and incredibly unsettled (my husband had never seen me like that). We had moved from a town of 1000 people to a suburb of 500000 which is part of a very large centre (5.5 million).
As I reflected on this I realized that my whole life has been spent in small town (my dad would commute so that we could be in outlining towns). I loved the security of a small town- everyone watching out for each other and people knowing who you are. This got me thinking about my grandpa- Mike Bowie. He grew up building up the town of Claresholm. The only time I ever heard him say anything negative about anyone was when he spoke about a certain group of people who were not community minded.
Then I thought about John George Bowie who came to Claresholm from Halifax, Nova Scotia and built this community. His father came from Scotland to Halifax and built up that community.
I often think about William Bowie and wonder what that would have been like for him to leave his community and start over in a new county building a new community.
Another aspect of this community being so important to me is that I have moved a lot in my life for example from a baby to high school grad I lived in 6 towns, 2 provinces, and 9 houses. Since I've been married (ten years) we have lived in 4 towns/cities, 2 provinces and 5 houses.
Since applying I have thought of a lot of others WHYS
-why is creativity so important, why do I love quilting- cutting up perfectly good fabric and creating something my own
-why is being a mom so important to me- why I walked away from my career and am so eager to be a stay at home mom and make those lifestyle changes that are necessary
-why do i feel it is so important to grow a garden every single year of my married life-NO MATTER WHAT (community gardens, gardening in other peoples back yards, gardening when very pregnant, etc)
-fitness, why is it so important to me and to my siblings
-why do I have such a strong desire to know about my ancestors lives and why do their stories mean so much to me.
I am grateful for the WHY's, the many WHY's in my life.
-why
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