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research

Making Choices in Personal History Part 2: Contemplation How do you decide to embark on a personal history? In our last blog, we began to explore the stages of decision-making, based on the work of James Prochaska and his colleagues in their ground-breaking research on lasting change and how it happens. Today, we’re going to discuss the second stage of change. Contemplation: “Hmmmm…” In pre-contemplation, we introduced the idea of presenting information that was previously unknown: that there is such a thing as a personal history and that it will have lasting value in the lives of individuals, families, and communities. This is the “awareness” stage, a move from ignorance to knowledge. We encouraged the “educator,” to share information freely and then step back to allow it to percolate, rather than trying to rush decision-making and action. Now suppose you haven’t talked with them for a couple of months. It’s perfectly fine to check in and ask them and ask if they’ve thought any more about it (being aware of the personality of the person you’re contacting). At this point, if they say either, “I’m thinking about what it might mean to do something like this, but I need to take some more time to make any decision, or, “I hadn’t thought about it but, now that you remind me, I’d like to think further about this. “This is the signal that he/she is in the “Contemplation” stage. What are the indicators: 1. Consideration of the possibilities without any action steps being involved; Their Sitting on a fence where previously no fence existed; 2. No immediate time frame being discussed. ‘I’m aware that this is something that has benefited others and might be of benefit to me, but I’m not ready to jump in just yet.” How can you be helpful in this stage? 1. Validate their decision-making process: “I understand that you want to think about this some more. That’s great. It’s a big step. You want to make sure that if you do this, it feels solid. “ 2. Clarify and discuss: Help them understand the pros and cons of doing a personal history (e.g., the pro of having something for my siblings, great grandchildren, community; the con of how much it would cost, the time it would take, I don’t feel like I’d have anything to say, etc.) 3. Illustrate the value of contemplation: Just carefully weighing the options will deepen their understanding of their process and help them achieve resolution.

Personal History & Making Choices – Part 2

April 27, 2016

Context, Context, Context: Personal Historians and American History

April 30, 2015

By Pamela Pacelli, Personal Historian President, Verissima Productions   So you’re doing a personal history for someone and they want to write about their grandmother who was the first woman to vote in her tiny Kansas town. Or, you’re interviewing a 90-year-old man from Pennsylvania whose father fought in the First World War 100 years[Read More]

5 Great Reasons to Love the Family History Library in Salt Lake City

February 12, 2015

Several years ago, the Association of Personal Historians held their conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Mecca of family history. While I was there I had the opportunity to visit the Family History Library. As RootsTech 2015, a large annual genealogical conference, kicks off in Salt Lake today, I thought I’d share 5 reasons to visit (and love) this fabulous[Read More]

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