What Stories are You Living: Discover Your Archetypes – Transform Your Life by Carol S. Pearson

I’ve read Carol S. Pearson’s previous titles, The Hero Within and Awakening the Heroes Within.  When I saw this new book by her coming out I knew I wanted to read it.  I’m fascinated by stories and by archetypes, so it was a given I’d read it.  Being able to take the PMAI Assessment and get a personalized report made me really want to read it!  In the opening chapter Pearson says, “We humans swim in a sea of stories.  At best our stories can help us grasp on a deeper level what is going on within us and around us.” (p. 1)

Because stories are alive and to be able to learn the power of them with an instrument that lays out their pathways, for me, personally, that encourages evolution and growth is a gem!  With the use of the PMAI you have a way to “reveal the plot lines you currently are living and what superpowers they can promote.”  

This is a book that I will dip in and out of for probably a long time.  The more I read the more I want to read.  The twelve individual archetypal stories are the idealist, the realist, the warrior, the caregiver, the seeker, the lover, the revolutionary, the creator, the magician, the sage, the ruler, and the jester. The instrument is scored in highest, midrange, and lowest scores with chapters on looking at these archetypes through an individual lens as well as how they live out in narratives in the world. To discover the stories that influence your life,  to bring them to conscious awareness and learn the most you can from them are possible with this book.  It is so layered and full.  Reading it does take some work but what fun!