ABSTRACT
Life review is a normal aspect of human ageing, especially for the aged, who are said to belong to the age of the memoir. The life-story matrix may be understood as a framework for understanding different dimensions of life-story work, some of them being a continuum from reminiscence to life review, from private to public expression, and from a focus on content to an emphasis on process. Retrospections of one’s life engage the person in spontaneously returning to life’s earlier phases with their pleasures, associated memories, and emotions to develop inner strength and a sense of peace to embrace ‘life.’ Life narratives in the form of midlife re-evaluation are characterized by re-assessment, exploration, and transition. Reminiscence may be used for a number of reasons. Retrospective wisdom is the virtue to be reaped from the harvest of storytelling one’s own life-matrix to both the self and others.
