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I bought Me in You and You in Me because I really wanted to read more work by Portia Nelson.

I love her Autobiography in Five Short Chapters and wanted to see if there were other gems. And there are.

For me, however, this book is a little bit like the cupboard into C.S. Lewis’ Narnia. Sometimes I pick it up and dip into it and it does not resonate and sometimes I open it on a page and I am bowled over.

It’s definitely one for those moments of confusion, where someone else’s non-linear musings help you make sense of your own thoughts.

The first time I heard an Autobiography in Five Short Chapters it was recounted in one of my NLP courses, as a way to make us understand that learning by trial and error is valuable.

I remember it resonating even then but I was still reeling from my own Chapter Two that at the time I did not think it was possible to walk down another street and so I did not take notice of its author and forgot all about it.  

A few weeks ago at Wayne Dyer’s Mastering the Art of Manifestation, I heard it again, only this time I listened to whom it was attributed. It turns out that Portia’s Autobiography in Five Short Chapters, like Reinhold Niebuhr’s The Serenity Prayer, is a classic in therapy groups and self help programmes all over the world.

Having never had therapy or attended 12 Step Programmes have missed gems likes these. That said I believe that if one is meant to receive the learning from a book, a poem, a prayer then it finds a way to you.

Or at least that has been my experience when I have systematically ignored or forgotten a book or a saying that has turned out to have a profound effect on me. It’s all about timing.

I love Portia’s prologue to Me in You and You in Me: “My life has been a series of wonderful experiences. It’s a pity I wasn’t there for most of them.” I see now why the autobiography has become the text for the right of passage to waking up to one’s own life and taking responsibility for it.

Born Betty Mae Nelson on 27 May 1920 inUtah as the youngest of nine children, Portia was an author, composer, lyricist, painter, photographer and actress, most notably for me was her role as Sister Berthe in the film version of The Sound of Music.

These days a portfolio of careers or jobs is commonplace but in her days she was a bit of a trailblazer for living in what is now the Age of Aquarius.

But it was her poetic take on life and love, most recently presented in Me in You and You in Me: How Love Works, and especially The Autobiography in Five Short Chapters, that has settled into the consciousness of those trying to make sense of their lives. 

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

Chapter 1

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out. 

Chapter 2

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But, it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit…but, my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter 4

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter 5

I walk down another street.

This gem of an inspiration is profound and transformational for anyone who is ready to wake up to, acknowledge, and take action to break their habits and ultimately change their lives.