Tell A different Story

November 25, 2009

Everybody right now is focused on the bad news. In fact if the news isn’t bad enough on one channel they press the remote and watch it on another. But we start to become the story we tell ourselves. So if we focus on the negative all day we start to think that is the only reality.  

What story are you telling yourself?

Stories are what makes us human. Wolves don’t sit around telling each other the tales of the day. (or maybe all that howling has a punch line?) When we tell our stories we make sense of our complicated lives. This is not reserved for great writers but for everyone. By telling each other our experiences we can either reinforce our idea of a bleak world. Or we can ignite and inspire. And often when we retell our story, we receive new ways of looking at our problem du jour.  Used effectively story can create bonds with people. Some stories are true. Some are exaggerated. Some are funny where we sure we are the tragic hero. But in retelling them we find out about our humanity.

I had the extreme delight of teaching another writers workshop on Saturday at Music Market Cafe. People from age 11 to 61 sitting and writing together. People who had never written,  people who were professionals all agreed to keep the pen moving for six hours. The time flew by as we used the five senses to get past the intellect and into the intuitive. What struck me was how we all forget how creative we really are. And how we are plagued by the voice of doubt. That doubting part of our brain that mumbles all day at us, saying not yet, you’re not good enough yet.

The other thing that came out of this time was art begets art. I used the brilliant sculpture of Linda Williams, and as they looked at her piece called Overcome, they listened to the great rocker, Janis Joplin sing Cry Baby. Eight writers. One piece of art. And eight different stories.  This once again illuminated how we can all experience one event and each have a different interpretation of what happened. Who really saw the truth? Or is it that we all did and each story gave the truth from a different angle. A story is just reliving something from a different perspective.

Yes we live in a global village. And maybe there are more idiots in the world( or maybe we just know where they all live) But we need to see the great news. Maybe we could spend just a few more minutes other than in the bad news. Could we turn off the TV ten minutes sooner tonight and read a story (or better yet tell one) that fills the minds of our kids and family with wit and wisdom.   Perhaps a story that changes perspective?

How can you change your story?

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