At The Big Day of Belonging, telling stories in order to find the myth within…the myth of inner wisdom
Yesterday was a marvellously alive day. I spent it telling stories…rather I spent it listening to other people’s stories. I had many guests…they sat in the large red storytelling chair…and we began our chat with what we call in therapeutic circles ‘problem free chat”…”how are you enjoying the activities today?” “Aren’t we lucky the rain held out?”…simple warm things…
I had brought support materials as stimuli, just in case the stories did not come easily. It turned out I had very willing storytellers…from every generation: young girls (from 3 to 10), teenagers, young women, middle aged women and then elders. The stories were all different, yet there was something that sat across all of them. They were all stories of the heroine: women from every generation, interested in sharing. A journey across time and place. The stories were about being in relationship within community, whether the community was a community of imaginary animals or the actual community where the individual resided. My job was to invite the participants to move their story into personal mythology, moving from the ordinary world into the extraordinary and ending up in a world of belonging.
I re-learned a lot yesterday: the joy of deep listening, the excitement of growing stories together and the many things we have in common. And I also was reassured of the importance of this and how without growing our stories together we may just miss the opportunity to grow our sense of belonging, both within our community and even more importantly, within ourselves.