I read an article published in the Orem Public Library Newsletter & Calendar for July/August 2011. It is entitled "Stories: A Way of Life" by Eliot Wilcox
It starts out with a poem by I.B. Singer, Naftali the Storyteller and His Horse
When a day passes it is no longer there. What remains of it? Nothing more than a story. If stories weren't told or books weren't written, man would live like beasts--only for the day.
Today, we live, but tomorrow today will be a story. The whole world, all human life, is one long story.
Excerpts from the article are as follows:
Human beings are naturally storytellers and story receivers. We use stories to define who we are. For example, are there certain stories you tell people when you are getting to know them so they can understand you better? Or, are there particular stores you use frequently to explain why you believe in something? Think of the "I learned this when" stories or the "my parents taught me" moments you tell other people to help them understand why you believe what you do on a particular subject.
Essayist Joan Didion describes the phenomenon of telling stories about who we are in this fashion:
We tell ourselves stories in order to live . . . .We interpret what we see, [and] select the most workable of all the multiple choices.Excerpts by Eliot Wilcox continue . . .
". . . Have you ever talked about [a memorable family event, perhaps a vacation] with a sibling or parent? Did you notice how their memories differed from your own? . . . Why do those differences exist? After all, didn't everyone in your family experience the same event?"
"Although everyone did experience the same event, the versions of the stories we used to interpret the event are very individual. This is true about many things throughout our lives. Thus, in a very real sense, our stories do make up who we are."
"We do tell stories in order to live. Stories are, in the end, the way we do respond to and understand what happens around us."
With all that being said, have you felt and spoken passionately about some experience in your life to someone, 'only to fall on dead ears' or you can tell that they are only half listening or they are busy doing something else?
How do you overcome that? Where do you find the right audience that will listen to your stories? How do you fill in the gaps in your life? How do you feel fulfillment?
There are a number of excuses that people will give you:
- I'm busy
- I've got to run errands
- I have a lot on my mind
- I don't have time
- And so on . . .
May you find attentive listeners and readers when you tell stories! Happy writing or storytelling!
Posted by Christy Larsen
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