Do you know why a story sometimes catches your attention?
Why apart from the content, you feel touched, seen, heard or more?
It is because it resonates something inside you. It seems that a part of you is saying, I recognize this, this can be my story…
Nature awakens. I hear the first songs of the early birds. Fog is slowly disappearing. Energy is changing. Suddenly, I see something, but I am not sure if this is imagination or real. A small fox is running in the field, and another one, and another one…
What a special beginning of this Wednesday. As if I was in a movie. I am aware of myself, I hear my breath, goosebumps. I feel alive and so grateful for this park, so close to the city, so close to my home.
Nature is an important part in my life. And I think it is for all of us. It helps to recharge, gives me more energy and after a whole day behind my laptop, it gives me another perspective as well. When I am in a stressful period, I always walk a lot. There are less stimulus as well. But, what the heck has this to do with storytelling?
Well, a lot. Because when our heads are less full of to do lists, must haves and what to achieves, we are more open to receive signals, to be inspired and seeing other things than we always see. And these are big ingredients for a storyteller. Storytelling is not something mental. Well you can learn your story-lines, so you can speak out loud, but the story has to be inside you and has to catch you, instead of the other way around.
The tale of the tiger
In the book Big Magic of Elizabeth Gilbert, she writes about her friend and poet Ruth Stone. A ninety-year-old lady with magical stories. Stone describes moments that while working on the countryside, she can hear when a poem is arriving, like a galloping horse. And every time this was happening, she knew what to do: run home and be in time to catch the poem, so she could write it down. The poem appeared to her, jumped into her and gave her words to write. Sometimes, she says, she was too late. The only thing she could do was trying to catch the poem, like she was catching the tale of a tiger. And then it appeared to her in the nick of time. Sounds this like a fairy tale? Do you believe in this like this? I do.
All my poems appear to me, the only thing I have to do is sit at the right momentum and my pen starts to write. And yes, I do have a small book next to my bed. Sometimes stories appear to me at night ;)
Magical moments, like the three foxes in the early morning, I take with me into my working schedule. They are playing an important role during the day, in my appointments, poems, stories. Nature helps me to adapt, so the right words can find me. Magical moments in the now. And more and more I am open about this. Sometimes I still feel afraid to share this, but it helps me to write. To tell and to write business stories, personal portraits and love stories as well.
So, apart from your happy, lucky stories, it is all about being present and be aware in the moment. And show up in the arena. Sometimes with mud on our knees and broken fingernails, and tears in our eyes. Yes, I believe storytelling is not a method, it is a way of living, of being and believing. And yes, it is scary as well. But the moment you are sharing what is inside of you, you will feel a kind of relief and you do not have to pretend you are a strong woman. You are by showing who you really are! Sentences do not have to be perfect, silent parts between words say so much more than you can imagine. Try it and feel it in yourself and your audience.
I invite you to show yourself as who you are. Share your story with me and with us. Sometimes only one small ingredient is enough. Than the story appears and evolves. Be you, be you ti ful. There are so many stories to share.
I hope to see you at my workshop.
Have a be you ti ful day!
