The Spirit of Story -- How the past fuels the future: Day 4 of 65 ALIVE!

65 alive about stories life stories makes me think Feb 04, 2022
The Spirit of Story: How the past fuels the future This was our theme for Day 4 of 65 ALIVE!
Here's what our participant circle said:
  • The spirit of story is change, emotional connection, the arc of meaning, and resonance
  • Sharing our stories to promote connection and touch our hearts
  • The spirit of story is about intention, exploration sharing connection imagination
  • Learning about story being connection and imagination, making us more
  • The spirit of story - inviting connection in a deep, authentic and generative way
  • The Spirit of Story sounds like a mystical being
 
This was the beginning of a deep and magical conversation between Elissa Yancey, Annie Ruth and Judith McCray, weaving the many ways and many mediums they use to share stories.
 
Elissa opened the floodgates by asking: How do you draw upon the rich history of a story's spiritual core to bring that story to life, whether it is in words, artwork, video, audio or all of the above?
 
And then: What are some of the gifts that tapping in to that spiritual core of story has brought to your life? How has it shaped the work you do and the person you are?
 
What a weaving that was! Too many gems to gather here, but some highlights;
 
Judith said: "The storytelling process engages us to stay with it and work through the raw. It gives us the vehicle to figure it out even if we don’t know where raw is going to take us." As a podcaster and documentary maker, she balances her intuitive sense of how the raw stories that appear will shape themselves as they are worked with.
 
As a multimedia artist, Annie responded: "The thread through my stories pull from my places of vulnerability and hurt to help others. As a youngster growing up I witnessed my mother experiencing a breakdown. I experienced racism and bigotry as well. Even through that story is etched in my mind, as I grow up I’m able to take what I’ve heard and seen, I’m able to use my life to write additional chapters to the story. I’m using my story to build bridges. Pain is not the end of the story."
 
As one of the participants responded: "I like that there is that "never ending story." I used to want a clean beginning, middle and happy ending. Now I realize that's not the goal...it's a process, a journey and yes, an exploration."
Stories, like us all at our best, are always evolving.
 
Annie continued: "There are stories and songs birthed into my spirt and I release into my surroundings. It can be those are never heard in the world, but brought great release to me. And it can be you tell it and it is gone. I sometimes call it “hearing the heavenly chorus”.
 
Which made a participant respond: "A story, like a painting, is within a frame and we aren't really privy to the whole story...we can't get inside anyone else to understand the wholeness of their experience. So we get from that slice of the story what we can.
 
And both of them reflected the importance of community in unfolding their own personals stories and work in the world. As Annie said: "Going through the process, having encouragement through other women — when I felt low, they would not let me stay there. Then I learned to build my own self as well."
The conversation was bookended with beautiful cello music by composer Peet Morrison who added to our understanding of the story behind music.
Here's Jill Greenbaum's visual harvest -- what do you see?
And THANK YOU to the team supporting 65 ALIVE! Stephen Jacob Stephen Jacob & Frederikke Oldin!
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The series is over, but you can still join the conversation: See more about the recordings & bonus package here www.getsoaring.com/65-ALIVE
 

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