THE FUNCTION OF STORIES IN COMMUNITY BUILDING
Stories are like invisible threads that connect us across time and place, culture, ethnicity, race, and age--classifications that sometimes divide us. When we listen to one another’s stories, we open our hearts. We transcend artificial boundaries, marveling at and appreciating our differences while also recognizing our common ground.
We tell stories because they are beautiful containers for our truths. Folktales that are told all over the world contain all the human stories of conflicts, obstacles, desire, and hope; they are shorthand for our personal stories because they act as metaphors that mirror our own lives. For this reason, by telling stories in a workshop that asks us, fundamentally, to think about who we are and where we come from, the folktales that begin our workshops help participants to relax and enjoy the deeply human connections that stories provide. At the same time, our stories spark and activate compelling personal memories in those who hear them.
Story sharing is a healing experience for communities – whether they happen in the workplace, in schools, in community centers, or in informal gatherings. Story sharing also gives us a quiet space where we learn not only to hear but also to listen. The opportunity to tell our stories and to be heard and the opportunity to listen to another person’s truth are deeply bonding experiences that both acknowledge our differences and similarities and teach us to value and embrace them.
Stories are like the spider’s web, seemingly fragile and ephemeral yet one of the strongest substances in nature. So it is with human nature: stories have the potential to connect us and help us form our strongest bonds.
Storytelling is ultimately an act of friendship.
We tell stories because they are beautiful containers for our truths. Folktales that are told all over the world contain all the human stories of conflicts, obstacles, desire, and hope; they are shorthand for our personal stories because they act as metaphors that mirror our own lives. For this reason, by telling stories in a workshop that asks us, fundamentally, to think about who we are and where we come from, the folktales that begin our workshops help participants to relax and enjoy the deeply human connections that stories provide. At the same time, our stories spark and activate compelling personal memories in those who hear them.
Story sharing is a healing experience for communities – whether they happen in the workplace, in schools, in community centers, or in informal gatherings. Story sharing also gives us a quiet space where we learn not only to hear but also to listen. The opportunity to tell our stories and to be heard and the opportunity to listen to another person’s truth are deeply bonding experiences that both acknowledge our differences and similarities and teach us to value and embrace them.
Stories are like the spider’s web, seemingly fragile and ephemeral yet one of the strongest substances in nature. So it is with human nature: stories have the potential to connect us and help us form our strongest bonds.
Storytelling is ultimately an act of friendship.