yyjStoryteller

  “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” — G.K. Chesterton “Myth is the public dream, and dream is the private myth.” — Joseph Campbell Thoughts: Folk tales are survival kits disguised as entertainment. The old stories are not old — they are timeless. We turn to fairy tales not to escape reality, but to understand it. A Question for you:  What story did you love as a child that still holds meaning today?

“I am my mother’s daughter, and the drums of her heart are within me.” — Rupi Kaur  “The stories we tell literally make the world. If you want to change the world, you need to change your story.” — Michael Margolis In every culture, women have carried stories at the hearth, the bedside, the kitchen table. Women’s stories often survive in whispers before they become public truths. When a woman tells her story, she claims her power. A  Question for you: What’s a story you inherited from a woman in your family? If you want to, you can share it in the comments.

What others have said: “Listening is an act of love.                                                                                                                                                                  Dave Isay “To listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear.”                                                                                  ...

Interesting Thoughts “The shortest distance between two people is a story.” — Patti Digh “Stories live in your blood and bones, follow the seasons, and light candles on the darkest night.”                                                                                                                                  — Patti Davis Some thoughts A memory untold slowly fades; a memory shared becomes a story. We carry our ancestors not in our blood alone, but in their words. Storytelling is not about recall — it is about meaning. Question What’s a memory you’ve shared so often it has become more story than fact? Please share that memory with us in the comments.. ...

  Somethings to think about: A story is not only what is told — it is what is remembered. The listener shapes it as much as the teller. Every family has “that one story” that gets told again and again. Pay attention to it — it is carrying a truth your people want to keep alive. Folktales endure because they give us permission to imagine beyond the ordinary. Sometimes a fairy tale is the most honest way to speak about life. Quotes from others “Stories are a communal currency of humanity.” — Tahir Shah “Those who tell the stories rule the world.” — Hopi Proverb A Question for YOU What is the one story from your childhood that still echoes in your life today?

The Japanese Baku was a mythological beast comprised of the parts of a bear, an elephant, a tiger, an ox and a rhinoceros Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Do really bad nightmares wake you up? A Japanese grandmother would say that you need a BAKU talisman by your bed. When you wake, repeat this phrase three times: “Baku-san, come eat my dream. Baku-san, come eat my dream. Baku-san, come eat my dream.” The BAKU will then enter your room and eat the bad dream. Then you will be able to drift off and awake the next morning after a peaceful sleep. Just make sure that it was really a bad dream. Should the BAKU still be hungry after eating your nightmare, it might keep munching and eat some of your good dreams and hopes too! In that case, you might end up living an empty and unfulfilled life.