Please read the storytelling quotations and write your response here in the home blog comments below. Share with the class which quote most resonated with you and why.
"The healing that can grow out of the simple act of telling our stories is often quite remarkable." -Susan Wittig Albert
I like this quote. It is a small quote but holds so much to it. For example, when people hear stories, they remember them. Later in life we may be in situations that make us reflect on the stories we've heard and those stories help us make decisions or help us cope with the situations we are in.
"Storytelling is our native language." - Mark Wagler
This quote was my favorite because I feel like all human interaction takes the form of storytelling and that every experience we have in life is just another chapter being added to our story.
"our stories matter... Your stories matter... For you never know how much of a difference they make and to whom." This quote reminds me of something my mom use to say to me when I was sad, she would say "Katie, don't frown, you never know who might be falling in love with your smile." People are so easily influenced by other people and their surroundings so you never know who might be affected by something you say or do, whether they experience the act first hand or hear through a story it's important to keep in mind how our actions and stories can change a persons life.
"There is a deep-seated need in the human spirit to tell stories, to hear stories, to share stories." ~ Steve Sanfield, author, poet, storyteller
I like this quote because I believe storytelling can connect and nourish our souls as opposed to facts and ideas that enlighten our minds. When we share "our voice", we choose to give the most meaningful gifts of our soul.
"Listening to stories is essential to the development of human imagination, creativity, and abstract thought process. Diverse and ene antagonisitc communities come to understand and respect one another though listening to each other's stories, and therefore storytelling is an essential tool for peacemaking." - National Storytelling Network. I like this quote because I strongly agree with what is being said. In order for us to understand others to the full capicity that we can with our minds then we need stroytelling. It is what keeps us, humans, connected. That is one thing that no matter what language you speek you can explain things and have others understand is by telling a story. And by telling stories it allows the person who is listening to use their imagination to create a picture of what when on and therefore that creates a whole new realm of thinking and communicating with others. The only way for anyone to completely understand anything that has happened to others is by storytelling and the use of ones imagination.
“Listening to stories is essential to the development of human imagination, creativity, and abstract thought processes. Diverse and even antagonistic communities come to understand and respect one another through listening to each other’s stories, and therefore storytelling is an essential tool for peacemaking.” ~ National Storytelling Network
I generally very much enjoyed the quotes on storytelling, and find that, when appropriately valued, storytelling can do more good than harm. However, quotes like this, maudlin, overstating, silly, really upset me. I tried to find a different quote, but this really provoked the strongest reaction. Stories, the National Storytelling Network overlooks, are the fount from which all theological belief systems spawned, and thus so much incredible, brutal conflict. Stories brought the Crusades. Stories can just as easily communicate fear. Stories spread the idea of a Pulaski, TN men's group, more widely known as the Ku Klux Klan. Stories splintered and shattered Ireland. Facts, empiricism, and science are the leavening every educated mind needs, and for a national organization to so completely miss the point of its own art form is mind boggling.
Further, the very two basic building blocks of basically ALL sectarian or inter-culture strife is invidious comparison and scarcity of resouces. How do disparate ethnic or religious groups come to loathe competing groups in the same area? Through stories. Through stories of their wealth, their feasts, their mountains of all that glitters, etc. Of all the grand things stories can accomplish, and the lofty purpose and position they rightfully hold in contemporary culture, peacemaking is hardly one of them. But I do love stories.
The second qoute is my favorite. I am not able to paste into this so....yup. The reason it struck so strongly with me is because it is so true. Stories have always been one of those things i love because you can get sucked into them maybe not as literally as in A Never Ending Story...but still its great when you can really get sucked into a story and almost see it from your own eyes!
“Their story, yours, mine --- it’s what we all carry with us on this trip we take, and we owe it to each other to respect our stories and learn from them.” ~ Robert Coles, author of The Call of Stories
I am a person who loves reading people. By this I mean I love really getting to know someone whether they are an aquantince, friend, stranger. I feel that you really understand someone and dont judge them for who they are by hearing their story. Stories are what make us who we are. I find it difficult when people dont respect otheres sotries and jsutdge them , I feel as a storyteller which we all are, we should be open minded. Thesestories that we tell make us who we are. I find story telling to be beautiful.
.as humans most of us carry around a little voice, the editor, that tells us that what we have to say is not entertaining or substantial enough to be heard. That editor is a composite figure of everyone in our lives who has diminished our sense of creative ability, from family members, to teachers, to employers, to the society as a whole. (excerpt from Joe Lambert's quote)
I love this metaphor of "the editor" in our head. So many stories go unvoiced--and hence unheard, particularly among those who feel marginalized because of who are they are or what they believe. It is incumbent upon all of us to create a space that invites others to speak their truth and enables genuine dialogue within communities. Taming the editor and facilitating storytelling begin in a place where others have a sense of unconditional positive regard.
"The healing that can grow out of the simple act of telling our stories is often quite remarkable." -Susan Wittig Albert
ReplyDeleteI like this quote. It is a small quote but holds so much to it. For example, when people hear stories, they remember them. Later in life we may be in situations that make us reflect on the stories we've heard and those stories help us make decisions or help us cope with the situations we are in.
"Storytelling is our native language." - Mark Wagler
ReplyDeleteThis quote was my favorite because I feel like all human interaction takes the form of storytelling and that every experience we have in life is just another chapter being added to our story.
I tell stories to my friend. we often lagh out loud together. I like being brutaly honest. This process has been very rewarding.
ReplyDeleteTalking to my friends is helpful in sorting out the meaning of what has happened.
ReplyDelete"our stories matter... Your stories matter... For you never know how much of a difference they make and to whom."
ReplyDeleteThis quote reminds me of something my mom use to say to me when I was sad, she would say "Katie, don't frown, you never know who might be falling in love with your smile."
People are so easily influenced by other people and their surroundings so you never know who might be affected by something you say or do, whether they experience the act first hand or hear through a story it's important to keep in mind how our actions and stories can change a persons life.
that is such a beautiful thought..... what a great thing for a mom to say to her child.
Delete"There is a deep-seated need in the human spirit to tell stories, to hear stories, to share stories." ~ Steve Sanfield, author, poet, storyteller
ReplyDeleteI like this quote because I believe storytelling can connect and nourish our souls as opposed to facts and ideas that enlighten our minds. When we share "our voice", we choose to give the most meaningful gifts of our soul.
"Listening to stories is essential to the development of human imagination, creativity, and abstract thought process. Diverse and ene antagonisitc communities come to understand and respect one another though listening to each other's stories, and therefore storytelling is an essential tool for peacemaking." - National Storytelling Network.
ReplyDeleteI like this quote because I strongly agree with what is being said. In order for us to understand others to the full capicity that we can with our minds then we need stroytelling. It is what keeps us, humans, connected. That is one thing that no matter what language you speek you can explain things and have others understand is by telling a story. And by telling stories it allows the person who is listening to use their imagination to create a picture of what when on and therefore that creates a whole new realm of thinking and communicating with others. The only way for anyone to completely understand anything that has happened to others is by storytelling and the use of ones imagination.
“Listening to stories is essential to the development of human imagination, creativity, and abstract thought processes. Diverse and even antagonistic communities come to understand and respect one another through listening to each other’s stories, and therefore storytelling is an essential tool for peacemaking.”
ReplyDelete~ National Storytelling Network
I generally very much enjoyed the quotes on storytelling, and find that, when appropriately valued, storytelling can do more good than harm. However, quotes like this, maudlin, overstating, silly, really upset me. I tried to find a different quote, but this really provoked the strongest reaction. Stories, the National Storytelling Network overlooks, are the fount from which all theological belief systems spawned, and thus so much incredible, brutal conflict. Stories brought the Crusades. Stories can just as easily communicate fear. Stories spread the idea of a Pulaski, TN men's group, more widely known as the Ku Klux Klan. Stories splintered and shattered Ireland. Facts, empiricism, and science are the leavening every educated mind needs, and for a national organization to so completely miss the point of its own art form is mind boggling.
Further, the very two basic building blocks of basically ALL sectarian or inter-culture strife is invidious comparison and scarcity of resouces. How do disparate ethnic or religious groups come to loathe competing groups in the same area? Through stories. Through stories of their wealth, their feasts, their mountains of all that glitters, etc. Of all the grand things stories can accomplish, and the lofty purpose and position they rightfully hold in contemporary culture, peacemaking is hardly one of them. But I do love stories.
The second qoute is my favorite. I am not able to paste into this so....yup. The reason it struck so strongly with me is because it is so true. Stories have always been one of those things i love because you can get sucked into them maybe not as literally as in A Never Ending Story...but still its great when you can really get sucked into a story and almost see it from your own eyes!
ReplyDelete“Their story, yours, mine --- it’s what we all carry with us on this trip we take, and we owe it to each other to respect our stories and learn from them.”
ReplyDelete~ Robert Coles, author of The Call of Stories
I am a person who loves reading people. By this I mean I love really getting to know someone whether they are an aquantince, friend, stranger. I feel that you really understand someone and dont judge them for who they are by hearing their story. Stories are what make us who we are. I find it difficult when people dont respect otheres sotries and jsutdge them , I feel as a storyteller which we all are, we should be open minded. Thesestories that we tell make us who we are. I find story telling to be beautiful.
.as humans most of us carry around a little voice, the editor, that tells us that what we have to say is not entertaining or substantial enough to be heard. That editor is a composite figure of everyone in our lives who has diminished our sense of creative ability, from family members, to teachers, to employers, to the society as a whole. (excerpt from Joe Lambert's quote)
ReplyDeleteI love this metaphor of "the editor" in our head. So many stories go unvoiced--and hence unheard, particularly among those who feel marginalized because of who are they are or what they believe. It is incumbent upon all of us to create a space that invites others to speak their truth and enables genuine dialogue within communities. Taming the editor and facilitating storytelling begin in a place where others have a sense of unconditional positive regard.