Storytelling For Life & Health
April 28, 2008 7:31 pm Mental Health, Women's Interest
Today The World Lost a Caring Man Way Too Soon.
Michael White formalized and introduced the idea of using storytelling as healing in psychotherapy. He introduced the idea of Narrative Therapy to many professionals who needed to be reminded of the power of stories and the importance of helping patients tell their stories in a therapeutic way. Of course people have also been telling their stories to therapists for a long time. The stories of their lives, of their pain and joys and of their healing.
Story telling has a long history.
Stories are used to teach lessons in all Easten and Western religions. In Christianity Jesus used stories to teach, in Buddism Buddha, Lao-Tse in Taoism, Confucius in Confucianism. Native Americans told many beautiful stories as does the Tora in Judasm. There are many more traditions that use stories because stories are powerful !
How We Tell Our Stories
Today we tell our stories in books, articles, blogs, journals and many other avenues. If you haven’t heard about Storycorps check it out, It is fascinating , touching and a learning experience. Why do so many people want to tell their stories? We tell out stories because they affirm our life, leave a legacy and also because telling our stories brings healing to us and others.
How to Tell your Story!
Is it time for you to start to tell your story for yourself, for the next generation, and for for those you wish to share it with who may need to hear it ? Remember you do not have to share this with anyone you don’t want to, this is for your personal well being. As time goes on you may find some things you really want to share.
You don’t have to be a professional writer to tell your story, in fact, you don’t even need to write, you can use one of many ways of recording. Speak just as if you were talking to someone you completely trust. When you start to tell a story it might help to be specific, especially if you have a particular issues to deal with. Your life is a book of many chapters (stories).
It may be easier to start off by asking yourself about how you learned certain lessons in life.
- How I learned to love?
- How did I learn about anger and how to deal with it.
- Where did I learn about how to be in intimate relationships, what did I learn?
Your stories are not fairy tales and will probable bring up sad feelings, unfulfilled dreams, and pain that lingers on. However, in your stories you will also find self understanding, forgiveness of self and others, triumphs, and strength. The real benefit is in understanding how and why you learned to do things that you may want to change today. Recognition is always the first step in letting go.
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