my story about feeling abandoned because of my father’s emotional absence, I allowed myself to feel kindness towards him and the possibility of his warmth and love in the moments I most needed them. I started to feel my heart opening. I could feel that the healing taking place in my emotional heart was also healing my breasts.
During that time, I also discovered another avenue of healing: sharing our stories with each other. When we are really listened to, we feel cared for, respected and heard.
When we really listen to one another, we are actively and creatively engaged in opening ourselves to new places, people and experiences. We give our energy to the storyteller and can even heal the storyteller through our loving attention.
Family Story Sharing
When you, as a family, share your stories with each other and by asking each other “what can we learn from this?” you are encouraged to draw your own conclusions and consider how the story feels to you. The story then becomes a lesson that you can use in your lives. I encourage you to dive into the workbook section and give yourself and your family the gift of exploring the depth and richness of your inner world.
There was a time, as a society, when we gathered together to share stories. Storytelling was a nightly event that helped to synthesize and bring meaning to the events of the day. Now we live in a world that feeds us constant information via media which keeps us isolated from human interaction. Yet we still are famished for the words that would deliver a deeper connection to our experience of the world, of each other, of ourselves. By getting in touch with our own life stories, we offer to ourselves and each other the possibility of deeper, shared understanding, compassion and the possibility of a true and lasting experience of peace.
How to Benefit from this Book
I would like to suggest that you first read the stories. Each story gives you a brief synopsis of the adult whose story you are about to read. Of course, the name and locations have been changed to protect their anonymity. If you have children or grandchildren, read the stories together and discuss what they would do in the same situation, and if anything like that has ever happened to them. You will find out a lot about each other’s thinking. Share the story with your partner and the same revelations will take place. By reading the stories first, you will get a good feel of the positive voices that you will want to incorporate into your own personal parable.
In the part of the book, Now It’s Your Turn, the questionnaire will ask you thought provoking questions that will bring up past incidents that are ripe for reworking. These incidents can be from your childhood or any part of your past that you would like to revisit and to rewrite. Find a quiet space that is free of distractions and where you can be alone. I would suggest stopping here, but if you feel like you are on a roll, move into the Writing Your Own Personal Parable section and begin rewriting your story. You will probably revise your story several times. This is a loving process, so be gentle with yourself. It will take as long as it takes. Journal your dreams after writing your story, as many insights can appear. Observe your life situations in the six months after writing your story and note what changes are taking place. I suggest sharing your story with a loved one, and be sure you let the person know up front if you want feedback or for them just to listen. Share your story with children; they are so attuned to stories, and to think that this is your true story just makes you that much more real to them. It also gives them permission to share incidents that are currently going on in their lives. I hope that your family can begin to share their personal stories with each other at family gatherings; think of the small talk that will be replaced with transformative dialogue. Have fun making covers for your stories and keeping them as a family memoir to be passed on from generation to generation. Now good healthy perceptions can be passed on rather than the old limiting beliefs.
My wish for you is to enjoy this process, to gain a new life enhancing perspective of the true you, and to have your life attract all that you know it so richly deserves. Of course, being an educator, I want you to also remember to share your story with a child; you are remembering your past, while they are actively living it in the present. Let’s all rewrite our stories so our children can live a healthier NOW.
Meet the Power Posse – Jasper & Zephyr
In the stories that you are about to read in the following chapters, I’ve created a dynamic duo to journey back with the main character in each story. They are the “Power Posse” for the central character and will be there to cheer her/him and to empower her/him with new and more effective choices. The characters utilized are a talking bird, Jasper the Joybird, and his best friend, Zephyr the Wind. I’ve pondered why I chose a bird and wind for my stories, and then upon closer examination discovered that they are in fact perfect metaphors for these healing stories. Zephyr symbolizes the unseen Wisdom that is always present in each of us and Jasper is the manifestation of the Joy we can see when we are aligned and acting from this Source.
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