My Journey, Your Journey (Sharing Our Stories)
My Journey, Your Journey (Sharing Our Stories)
Hello my friend – you know the drill – grab a cup of something hot in a fabulous mug and take a seat! How was your week? What exciting things were you involved in? Were you able to find time to check out the last post on Time as a Mindset? If not, scroll down further and you’ll see it there! I have been thinking a lot this week about My Journey, Your Journey; about sharing out stories and the challenges and benefits of doing so.
What stories do you have to share? What stories do you want to really listen to? The sharing of our stories is an anchor of hope and unity in the Body of Christ. If I can be real and comfortable in telling my authentic story and you can be real and comfortable in listening to my authentic story and vice versa – then we can begin to connect at a deeper and more meaningful level. Community and unity will follow.
We All Have A Story
We all have a story; every single one of us. As a matter of fact, each one of us has numerous stories that add up to the one large story that serves as a map of our journey. Most of us understand that we have a story, what many of us struggle with is not whether or not we have a story, but rather the significance of that story. We wonder if we have a story worth sharing. Sometimes we even understand that our story is worth sharing, but then we lose sight of the importance of stepping out and sharing that story.
Why Share Our Stories?
Why should we bother to share our stories and listen to the stories of others?
1) The sharing of stories brings significance to our lives.
2) Framing and sharing our stories builds courage, vulnerability and resilience within us
3) Our stories encourage others
4) The sharing of stories creates community leading to unity
5) Sharing our stories teaches us to be listeners as well as talkers and receivers as well as givers
6) Character is built through the reflective process necessary in the framing and subsequent sharing of our stories and listening to the stories of others
Past Experiences With Sharing Our Stories
What has happened in the past when we considered sharing our stories? We often wait to be asked to share out story. Some of us have never been asked to share our stories. This may have happened for a number of reasons. People can get caught up in their own stories. They may believe/assume that they already know our story. Or, they may want to listen to our story but they don’t know how to ask without coming across as intrusive.
When it comes to listening to the stories of others, sometimes we haven’t really known how to listen, receive, or respond. This has resulted in discomfort, because although there was an effort on both parts, to tell the story and to listen, both of us walked away feeling uncomfortable and unwilling to go there again.
Changing Our Experiences - Authenticity and Framing
The first step to a positive experience in sharing out stories is to begin living and then sharing from a place of authenticity. Our stories are easier to share when they come from our authentic lives, not lives that are built up and covered up.
Then we need to learn how to frame our stories. We need to become courageous and brave enough to dig deep for the real in our lives – to find the real essence of who we are and the stories that support that.
Once we have begun to frame our stories, we can begin sharing. A big piece of sharing our story is carving out time to allow sharing to happen. Time is of the essence. Not allowing the time and space for sharing to happen can be one of the biggest barriers to effective sharing and listening of stories. If you haven’t read last week’s blog post on Time as a Mindset that is a great place to start!
Changing Our Experiences - Encouraging And Listening
While we are preparing to share our stories, we can start encouraging those around us to share their stories. When they see us living from a place of authenticity and digging deep for real in our lives to begin framing and sharing our stories, they will be encouraged to begin on their journey to do the same.
We can also begin really listening to the stories of others. We must be mindful to never get so caught up in our own stories that we neglect the stories of others. Having the opportunity to listen to the stories of others is a gift and a privilege. Hearing is a passive process. Listening is an active process. If we begin to really listen to others, receive their stories with grace and actively engage in the exchange, the sharer of the story will feel cared for and will be more likely to step out and share their story again and again.
Why Does It Matter?
Why does it matter? Is it really necessary to share our stories and hear the stories of others? YES! Life is a blank book full of pages waiting to be written on. We often consider the living of our life all that is necessary to fill in those pages; but in reality, until we have shared that life, those pages only tell half the story! When others only watch our life and never have the opportunity to hear our stories that leads to assumptions and misunderstandings. Assumptions and misunderstandings about our life encourages us to build facades to make things look better and walls to keep others from getting too close to see the cracks.
The telling of our story encourages authenticity, transparency and clarity around who we are, where we’ve come from and where we are going. The hearing of our authentic story encourages a deeper and truer understanding of the same.
Future Possibilities
When people come together and tell their stories and listen to the stories of others, new stories and future possibilities are created. There is power in coming together and sharing. Coming together allows for the power of creativity and ideas, the power of validation, the power of collaboration and the power of support and encouragement.
The listener is encouraged and the sharer is validated. Both have a good experience and they feel empowered to go out and engage in the process again. There is a more accurate and gracious understanding of one another. Community and unity are created and grow. And the process continues. People began to connect in a meaningful and deep way. People began to carve out the time and space necessary for continued connections. The future possibilities are endless.
What Next?
Would you like to learn more about writing, telling and sharing your story? Would you like to learn how to really listen to the stories of others?
Let’s get on board and become fabulous storytellers and expert listeners – we live the material everyday – let’s begin to frame it, let’s put it on paper, let’s put it to hearts and minds and in doing so, build a community that lives in unity and can’t easily be pulled apart.
I would love to hear from you! Drop a comment below. Tell me about your experiences with sharing your stories and where you would like to go from here!
Until Next Time!
Well, my friend, I can see the bottom of my tea cup which tells me it is just about time to go. I am sure happy you took the time to drop in today.
See you again next week, same time, same place!
This week, begin to think about your experiences with telling your story and listening to the stories of others. There is more for all of us if we commit to changing our past experiences and move into a future of possibilities through sharing out stories!
If you are interested in more Devotional reading, head over to my Facebook Page where you will find a Weekly Devotion early every Monday morning. Click here to go directly to Weekly Devotions with Laurie.
Until next time,
From my heart to yours!
Laurie
