I spent last week at Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, NY, at a storytelling workshop with this man, Chris Wells.
https://mrchriswells.com/
"Chris Wells is an Obie award-winning writer, actor and community leader who creates live events, music, and stories. He is the founding artistic director of The Secret City, a nonprofit community arts organization in New York City founded on the principals of creative mindfulness. Chris serves as curator, lead artist, and producer of The Secret City's dynamic live performances in NYC, Los Angeles, and Woodstock. His theatrical work has been honored with two LA Weekly Awards for Best Actor, a shared Garland award for playwriting, and many Ovation awards for participating in ensemble-created work. In 2010, Wells received a special citation Obie Award for service to the NYC artistic community. Through his storytelling workshops, Chris serves not just as a coach but as a creative midwife who helps writers get to the core of their project. His Writing Life process is designed to explore a person's work and their ideas through a series of conversations, investigations, exercises, and homework, while getting them to make huge strides on the project at hand."
...not to mention that he is a patient and supportive human being with a great sense of humor.
This workshop unfolded like many I've attended.
On Monday, each of us arrived sporting the face we like to put forward among strangers. For some, exuberant self-confidence. For others, timid uncertainty. For a few, tentative curiosity. The first time we gathered, we sized each other up based on nothing more telling than what we were wearing, or which seat we took, or how we introduced ourselves...all of which would change as the week wore on, as we worked on our stories, mined them for truth, and prepared to tell them in front of an audience. Three difficult tasks.
On Tuesday, tears fell for the first time. We learned what it meant to be authentic. How it felt to be vulnerable. How hard it is to tell the truth.
"All you have to do is write one true sentence.
Write the truest sentence that you know."
~Ernest Hemingway~
On Wednesday, it finally dawned on us that we were safe among these people. That our stories, with all their missteps, all their pauses and rough spots, all the pain, and anger, and shame they revealed were received with mercy. With support. And, often, with applause.
On Thursday, we polished our stories, and practiced telling them. A sense of insecurity and dread crept up on some of us. But this is the thing about storytelling: it frees us. It heals us. It connects us with people we scarcely know, in ways we can't imagine...
...which is why, on Friday, each of our stories was received in silence, with rapt attention, followed by enthusiastic applause.
I spend a lot of time encouraging people I know to tell the stories they hold tight in their hearts. To write them down, or get them onto a canvas, or put them into movement or song. As a physician, I do this because I know that storytelling is a healing practice. Why is this important? In the words of poet Sean Thomas Dougherty:
"Because right now
there is someone out there
with a wound in the exact shape of your words."
~Sean Thomas Dougherty~
People need to know they're not alone. They need to know how you survived. That there is hope. That their story is important, too.
We hesitate to begin out of fear. We tell ourselves we don't write well enough. We don't know where or how to get started. We are sure no one could possibly be interested in what happened to us, so we make up excuses. I don't have time to write. My grammar and spelling stink. People will never believe me.
Sometimes, shame silences us. We have been conditioned to keep secrets. We blame ourselves for what happened to us. Or perhaps we're still struggling with the issue. It's too painful, or sad, or maddening to put into words.
If you're having trouble getting started with your story, if you have no confidence in your ability to tell it, or you have no time or energy to devote to one more thing...welcome to the club! This is where we all started.
The important thing is to get started, and then:
"Fill your paper
with the breathings of your heart."
~William Wordsworth~
jan
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