It's funny how, when you start to think of something, suddenly that thing you're thinking of appears everywhere. If I learn a new word, for example, I then see the word here, there, and everywhere - though I had never noticed the word nor known the meaning of it before. It just starts popping up once I become aware of it. You know what I mean, I'm sure. This phenomenon is the partly the basis for things like the "The Secret" and other affirmation philosophies. And, to a point, I believe in it.
So, awhile ago, I was asked to write a small program for a church women's event. I mulled it over in my mind for a week and kept coming back to the topic of "story."My story. Our stories. Women's stories. My Grandma's story. Faith stories.
And, guess what - the subject of story is popping up everywhere for me! I mean, it's uncanny. I can't list all the stuff with the specific topic of story that has presented itself to me in the past two weeks, but I'm relishing every incident. Excitedly this afternoon, I read to Scott an email I had received - out of the blue - that said, "It's a magical thing to be able to, through telling stories, through the magic of their own communication, have the audience almost breathing in rhythm with the speaker."
My interest is piqued. Of course, I'm immersed in Google searches and website browsing. I'm getting too much material, but what a pleasure to read many different takes on one subject.
Here are a few lovely quotes (from brainyquote.com) I gathered this afternoon:
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
Maya Angelou
Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.
C. S. Lewis
If you've heard this story before, don't stop me, because I'd like to hear it again.
Groucho Marx I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.
Flannery O'Connor
The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it.
James M. Barrie
The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.
Abraham Maslow
I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owe something to the dead. and anyone who does not remember betrays them again.
Elie Wiesel
Our past is a story existing only in our minds. Look, analyze, understand, and forgive. Then, as quickly as possible, chuck it.
Marianne Williamson
