Oct 27 2008
Stormcallers’ Circle
I’m just back from Canada, had one day to do the laundry and say hello to the dogs, and then I drove down island to the retreat center that is our home ground, The AlderMarsh on Whidbey Island. There I spent the day meeting with a core group from last year’s December session of “The Self as the Source of the Story”
who had regathered for a week of writing and remembering.
These writing seminars are so magic. I know it is a great synergy between how I hold the circle, the applicable writing skill development and content, and the longing in each participant for the ability to birth their own story. I have been teaching this seminar since some time in the late 1980s–I actually cannot remember when I started it–and it is a profound responsibility and honor to serve as a midwife to so many tales.
So, eight made it back. And this time they trusted each other to peer facilitate, to set just enough structure in place so they could write, and enough ease in place so they could revel in the experience of being together. They’d been with each other 5 days when I rolled in this morning and the energy was incredible. They were riding in a spaciousness of love and acceptance and honor for each other’s journeys. As we sat down and checked-in, passing a stone around the rim and each one speaking to the week, I knew were in the heart of the world… the kind of space many people don’t know in their whole lives, where they can be fully themselves and fully accepted. The level of empowerment released in such an experience is amazing… and what a teaching for me, the usual teacher, to come into the end of their time together as an honored guest.
So they read to each other and to me the output of their writing. We critiqued and encouraged and sent them off to the work of living as writers. And the space is already booked for next year. And in a few weeks, I’ll be gathering with another new group heading into the journey of claiming themselves as the source of the story.
Copyright ©2009 Christina Baldwin. All rights reserved.
Hello Storycatchers….
A year has passed since the Stormcallers were together and still the messages are flowing back and forth amongst this group with the same passion that first brought us together. It is wonderful to keep up to the happenings with this creative, and most wonderful group of women dedicated to keep stories alive. It was regretful I could not participate this year but I was off on another journey…a journey to inspire people to think about leadership, the importance of their leadership in assisting with the changes that we are all facing on a personal front, in our families, in our communities, organizations and throughout the world. I have just spent two weeks travelling in the Ukraine talking abut leadership and listening to the stories from people about change not only in the past but how they are dealing with it currently. You see leadership and change are interconnected and it is this effort more than ever that requires the transition tool of stories. I write this posting from Vienna where I am taking a rest before heading home to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Change for many of us is uncomfortable, and for even many more very frightening. When we are frightened we often are looking for ways to stop the change and even withdraw from it as well as resist it. We are also searching for ways to get through it and through that we are on the lookout for leaders. Leaders who display leadership that aligns with our values. Leaders who will do what they say they will, who are honest and trustworthy and who will look out for the benefit of others. This search for leaders to lead us through the stormy waters is what we have sought throughout history. But what I encourage people to do is look at themselves in the mirror. What about me and us? What is our responsibility as leaders to assist ourselves, our families, our communities and our organizations through change. Within our circles of influence, how are we modelling the way for those close to us? It is a question that I continue to ask and it is one that continually inspires stories to be told. I have been inviting people to share their stories of leadership and change and I continue to be inspired by them. You see change is not a quick fix but a passage of time in which we must exercise patience and an exchange of stories that will help us remember the past and in doing so will shed light and insight into our future stories.
My future story is emerging through the input and assistance of others and in doing so it continues to emerge with such power and magic I am humbled. It is my experience that people are hungering to share their stories, a way to connect in turbulent times, a way to help soothe the uncertainty even just for a few moments. My role is clear, to create time and space for people to come together to share their stories and through that assisting themselves and each other to find some of the answers they are looking for within their circles of influence. The opportunities for leadership exist for all of us, and our stories have become the language and evidence for how we have dealt with change in the past, while providing clues for our future.
I close this posting with an invitation to Storycatchers everywhere that their time has come. The role of Storycatchers is about being the leader, exercising leadership for inviting stories to be told. Stories that are so important to our future and to the future of all those around us. Create the space and time for people to come together to share, because in the end stories are the spark for the flame of hope that not only keeps us alive but sheds light on our future and the reason we exist.
Seasons greetings everyone and all the best to you and yours in 2009.
Warmly,
Dianne McCoy