From master storyteller, Donald Davis I learned something that I already knew, but hadn’t been able to put into words. Are you ready?

Stories don’t change what happened, but stories DO CHANGE how we experience those memories. Stories have the POWER to change us, to help us grow to help us become something different and most likely better because of what happened.

That’s good stuff. Amazing stuff.

Its been (almost) six years since I took a week long storytelling workshop with Donald Davis. This experience was life changing for me—foremost because it solidified for me WHAT I most want to do with my scrapbooking passion. Since I’m thinking about the opportunity I have to teach at The Pinner’s Conference, I decided while folding laundry this morning that I would watch this TEDx talk that Donald gave way back in 2014.

I would encourage you to watch it. It is well worth 17 minutes of your life.

While you do, listen for these nuggets …

You’re not telling the story to change what happened. You’re telling the story to change you.

When something happens to you it sits on top of you like a rock. And if you never tell the story, it sits on you forever. But, as you begin to tell the story, you climb out from underneath that rock and eventually you sit up on top of it.

Key words here are begin and eventually. This STORY thing is a process. It begins when we decide that our stories DO NOT live in our pictures. They live in our brains. It begins when we invite them out to play. It progresses as we practice. Big surprise right? The more we practice—either verbally or in writing, the more we change and grow and become.

For me, that’s the goal. To eventually become a better storyteller.
But we must BEGIN.

🚢 Here’s an idea: You could come cruise the Caribbean with me and Tracie Claiborne next February and we could really dive into the practice of storytelling. LEARN MORE here.