Do you remember the confusion as a child? What is truth? What is story?
Adults loved it when, as a little child, I use my imagination and tell them a story. Talking animals, kings and queens, knights on quests, magical objects…. The world is only limited by my imagination.
And then one day, POW! The imagination police come in, round up the fairy tale characters, talking animals, magical creatures…. take them to jail… or even worse, sentence them to death.
“Stop making up stories!” the adults say.
“But, but, but … my stuffed elephant ate the cookies,” I say.
“Now you know that’s not true,”they say angrily.
The limiting belief is now installed in my head: Imagination is bad. Making up stories is bad.
Now that I’m a storyteller…
As a storyteller, I make up stories. I re-activate my childhood skill of using my imagination to “make stuff up.” To reopen creativity after years of negative reinforcement required that I install a new belief.
The unlimiting belief: Imagination is good. Making up stories is good.
Real or not… here I come
“Is that a real story?” said the kid to Bil Lepp, the master of the Tale Tale that stretches the truth so far beyond the boundaries of disbelief in a strangely believable way.
“All stories are real. But not all of them are true.”
Bil Lepp creates an alternate world of the imagination where anything can happen. He knows that in the world of story, you are only limited by the imagination. The world of story (and imagination) is just as real as the real world. Stories are real, but not always reality.
A dose of reality…
One of the challenges of growing up is figuring out “the real world.” If you’ve figured it out, please let me know.
In my upcoming online workshop, I teach how to reactivate the imagination to tell our true personal stories. We explore ways to uncover the hidden stories in the recess of the brain, how to craft them into story, and how to have fun telling them. Learn to be a kid again where making up stories is a good thing. Discover what it means to put truth and story together again. Reclaim the power of story in your life. Heal yourself and your stories, just by having fun telling about yourself and listening to others do the same in our online community and small group exercises.
“Loved this class…relaxed and informative…learning storytelling was fun with others ..no matter what your experiences…there is a story inside you somewhere.” ~ CM, Florida
Tell Your Story: Transform Your Life
Discover more storytelling content and courses with Dr. Joel Ying. Join the storytelling transformation and get a free gift. Learn more about upcoming online workshops. We explore the art and craft of story as a community art, performance art, and healing art.
What is truth? What is story?
In every story, there must be some truth.
Every truth, needs a story.