True stories about true people. In modern life we are often disconnected from what is real as we are surrounded by what is not real. We are left with our human stories wondering what went wrong.
Sharing ‘Life Stories’ is one of the most powerful exercises I have EVER done. It is not a one off ‘wow’ moment. I have continued to use ‘Life Stories’ in all my therapy groups and it is so absolutely, amazingly, deeply healing to hear another human’s true story. Fascinating. Invigorating. Life opening.
They are not elaborated stories worked on for the public, but deeply personal shares of being alive, not Hollywood, but raw, true, intimate life that seems to be so obvious to the speaker and yet the reverberations, the resonances are astounding to both the speaker and the listener. Entering into the vulnerable honesty creates shared healing. We hear about what it is really is to be alive here on this planet, that we are not alone, that we have all navigated conditions of not knowing why, who, what, where and how. Each of us has had to deal with unknowable futures, with raw questions about the past. We all have a story. When we tell our story something within us comes alive.
I have been honoured to listen to the International Trauma Summits for the last two years. Since we live in a traumatised world at the moment, part of healing for everyone is hearing each other, seeing each other.
We are all in this together, and hearing others’ stories and sharing our own is a radical act of connecting. We will likely never meet the people who tell us their stories on this page, nor those who hear our own if we post, but in the soft spaces of vulnerability where we may have been afraid to look, we are able to see ourselves in others, see that we are not alone. Deeply healing.
The names on this page are anonymous. Though not meeting or being able to contact the author of the story shared, it is becoming certain that we are all one, and that we do affect each other, we do connect and heal together in the collective.
All these stories are posted here, obviously, with the heartfelt agreement with the storyteller. This is a space to listen to others and also an offer to record your own story. The (rather loose) guidelines are to speak your life in 40 minutes. It is such a short time you cannot tell all of it. What arises can suprise, healing in itself. Revealing. Nourishing. Shocking. Conscious rising.
I have considered the idea that anyone over the age of forty can use the guideline of their age per minute, which is not so generous either, since it is one minute per year!!! So if you are 60 years old feel freer to go to one hour. I’ve never been able to stay within the guidelines by the way. And if you do record your life story, please feel my deep gratitude of you sending it to me. Probably best on Whatsapp for the data. My number is +44 7783 729751.
Also free feel to post a comment if any of the stories have affected you, or you want to share a response within you from hearing, or a similar experience. I don’t know if the speakers will read it, but I will. If you do post people write from ‘I’ and your own experience, please do not comment or advise or save or fix others and their stories. We are all in this together. No one knows what path is the path for another.
Try it either at home by yourself, or send it to share here. It’s amazing. Really. It just is.
