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To be a person is to have a story to tell.
Karen Blixen
I so love this quote. Perhaps because I am so drawn to narrative—to the plot line that runs through not just our own individual lives but through Life itself. The thread we see looking back. The trajectory of time. The shaping of a life moment by moment, day by day, year by year—when we look back, it grounds us. Or it tethers us, rather—that thread that connects all our memories and roles and identities together. That thread that likewise connects us to those around us. It keeps us connected to all of who we are.
We have a story. And we are a apart of many other stories. And, most importantly, the are playing a role in The Story—we are part of the thread that weaves through all of history back to our muddy beginnings.
This is why I read memoir rather than fiction—our real-life stories are so much more interesting to me than the made-up ones. This is also why I keep this blog—I find that I have stories to tell, and stories beg for an audience. “…a story to tell…” she states. We must tell our stories, or we lose something of ourselves, I think.
I’ve discovered this truth Ms. Blixen shares is partially behind my love of counseling, as well—people’s stories are compelling to me. There is healing in their telling. There is healing in my hearing. And it is an amazing thing to enter someone’s story and help them rewrite it for the better. There is no greater honor, I believe.
And so I write and read and talk and listen and share and counsel and pray and live all within this love of story and its power to create, to recreate, to name, to rename, to heal, to give life. If you are alive, you have a story to tell. We will all be richer for the hearing of it.
If you will be courageous enough to share.
>ah, I like this post. I really liked Insoo’s outline too!
>thanks, lisa! i enjoyed the outline, too–was well done.
>This is a characteristically thoughtful and practical post, Lorie. Are you aware Karen Blixen is Isak Dinesen, who wrote a series of her life stories in the book Out of Africa? Yes, there is a movie by the same name, with a spin on a segment of her life. I loved her writing so much that I listened to the audio version of her biography, but I became disillusioned that real Karen Blixen was less admirable than the voice of her book had led me to conclude. I still treasure the richness of her narratives. Stories of our lives are fascinating, but elusive. Yet yours are precious and real. And I know you. And your words and your life ring true. Thanks for sharing your gift. NG