We often think of storytelling as just entertainment, which it is too, but when the stories are told with the intention to help us gain insight – they provide us with a blueprint for transformation. In Narrative Life Coaching we share stories that resonate or are important to us: when we listen, the mind of the speaker and listener connect. Then something is revealed to our subconscious mind that might have been hidden.
Over the summer I took time out with friends and their children. I read them stories–usually about animals. What struck me was that, however young, the child always paid attention to me. What they were responding to was to do was the structure and rhythm: meaning was being communicated beyond words. I made sure I told stories with sustaining structures, so even a less-than-two-year old could feel connected.
Our voice is said to be a ‘second face’ – no wonder hearing is the first sense faculty to develop in the foetus. It is also the last faculty before we die. When someone loses consciousness, the advice is usually: ‘keep talking to them’, to keep them in the world.
So why do we so often avoid talk? I am taking a lot of action to rebuild trust at the moment with connections in my own life – but it takes time, energy and effort to listen. I’ll be honest, sometimes it’s painful. A famous philosopher described making this effort as being a process of walking a ‘narrow ridge’. So often we say we don’t have time, or perhaps we don’t trust the process to produce the result that we want. But my current programme Communicate Your Vision, is all about gaining success through reconnecting in a different way, rediscovering trust and intimacy.
But what do we risk by losing connection? It seems so easy to disconnect these days. Do you know the story of the sinking of the Titanic? I recently watched a documentary with original research saying that one of the main reasons so many lives were not saved was simply because the Titanic and its nearest vessel, the California were to go through the 1912 equivalent of a text message row. The Titanic wireless signal officer was ‘too busy’ to listen to the warning messages about icebergs he was receiving from the neighbouring ship. So the Titanic signal officer sent an abusive message which resulted in the California switching off their signal and 1500 people weren’t saved from drowning due to an early episode of ‘ghosting’.
Narrative Life Coaching is all about success through reconnection and rediscovering trust & intimacy. I can’t wait to share my new interview series with you – launching towards the end of October. See you then.
Warmly
X Elizabeth Rose
