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t’s all so overwhelming and it seems everyone is tired, discouraged, maybe angry or cynical or depressed, maybe confused or disheartened…just weary.
Each day during this April A-Z Blogging Challenge I’ll offer a short musing on an aspect or two of the many ways the ancient-yet-very-contemporary experience of storytelling – both listening and telling – is an enjoyable, fortifying and heart-lifting practice, for anyone!
L – Storytelling Contributes LIGHT to the World
“This is one way I’m trying to put a little LIGHT out into the world.”
That’s what I said pretty much every Friday for a year and a half during this pandemic.
Starting in July 2020 I told stories live online on Facebook every Friday for about 18 months. I called it Friday Live Storytelling for All (uncreative, but descriptive…).
I usually told a short folktale or two, occasionally another kind of story. Sometimes events in the news had some impact on my story choices (for example, during the fraught and emotional US withdrawal from Afghanistan, I told a couple traditional tales from that country).
Of course there are many ways to bring some LIGHT to the darkness, and we can each look for the ways we each can…
As we each may look for ways to put LIGHT out into the world, I’ve found storytelling to be a wonderful way for me. I wonder if it might be for you?!
As I wrote yesterday (K – Storytelling Fosters KINDNESS), these past couple of years I’ve been very much drawn to stories of kindness, and of care, of connection, of generosity and peace… During the pandemic, and these times of anxiety and distress over health, over violence and neglect, over the state of our country, of politics, of the world in general…distress over so much darkness in our lives…
…learning and telling such stories, and offering them freely-accessible weekly online was one way I tried to put a little LIGHT out into the world.
And it seemed to work: I had several “regulars” who either watched live or caught a little later in the day the recording that stayed up on Facebook. I “met” and made new friends in the comments sections. I had some people write to me separately to express appreciation for the weekly story (a couple people told me it was a welcome “little vacation” they looked forward to at the end of their work week).
[I’m so grateful I did that for a time at least, and I’m mulling over maybe getting back to the weekly practice. (For a combination of reasons I stopped doing it at the end of 2021…) It seemed to truly bring some welcomed LIGHT to others, and it certainly did for myself. Some weeks it was harder than others to make it happen (due to schedules or conflicts, or I wasn’t feeling particularly “up” for it, or I had a harder time finding the right story to tell, etc.), but once I got going it always was a lifting experience for me, offering the fun and goodness of storytelling to folks, and having a refreshing break in the telling of the tale…]
And, I have been grateful for every opportunity to hear others tell stories as well (and online storytelling has burgeoned during the past couple of years) – it does offer some balm, and ease, and yes, LIGHT in the darkness!
But whether online or in person, regularly or intermittently, but especially in times that seem dark…
Storytelling is one thing that really does bring LIGHT to the world.
Thanks for reading – Pam
Top lantern photo by Anurag Garg. Water lanterns photo by Oliver Hotakainen. Multiple air lanterns photo by Jessica Kantak Baily. Campfire storytelling photo by Andre Ouellet. All on Unsplash.
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