|
I have noticed that when people relate real-life stories, their conversations have more depth and richness than when they merely make small talk or share opinions about external matters.
Personal story example:
"The happiest day of my childhood -- when I was 10 -- was finding a used bike in the classified section of our small town paper, then calling the number and learning it had not been sold but I could have it --she said it was a LaSalle with wide handlebars but in good shape--if I came right over with fifteen dollars because it belonged to her son who was in the Army and needed the money right away. Within an hour I was proudly learning to ride that bike, my trophy!"
Reminiscences Are Richer
When we share reminiscences, we share our own experiences instead of what we merely read or heard about. Much of everyday chat consists of people's opinions of the moment, hearsay, and maybe few facts. This does not make a rich mix.
However, the memories we can retrieve are nearly always those that have had an emotional impact on us. These emotion-laden events are the ones our brains store in our long-term memory. I may not remember what I had for breakfast on most days in 1958, but I can remember a sausage and eggs breakfast on a particular 1958 Friday because I got food poisoning and had to cancel an audition I'd been preparing for weeks.
Story-telling is an Ancient Art
When we tell those stories, we can hardly avoid telling them with feeling. There is more of ourselves in the telling - feelings expressed through voice and facial expression and gesture, and our conversation becomes more involving and resonant. I find that there is more of ourselves in our talk even if we are not particularly gifted as story tellers. In a way, the story tells itself through us. Story-telling is the most ancient of arts. Our ancestors from the distant past shared tribal myths and their own life stories -- their reminiscences.
Questions to Choose from and Print on 3 x 5 Cards
How to use: After dinner, put cards in a stack for random drawing. (Or meet in a living room or family room.) Take turns, and let anyone draw a second card if they don't want the first one. (These cards are for adults, but kids are usually fascinated by these stories from the past.)
If you had to write one note and leave it on your kitchen table for future generations to read, what would you say in that note?
What was your first car? How old were you when you got it?
What was your first job outside of any work at home?
What was your neighborhood like when you were a kid?
Who was your best friend when growing up? What made them best?
Who was the best teacher you ever had? Why?
What is your earliest memory as a little kid?
Who were your neighbors when you were a kid? What were they like?
What person - dead or alive - was your favorite hero when you were a kid?
Try These Story-Starters and Add to Your Thanksgiving!
Until next week,
Loren
P.S. If you like this issue, please share it with a friend. You can do this by using the "Forward this email to a friend" link.
| 
