Happiness is Art: Storytelling

Stories are a communal currency of humanity. —Tahir Shah, in Arabian Nights

I love storytelling, I love nothing better to tell or hear a good story.  I was fortunate recently to be in the Arctic and have the honor of listening to an Inuit elder tell us stories about her life, it was a magical night.  Storytelling is one of those things I forget about until I’m in the middle of hearing or telling one.  Last week there was a wonderful interview on NPR with a storyteller named Noa Baum.  The interview was fabulous and she told a couple of magnificent stories.

I’m fortunate enough to have a friend who is a magnificent storyteller her name is Kim Bateman.  She’s someone who if you have the chance to listen to you absolutely should.  I’m a really good storyteller and she’s much better than I am, she did a TedxTalk recently called Singing Over Bones and it’s worth a watch and listen.

One of my favorite all-time stories and maybe the most moving story I’ve ever heard I featured in a post called, Remember the Sweet Things.  It will be the best six minutes of your day to give it a listen.

Storytelling seems to becoming popular again and I love that.  There are two things recently that have helped that, the first is Story Corps, a really remarkable project that all around America has people come in and tell the story of their families, with their family.  Both the project and the site are amazing, check it out.

The last project to tell you about has a very odd name, The Moth, but it is a project dedicated to people telling stories live, without notes and so the stories have a tendency to be incredibly personal and amazing, check it out and if you’d like you can submit your own through the site.

We all have stories to tell, so tell your story and I think you’ll have a happier day my friends ~ Rev Kane

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