Once upon a time.....

I took part in a business story telling workshop a couple of weeks ago with Jenny Grinsted who is the founder of a really cool children’s publishing company call Babinko. One of our writing experiments was to start with Once upon a time, and free flow from there. It is a great exercise and anyone can do it. Here is my version of this story from that moment.

Once upon a time there was a person called Jamie who discovered that behind every story is another tale. A secret world, forgotten experiences and hidden feelings.

When he was young he felt all alone, with so many thoughts and no one talk too. Over many years and lots of adventures, he learned that some people could be trusted to listen to all of his stories, the meaningful, the fun, the dark, the light, the ones that have humour and the ones drenched in pain and sadness.

In telling these stories he learned that everyone he met had stories too and the deeper he went with his storytelling, the more he learnt about how to be well in himself, kind to others and powerful in the world. This growing up and into a human being was reflected throughout all of the relationships he had with others.

He began learning how to bring people together, in two’s or three’s, tens and twenties, to over 100. People talked about themselves, their homes, their families, the place they live, the communities and organisations they belonged to, the wider world to which we are all a part of.

People met in homes, in online chat rooms, community centres, office buildings, woods and on walks. They shared experiences, food, stories, ideas and learning together. The more they met, the deeper they trusted the safety and sense of belonging that was being created. The stories told became richer and an uncovering began.