| p>Stories fascinate us all our lives. As children, we | | | | to know the meaning of the decisions they took: |
| loved to be told fairy tales and to hear, time after | | | | did finishing school afford them a better job? was |
| time, the tales our parents told us about what we | | | | putting off marriage a sensible thing to do? what |
| did and said when we were babies, as well as the | | | | were the consequences of following or deviating |
| stories about their own childhoods. As soon as we | | | | from the patterns their families had set for them? |
| were old enough, we told stories about ourselves | | | | 3) We want stories to reassure us that the inner |
| for our parents and for our friends. | | | | strength we can muster will be sufficient against |
| As adults, we speak in stories at work, at family | | | | self-doubt, loss, grief, and disappointment. (People |
| get-togethers, at class reunions, at town | | | | may exaggerate in their stories not to aggrandize |
| meetings, at the post office when we meet our | | | | themselves or to boast, but to rehearse the |
| neighbors. In fact, stories are such an important | | | | strength and meaning that may be missing in their |
| medium for us that even the numerous stories | | | | lives and, by doing so, to acquire the strength and |
| we tell and hear daily are not enough to satisfy | | | | meaning they need.) It's not out of idle curiosity |
| our enormous appetites--we consume additional | | | | that your children and grandchildren want to know |
| stories by reading novels, seeing movies, and | | | | about you and your life. What is more natural |
| watching dramas on television. | | | | than for them to turn to the stories of their own |
| What is the meaning behind telling (and listening to) | | | | parents and family for reassurance and guidance? |
| all of these stories? | | | | Your stories have this power and, if they are |
| 1) Obviously, stories entertain us, but our need to | | | | preserved, they can offer meaning and direction |
| be entertained doesn't fully account for our great | | | | for your children and grandchildren-- just as they |
| hunger for stories. | | | | can for you. |
| 2) A more satisfying explanation of the power | | | | When you tell your personal and family stories, |
| stories hold for us is that they provide rehearsals | | | | you are filling a need that exists not only in your |
| for life: they furnish us with the reassurance and | | | | family but in the larger human community to |
| the guidance we need to become adults who live | | | | receive reassurance and guidance. Every year, as |
| full, happy lives. We read novels or watch movies | | | | more and more once-tightly-knit groups in our |
| for the same reason we tell stories: we want | | | | society unravel and our access to our rightful |
| both reassurance that we can succeed in this | | | | inheritance of family stories is threatened, telling |
| journey called life and the guidance to do so. We | | | | and writing your stories becomes increasingly |
| want to see and hear how others have been | | | | important. |
| successful in the struggles of their lives. We want | | | | Good luck telling your stories! |