An Excellent Example of the Power of Story

I facilitate a lot of workshops. I love doing it. There is nothing like watching and listening as story builds bridges, opens doors and develops community. My favorite experience, however, was a few years ago in San Antonio. It was a conference on inclusion and I was the keynote speaker and also presented two break out sessions. In my first break out session, “We Are Our Stories: How sharing stories builds community” the room was packed. Despite our emphasis on diversity and inclusion, the folk in the classroom were seated in clumps and groups of apparent similarity. I could almost draw a diagram from what I saw. But an amazing thing happened as we proceeded. The perceived differences between us seemed to melt away. The young woman with the nose rings and the older woman in the $500 suit were sharing stories from their similar childhoods. Jaded long-time teachers were recognizing themselves in the stories of young nuns from the local diocese. Artificial boundaries came down. Without preaching. Without exhorting. Without effort. Just by the simple power of sharing personal stories.  In this video I tell a little bit about it.