In 2011 I began writing stories from my life in a blog and I simply wrote whichever stories popped into my mind. I didn’t sit down and make a list of all the stories that I planned to tell and then tick them off one by one. Nope! I had no plan at all and that, I realised, is an inspired way to discover the treasure in your stories.
Why? Because when you’re discovering the treasure in your personal stories – the treasure emits an energetic signal. So it’s not really hidden at all. It’s there waiting for your attention. You just have to tune in to where you seem to have an energetic charge around something in your history or in your present. That energetic charge is a flashing beacon that is calling your attention.
Once you allow yourself to open up to that flashing beacon the story behind it – if you don’t know it already – gets revealed. Sometime you’ll have a vague sense of the story and as you allow it to flow it will become clearer. Stay with it. Write it down.
The form that it initially emerges in is not the whole truth. It might be a story where you felt victimized or broken-hearted. Write it down just the way that it naturally wants to come through – don’t censor it.
Once it has emerged onto the page – read it and allow yourself to feel your feelings about it – don’t indulge in them – just let them flow. Then leave the story for a few days or a couple of weeks and read it again. You’ll notice that you may begin to see it differently – from more objective eyes.
Ask yourself what was really going on for everyone (including yourself) in that story? What did you learn? How could you see it differently from this objective perspective? What is the gift of wisdom in that story?
Once a more empowering thread begins to appear you’ll recognize it because it will lighten you up – you may even have a ‘eureka’ moment!
Now write down this new empowering story. Build upon it until your energy is buzzing and you know that you have discovered its treasure. It may not happen in one sitting – it might happen over several weeks.
Once you have collected your gemstones from the story place them into your life knapsack (or in your heart) and continue to make your way along the yellow brick road to discover the next treasure that awaits you.
If you want to find out more about discovering the treasure in your life stories – you can order my new book:
The Tao of Storytelling – 30 Ways to Create Empowering Stories to Live By – available from Nov 4th 2013.
It’s a wisdom memoir with 30 narratives from my life written as I experienced them at the time, followed by reflections from an older wiser me. Each story contains a universal truth or theme – which may resonate with you. Then there are exercises for you to do to discover the treasure in your own personal stories too. When you do so you’ll become empowered by your treasure so that you can build a future that resonates with your passions, your gifts and your dreams.