“Words are how we think: story is how we link.

Memory is the story of what happened and is where the meaning resides.

Story is a map: the map that got one person through gets the next person through.” (Christina Baldwin)

We are continually choosing filters and frames for our lives, whether we know and acknowledge it or not. These then become our life stories, and we have the option, if we are conscious, to choose filters that contribute to our growth and maturation.

Becoming: Journeying Toward Authenticity, contains some 40 life stories, about a variety of universal, human themes. Each essay contains related readings and questions for reflection to invite you into your own stories.

Order Becoming now: http://www.thewriteroom.net/bookstore/

Here is what several authors say about the potential in stories:

Christina Baldwin, author of Storycatcher: Making Sense of our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story writes

“Through story, we learn from each other’s experiences and pass along huge amounts of common wisdom…. Story is the heart of language. Story emotionally moves us to love and hate and can motivate us to change the whole course of our lives. Story can lift us beyond the borders of our individuality to imagine realities of other people, times, and places. Storytelling — both oral tradition and written word — is the foundation of being human.”

Check out Storycatcher and join the Storycatcher Network at http://www.storycatcher.net/storycatcher_book.html

Carla Rieger, author of the spellbinding new book, The Change Artist writes,

“It’s healing for people to lose themselves in a good story. There is evidence that retelling a story can help people reflect and extract lessons from those situations, which allows their “back brain” to release the trauma and thus integrate the learning. If you don’t integrate the learning, you can tend to circle around and repeat your mistakes.” Review and order The Change Artist at http://www.thechangeartistbook.com/

Gary Harper, fellow traveler and author of The Joy of Conflict Resolution http://www.joyofconflict.com/ Reviewers write about his book:

“With the creative use of story and metaphor, the book lays out the changing roles of victim, villain, and hero, and how identification of these roles leads to conflict resolution. … In an accessible, engaging and light-hearted style that uses stories and humor to explore potentially emotionally charged situations, it provides proven and practical skills to move beyond confrontation to resolve conflicts collaboratively.”

Resolving conflict collaboratively can change our stories dramatically!