By the stories we tell, we shape our life experience. To change our experience, we must change our stories.

It's been said that to change a culture, you change its story. The same is true for us individually — by reciting the same stories again and again, we maintain the same patterns of experience.

If we want to experience something different in any area of our lives — if the repeating patterns are no longer working well for us, we have to change the stories that lurk behind the curtain and make themselves evident through our language.

The power of story is ancient, and timeless.

Stories are a primary mode of human communication and thinking — and one that we have employed since the dawn of time. Why?

Stories have depth and multiple dimensions; they help us create human connections in a world that seems complex, sometimes (or often) threatening, and increasingly dehumanizing.

Stories give us context; they can help us bridge gaps and heal wounds. Stories reveal our beliefs and the lenses through which we view our world; and as such, our stories shape our experience and the future that will unfold.

Without conscious, cohesive, authentic stories, we're left with bits and pieces of data that lack alignment, and are disconnected from a unifying purpose, vision, context, community or core value.

But by telling 'old stories' based on old information, patterns, habits, assumptions and beliefs, we short-circuit needed (and desired) change.

The power of story, individually and organizationally.

The power of story turns up everywhere, individually and organizationally — often without us even realizing the stories we're telling (and the reality we're reinforcing or creating):

• Inner-Stories: Identifying the stories we're living, or that are living us, from within. These are often unconscious, stemming from familial or cultural influences, until we decide to choose our stories more consciously. These inner stories are evident in our patterns of thought, speech, and action;
• Individual Stories: We've all asked, "What's her story?" And we all tell our 'defining stories' every day in some way, in our conversations with others. The question is, what stories are we telling — are they empowering, or disempowering? Are they supporting where we'd like to be?
• Visioning: Opening to intuitively, or spiritually, guided visions of a particular direction or course of creativity or action, and telling that story through other communication modes;
• Visualizing: "Painting the ideal scenario" in words, sounds or pictures in a way that makes it real for us;
• Marketing & Communication: Your livelihood or organizational story, and how it's told to customers, employees, collaborators, or others in your community;
• Conversation & Dialogue: Sharing, co-creating, and listening to stories in community with another individual or group;
• Informal story-sharing: The proverbial "water cooler" chat, or internet threads, or lunch-time discussions;
• Publishing: You can also explore and share your own and others' stories in your articles, essays, web sites, books and other published materials.
• Other communications: To help one group "tell their story," Ivy Sea portrayed a real-life scenario using a "once upon a time" storytelling format, which allowed the participants in the workplace drama to step back and get the distance they needed to see all perspectives of a sensitive situation without their own defense mechanisms rearing up. Another organization hired an acting troupe to "act out" the story as if it were a play, and invited audience members to share their responses to what they saw.

The power of stories now.

Regardless of the format we choose, stories help us see ourselves and others in safer or more complete ways, so we might take (or find) "the moral of the story" to heart without becoming defensive, without judging it, or without taking it too personally.

Stories are more real than "spin" or "jargon strings," so they seem more believable, because they include specific people and heartful language; they have a beginning and an end and suggest evolution… "this is where we've been, this is what we've learned, and this is where we are now." They connect with the heart and the head and, ideally, the soul.

In the absence of unifying stories, people insert themselves or others into a story of their own making, shaped through their 'old' experiences and beliefs, and supply any missing pieces, from their own perspective.

The result can be fragmentation, conflict, and a lack of compassion and understanding that fuels harmful interactions and outcomes.

At their best, stories are unifying, healing, thoughtful, truthful and well-told, helping us to connect the dots by providing the context individuals need to create connections and identify their place, role and purpose or key motivations.

Mindful storytelling and storysharing opens us to our higher potentials and the greater possibilities as individuals, organizations, and communities.

Do you need to change the story you're telling, in order to change your experience? Contact us for a consultation.

Ivy Sea Founder Jamie Walters and Ivy Sea allies are idea-catalysts, thought-partners, and wise guides, helping you navigate from clear-vision to powerful communication and inspired action.