Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives Through the Power and Practice of Story

The courage to speak
The wisdom to write
The power to change

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; to empathize with other beings; to extend our supposing far into the universe. Storytelling — both oral tradition and written word — is the foundation of being human.

In her powerful new book, Christina Baldwin, one of the visionaries who started the personal writing movement, explores the vital necessity of re-creating a sacred common ground for each other's stories. Through story and example, Baldwin presents storytelling as an innate skill we can remember and practice. She shows the power of story to connect life experiences so that we can share them, learn from them, and teach each other through the medium of a good tale.

Each chapter in Storycatcher is carried by a fascinating tale — about people, family, or community — intertwined with practical instruction about the nature of story, how it works, and how we can practice it in our lives. The art of storycatching invites us to spend time speaking and listening, writing and reading, reclaiming the meaning missing from our lives. This book passionately calls for humanity to hang on to its voice, its love of reading and writing, and its understanding that story is our soul.

Whether exploring the personal stories revealed in our private journals, the stories of family legacy, the underlying stories that drive our organizations, or the stories that define our broadest definitions of identity, Christina encourages us all to become storycatchers — people who value story and find ways in the midst of everyday life to practice storytelling. Baldwin shows us how new stories lay the framework for a new world.

Storycatcher reveals the powerful role stories play in life, and empowers readers to examine their own to bring greater awareness and positive change. Personal-writing pioneer Christina Baldwin first draws on examples from history and mythology to show how stories do indeed change events. She then shows readers how to apply this idea to their own narratives, acknowledging and reclaiming them — both the positive and the negative aspects — to realize a better future within their families, workplaces, faith traditions, and even nations. Each chapter features suggestions, examples, and anecdotes to get people thinking and writing about their own lives.

Baldwin draws on examples from history and mythology to show how stories change events. She then shows readers how to apply this idea to their own narratives, acknowledging and reclaiming them to realize a better future within their families, workplaces, faith traditions, and nations.

Christina Baldwin is is the author of Life's Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest and Calling the Circle. She is an inspirational, witty, and profound teacher and speaker. Many churches, organizations and small groups are using her free, downloadable study guide to The Seven Whispers. Visit her website for the guide and her schedule: www.peerspirit.com.