How does the Thinking Environment mesh with story telling? I recently received my certification as a consultant in the Thinking Environment. Technically, it is an International Certification as a Time To Think Facilitator Consultant. I’ve been working on that for about the past four years.
I think the following, taken from my book, Success…Swimming in a Sea of, best describes it:
We ask a question—but are we really interested in the answer? And when the person launches into a story in response to our question, do we view it as an irritant? When we are sincere in our quest for an answer, we are blessed many fold if that person begins to relate an experience.
Stories matter and telling stories matters. They represent who we are. They disclose our life experiences, our values, and why we are who we are. And they help us to capture, preserve and then pass on our true legacy. Who we are is our legacy; our wealth is not much more than a piece of us, and for many, an insignificant piece.
For me, to learn what a contributor to this book believes about the meaning of success in learning and education is interesting. I am fascinated by education on all levels and am strongly opinionated about the different approaches taken to education by various politicians.
But the true value of these stories for me is just hearing the stories and listening to the person behind them. At some point, each reader of this book will finish it and put it aside. The book and its contents will gather dust. Ah, but what if a reader is the child or grandchild of one of those who freely contributed her stories to this adventure?
And what would that child or grandchild give, or pay even, for the opportunity to hear the contributor’s stories in her own voice years and years from now?
I remember my Granddad Graves sitting in his rocker pickin’ at his banjo and singing some old Tennessee hill song. He had left Tennessee when he was a very young man with his big brother--and on foot. Since his passing, I’ve heard a few stories about some of his life’s adventures and lessons. But I heard none from him. I was too young and he was too old.
I suspect many of us would look with sadness on our missed opportunities. What I would give to hear him talking again, and to sit with him while he talked about life growing up in the Tennessee hill country. I wonder how different my own life might have been had I learned from him, just as earlier generations learned life and death lessons at the feet of the old ones.
The libraries represented by your parents, your grandparents, and even yourself are at high risk. Let’s get out the fire extinguisher! Purchase a small, inexpensive, digital recorder. Sit down with one of your important libraries and ask one or two very focused questions.
• When did you and grandma first meet and what initially attracted you to her?
• If this were your last day on earth, what would you want to tell her?
• Finish this sentence: I come from a people who....
• What are two or three of the most significant changes you’ve seen in the world during your lifetime?
• If you had an abundance of time, energy and money, what are some of the things you would you do with the rest of your life?
Once someone begins a story, it goes on and on. Concentrate your attention on grandpa; let him know you are really interested, and be very careful not to interrupt him. Interruption will guide his conversation where you want it to go instead of where he wants it to go. Digression and “rabbit trails” are a blessing.
Burn the recording onto a compact disc and pass copies among loved ones as gifts. It may take a short while, but they’ll all soon recognize the gift for what it truly is.
Most of us never realize the fortune that lies within our library.
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