Stories Heal.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future”.
This is taken from the speech Steve Jobs gave at Stanford University in 2005.
If only, we could draw a map of the dots we have zipped through, we would realize what we can do today, is because of what had happened and created by us. Stories can help us do that.
One day, a very close friend who has known me for some time now, sat me down to narrate a story. Very soon I realized, she was telling my own story to me. The experience was new and very beautiful. My eyes were swelled up the entire time. Her non-judgemental approach towards looking at my life, the warmth she expressed when she recounted the good deeds I had done and the way she described my struggles, changed my perspective on how I see myself. I was filled with gratitude, not just with her expression but also the fact that she paid attention to me when I talked. Whenever she had asked about my life, she was genuinely interested to know. She asked me to write the story she had narrated. When I did so, I understood a lot more about who I am, what are my true aspirations, at times how unjustly I have treated my own self. When I was on the dot, I never knew how all of it was preparing me for the future. All I needed, was to trust the dot. This entire activity brought me a lot closer to understanding what I need from life and healed me in several different ways. It was the greatest gift to me. I trust the dots now.
I wish to pass on this gift. I have committed to write 730 stories of people like you and me. Maybe of those whom I know till now or I will get to know in this journey. I will keep reaching out and ask people to come forward to narrate their story to me. The great, the good, the bad and the ugly. If the story can help them ‘connect the dots’, like it did for me, that would be my reward.
A Request: Share and pass on this message and help me spread the word. nehamick@gmail.com.
