Home is where our story begins

I came across this sign the other weekend when I went shopping with my mother.

It reminded me of my blog and of my home, so I bought it, and it is now decorating my front door.

Your home of course tells a lot about you.
How you have decorated it.
What kind of rooms you have (a baby room or a home office).
How your garden looks.
How long you have lived there.
Or maybe how long it has been in the family.

But where you live also tells something about you.
In my case, it tells a lot. Since I live in the best neighbourhood in the world, when you are a Tolkien fan like me. All the streets are named after the characters from the works of Tolkien. I had to do a class assignment a few weeks ago, showing what is best about the city you live in. So take a look here for all the pictures.

You can understand, whenever I have to fill out my address and somebody is a Tolkien-fan. I have a story to tell.

Humans of New York

A blog to be jealous of.
With thousands of followers.
And a book published from it.

In 2010 Brandon Stanton took to the streets of New York City (one of my favourite cities in the world) to take pictures of the people of the city. To capture New Yorkers and their stories.

This results in a blog with pictures of all kinds of people. With quotes they give him about them.

Check it out!

Humans of New York

TED talk - The clues to a great story

TED talks for who don't know them, they are amazing.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started as a conference in 1984 with a vision of Ideas Worth Spreading. There are still TED Conferences on the West Coats of the United States. But also many spin offs like TEDx, where communities or organisations can get together to organise their own TED Conference.

TED brings together great minds, who share their great idea in 18 minutes or less.

To be able to share your great idea in 18 minutes, you have to be a good storyteller. To get the audience drawn into your idea and to share your story when they are going home.

This TED talk is by Andrew Stanton, an American film director, screenwriter, producer and voice actor at Pixar Animation Studios. He was involved in Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, John Carter and much more. (A couple of my favourite movies.)

He shares his story on how storytelling should be done.

(For my Dutch friends - a version with Dutch subtitles)

A few of his ideas:

- Make your audience care!

- The unifying theorie of 2 + 2 (don't tell your audience it is 4, let them find it out by themselves).

- "Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty." Does your audience want to know what is going to happen next, and added a bit of doubt, if all will end well?
- Know what the theme of your story is. What is the spine of your main character.
- Can you evoke wonder for your audience?
- Use what you know, capture from you own experience, express values you believe in.

Goodbye sweet storyteller

Today the world lost one of its great storytellers.

Goodbye mr. Mandela.
May your spirit dance through the heavens and your story be told on for generations to come.

Because, he had a story to tell.

What I posted earlier this day. Important stories are the ones that matter, the ones that stay in your mind.

Mr. Mandela's story was on that mattered. To stop discrimination, to stop Apartheid (that one dradded Dutch word the entire world knows). And it stays in your mind. Just think about it, being imprisoned under the worst conditions, just because you stand up for what you believe.

Besides the importance of the story, he also was able to tell his story. He had a good voice to tell his story; he danced his story; his fist up in the air; and of course his smile with that twinkle in his eye.

Please keep spreading his story, it is one that matters!

Stories around my wrist

A story doesn't have to be a book, a movie, a song. It doesn't need a website or a cover. Some stories you carry with you, where ever you go.

My personal storyline for the past couple of years has been my Pandora bracelet; a bracelet to which you can add charms, in various shapes and colours, to make it your very own, unique bracelet. 

I started with a bracelet with one charm. And whenever somebody asked me: "what do you want for your .....". I asked for a charm. But I let them pick it and tell me the story why they thought it was for me. 

So let me tell you the stories around my wrist.

1. A suitcase. The one I got from my parents when I got the bracelet. For safe travels on my trips.
2. A present. I got this from a co-worker when I changed workplace. A gift for the gifts of knowledge I had given her.
3. A wave that says "Best friends". I got it from my nephew for my birthday. We are of course best friends.
4. A tea cup. A gift from other co-workers when I left. Because you can have such nice chats with me while having a cup of tea or coffee.
5. An arty design with pink sparkles. This one I gave to myself, after I finished a huge museum exhibition I organised. It marked a big event in my life.
6. An apple. A souvenir from The Big Apple. I love New York.
7. A witch. Because, well, I can be one....
8. A clover. I got it when I went back to school to get my bachelor degree. For good luck.
9. A pink bead. Because, if it is pink, it probably belongs to me.
10. Dad. The bead has the word dad on it, with some blue stones in it. I got it from my dad.
11. Two hearts; mother/daughter. Because when you have your dad with you, you also have to have your mum with you.
12. The safe keeper. It ties both ends together, so should the lock fail, the bracelet still stays together. Because, as you can imagine, I don't want to lose this storyline.

Your resume

You as a person tell stories about yourself. Without knowing it, with smiling or frowning. But also very deliberately, like with your resume.

In the cover letter you write why you would like the job, looking to the future, seeing yourself in the position you are applying for.

In the resume, you are writing your history. Where did you go to school, where did you work before. What are you good at, what do you like to do in your spare time.

And, as Gandalf says, each story needs a little embellishment, so your resume might also be a better story than it actually is. You did graduate from your school, but you don't mention how you had to struggle to make the final exams. And in your previous position, maybe you only did that part of the job description once, but why mention it.

Sometimes that's not a real problem, since you do have to get used to your new work environment and can learn new roles. But don't embellish your story too much. Otherwise people will get dissappointed with your story and with it, also with you. And when other people don't believe your story, they will not listen to you and your stories anymore.