There is a movement happening right now.
It is the movement of conscious storytelling.

Connecting? Isn't that what it's all about? Whether we are connecting back to ourselves or to our close network of friends, we adore the feeling of being connected; it is a deeply satisfying experience. 

THE GREATEST CONNECTIONS HAPPEN THROUGH GOOD STORYTELLING!

Now, storytelling has been around since ages. Everybody loves a good story. So where is the evolutionary piece in all of this? What is happening out there that is new? Author Daniel Pink brought out a book called "The Whole New Mind" where he talks about us leaving the "Information Age" and entering into the "Conception Age".

So if the iconic figures of the information age, let's say, were Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, who are the people that are going to lead us in these new times? Where are all this technology and its ability to connect the world at a rapid pace taking us to?

Well, history is teaching us. Long ago the emperors and religious leaders had the monopoly on those STORIES that were being publicly performed and shared. Only few people were given the chance to perform and only few stories were to be told. And, they had to be performed exactly how the powerful aristocracy and clergy wished us to perceive them. 

THE "IN FORMATION" AGE

Many centuries later, we entered into the "IN FORMATION" age, the age of printed mass media, television and film. Now it is us that allow a few select people to feed us their mainstream stories, and by this, we are constantly focused on the "OTHER".

With its quasi monopoly in the film and music industry, Hollywood keeps conditioning us with its endless stream of uniform stories. All in all however, there are only a few select recording artists, dominated by four major record labels, which control the market, that keep feeding us the love songs that generations are listening to while making love and the disco hits that we are dancing to.

The owners of the media corporations and their leaders are not even the storytellers, but merely business people exercising the BUY & SELL of a good story (often not good ones, but marketable to the main stream). Nevertheless, the creators, the artists and poets behind those stories more often than not remain penniless, although their faces and stories are selling millions and are known far and wide. There are a few rare exceptions to the rule, which many young artists try to follow suit in delusional deception.

This reminds me of a beautiful inscription by an anonymous author on a headstone in Green River Cemetery, Springs NY, where Jackson Pollack, Elaine de Kooning and other artists found their resting place. It says:

As far as the print media is concerned, the tabloids still thrive on the latest news of the royal family, or on "Brangelina's" newest family adventure. Some artists may deliberately ride this wave, the vast majority of artists have to make a large number of personal sacrifices in order to become publicly recognized, often having the private and intimate parts of their lives exposed and commercially exploited to satiate the masses' hunger for a story, which serves as a substitute for the audience's lack of a satisfying relationship, financial well-being or as a means of securely living out darker aspects of their personality.

Most of us are kept starving intellectually, emotionally and spiritually due to a (imaginary) lack of own, real and authentic STORIES. We are willingly ready to swallow anything and everything, just to gossip about those boxed phrases parrotlike without any further reflection.

What few of us realize is that our hunger would be stilled if we started valuing our own life experiences and consciously living through them.

So, what is changing, now? We - each of us - are changing!

THE CONCEPTION AGE

We are starting to understand the powerful social media tools that are being offered to us in this day and age. Internet is changing and reshaping our world as we perceive it and live in it. We are beginning to understand that each and every one of us has a voice in this world.

GLOBAL MIND - GLOBAL HEART
starts with YOU owning your story!

Think of this:

"I have permission to fully express myself."

There are 7 billion people on earth and only ONE of them has walked in your shoes! "So what?" you may ask. "What is so special about this? I am just one of many. How and why should my little story change anything at all?"

WOW, THIS IS HUGE! "I have permission to fully express myself!" It is a big responsibility. We can no longer blame the media or the record labels or the film industry for producing things we want or do not want to see. We now have the keys to the kingdom in our own hands:

We have the freedom to create and publish our own works!
(Bye bye, big labels and publishers.)

We have the freedom to work in any format!
(Hello, seven minute radio hits.)

We have the freedom to distribute our works worldwide!
(Hurray, Amazon, iTunes, Etsy, CD baby, Lulu and all you others, we love you!)

We are happily creating and sharing our stories globally while being on the move!
(Uploading it within the blink of an eye.)

Yes, OK, but why is this so revolutionary?

Because the greatest connections happen through powerful stories,bringing the Global Mind - Global Heart to life!

Yes, in this last decade we have mastered this "inner-peace" part of the puzzle. Or, at least we know the importance of taking time to REFLECT, taking time to REGENERATE and making room for some DOWN TIME. We have gone through those health books and switched our mind-sets to THINKING POSITIVE. We are striving to live that ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE and have worked hard to change our mind-sets into moving FROM VICTIM TO VICTORIOUS. We have had a couple of therapies and CLEARED OUR ISSUES and have filled journals with our reflections and musings.

AND NOW?

Where to turn next after having had those overwhelming moments of DIVINE BLISS and all-engulfing glimpses of DEEP SILENCE? Well, if you ask me, this is the new thrill!

THIS IS THE SHIFT!

What I am experiencing in my Voice Your Essence™ coaching sessions with my clients is that they are SHINING when they tap into their SOURCE. The simple secrets are:

FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR OWN STORY,
find access to your own source of creativity and start owning who you truly are.

EMBRACE WHO YOU ARE,
relax with your own stories, be it the good, bad or ugly ones,
simply celebrate all there is to be experienced.

SAY YES TO YOUR UPS AND DOWNS,
then transformation sets in, and a power arises which is unstoppable!

REFLECT ON THIS:

The ones who dare to put their fingerprint on this world are not afraid of what anyone else is saying. They are often considered the misfits. The ones who stick out. Deep down inside, they are the ones who move us to explore new places. WHY? Because they own it! We all have that misfit part in us, which is actually the magic puzzle piece waiting to be exposed.

VULNERABILITY IS THE NEW POWER
To "find your voice in this world" dig a bit deeper,
and share a bit more of what really moves you.

LEARNING THE ART OF GIVING ALL OF YOURSELF
Give it a try! You may want to use the stillness and space of this holiday season
to share your experience with friends, and
to become visible with everything that is touched in you.

As you learn the art of embracing your very unique story - remember you are one in 7 BILLION, just that sheer fact is mind-blowing, and absolutely nobody else is having your unique fingerprint or YOUR STORY - start honoring it.

WRITE IT - SING IT - SPEAK IT - WING IT - BE IT!