Jill O’Neal posted the following note in the Association of Personal Historians group on Facebook:

Nice, relevant storytelling quote from author Bronwen Dickey from a short essay titled “Bring Back Old-Fashioned Storytelling” published in “Southern Living” Magazine (Sept, 2010):

“Why, really, do any of us tell our stories? Because of this: When you communicate to another person — even to a complete stranger — something meaningful that has happened to you, not only do you understand it better yourself, but you are also, in some small way, understood. You establish a bond that is strong and instantaneous; you cut six degrees of separation down to zero. Stories keep us open and alive. They’re the ramparts we build against isolation, against loneliness.”

My take: if storytelling is this powerful when the audience is “strangers,” think of how that power multiplies when we write for our own family circle, or help others do so.

Thanks, Jill, couldn’t have said it better myself.