How the Story You Tell Matters
Kristin Pedemonti on Narrative Therapy Practice and Steering Your Story
“Playfulness is so empowering.” —Kristin Pedemonti
Preview: Emerging Form Episode 134 with Kristin Pedemonti
“Every one of us is multi-storied,” says Kristin Pedemonti. As the founder of Steer Your Story, she believes in the power of story to connect and heal. In this episode of Emerging Form, we talk about how narrative therapy practices use storytelling methods as a tool for understanding challenging situations, pulling back layers of who we are, wondering about the origins of the stories we tell ourselves, and creating intentional, “preferred narratives.” As Kristin says, “What do we want our story to look like?” We also talk about the role of play, “stuckness,” and the importance of “thickening the threads” of the stories we most want to weave.
Kristin is the recipient of the National Storytelling Network International Story Bridge Award. She’s presented in 20 countries across five continents. Kristin serves as Storytelling Consultant and Coach for UNICEF Ghana and for the World Bank coaching staff to mine data to tell the human story.
In 2005, Kristin sold her home and possessions to create and facilitate Literacy Outreach Belize. She donated storytelling and writing programs for 30,000 students and trained 800 teachers how to utilize their indigenous legends to teach creative writing. Her book: A Bridge of Stories chronicles this seven-year literacy project.
What We’re Reading and Listening to:
Rosemerry:
Some poems just won’t leave us alone, and the one that keeps opening for me the last few weeks is from Sonnets to Orpheus II by Rainer Maria Rilke, one of many poems he wrote in an wild creative outpouring following the death of a young girl. In particular, these words—“Let this darkness be a bell tower and you the bell, as you ring, what batters you becomes your strength.” Here is a version of the poem translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, but for the full Sonnets to Orpheus, I so highly recommend this translation done by Mark S. Burrows, who was our guest on episode 122.
Dan Gerber has long been one of my favorite poets for his intimate, attentive style, and I have just read his book, The End of Michelangelo from 2022 (Copper Canyon). It’s such a celebration of the daily moments that make up a life—and how they are linked to our our mortality and how our mortality makes them all the more astonishing. With explorations that nod to art, to other poets, to the art of writing, to the art of loving, to the ongoing art of learning to pay attention, these are gentle, heart-opening poems that are entirely in the moment, even as they demonstrate how fleeting a moment is. I’m always grateful when someone finds a way to write about happiness, no less real for being fragile. And I love how Dan invites the reader in to feel into how quiet a joy can be.
Christie:
I read my first Allegra Goodman novel earlier this year (Intuition, which I loved), and when I heard she had a new novel out I put it on library reserve. Well, I loved Isola too. It’s the tale of Marguerite de La Rocque de Roberval, a real French noblewoman who lived in the 16th century. Her parents die when she is young so she’s left to live according to the whims of her older cousin, who spends most of her substantial money and eventually takes her with him on a ship to “New France.” There, he abandons her with two others on a small, rocky island in Newfoundland. Marguerite, who has always had servants, is forced to learn to live a subsistence lifestyle that involves fish and polar bears, among other things. The story shares a few plot similarities to Suddenly, an another novel about people stranded on a remote island, but I liked it a lot more. Goodman does a wonderful job of developing the main characters, particularly the transformation of Marguerite.
After our current dear leader issued an executive order against DEI, a scheduled concert sponsored by the United States Marine Band featuring student musicians from diverse ethnicities was abruptly canceled. But the band played on. CBS News/60 Minutes reported the uplifting story:
“The United States Marine Band was founded in 1798. Thomas Jefferson gave it its nickname, ‘The President's Own.’ Today, 135 Marines still perform the score of the White House from parties to inaugurations. So, there was excitement, last year, when the Marines judged a contest for teenage musicians. The winners would perform with the band. Thirty students were chosen. The concert was scheduled. But, last month, it was canceled. President Trump had issued his executive order against diversity programs, and the young musicians were Black, Hispanic, Indian and Asian. Because they were silenced, many wanted to hear them including veterans of military bands who gathered in an improvised orchestra of equity that you might call America's own. This past Sunday, at the music center at Strathmore, near Washington, 22 students who had lost their chance to play tuned up with the military band veterans for the concert that was not meant to be heard.”
Listen here.
What the Self Really Wants
When the story of self
slips off like a mask, the sky
is more sky and an apple
more apple and the self
less self and more
what a wind is. How easy
to love then when I’m naked.
And how is it that always
some new story arrives,
solidifies less like a cast,
more like a strait jacket?
I notice because life
starts to fit too tight.
I notice because
I start to think I’m right.
But it’s no failure when a story
appears. Just an invitation
to notice how it feels
to be dressed in a story.
An invitation to pray
to the mystery, please,
once again undress me.
An invitation to be grateful
for the hands (whose hands?)
that loosen the story
and free me. An invitation
to let the self remember this:
how it longs to be spacious,
to be as infinite as what is.
—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
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This week, we talk with Kristin about how the Japanese art of Kintsugi can help us transform our ideas of “brokenness,” how our daily rituals change as we age, the importance of playfulness, and connecting with friends. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, you can go now to our website, EmergingForm.substack.com, or by clicking the button below. Thank you!
Two Questions:
(share your answers with us here on Substack or in our FB group)
What are creative ways you use stories in your work or life?
What are your favorite qualities in a good storyteller?
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How/where can I listen to your chat with Kristin, please, as I can’t see a link?