A story’s ripple effect
We all have a persoanl story to tell. It is unique to who we are and the situations we find ourselves in. It connects to humanity. After all, everybody’s story is everybody’s story- it is part and parcel to understanding our human condition. A wise Jewish rabbi once pointed out that God created humans because he loves stories.
Telling that story changes the world. The new science of quantum physics has discovered that one small act in one place can have larger ramifications somewhere else. Applicably, your seemingly small personal story can have an impact down the road much larger than you can imagine.
Telling your story is like throwing a stone on the surface of still water. It creates a ripple effect that radiates its impact in that moment throughout your human relationships. The best speakers do not see what they do as performance so much as an awakening. To be real with who you are and the story you tell arouses a serious inquiry into the changes you are committed to making and the actions you want to proliferate.
Martin Luther King used his experiences of being a black man in America to craft a narrative that confronted and began to change the racial inequalities in our country. His story was so transformational that even after his assassination he awakened within others a passion to tell their story to change racism in America. Though not as well know as Dr. King’s, those stories never the less impacted their particular sphere of influence, making small changes in their immediate context that created larger ripples of impact as they interfaced with others.
We all have a cause we are passionate about and a unique story to tell. No one can tell a story like you can. We have changes we want to see happen. Telling your story (of an illness, of struggles, of successes,) and the passion that goes with, will forever alter your unique moment in history. Telling your story will garner an influence that can change your small corner of the world, and by extension the world itself.
For more information and resources for telling your story visit the Dynamic Communicator's website and check out the blog at www.DynamicCommunicators.com
Today’s post is part of an intentional conversation about “Communication That Changes the World.” Here are some other posts you might find helpful:
July 21, 2011 @ 1:23 pm
I love the reminder that even though we may feel small and that we as individuals could not create change, our actions can impact many.
Blessings,
Lindsey
July 21, 2011 @ 5:57 pm
You make an excellent point: The smaller stories still cause a ripple effect. Their initial impact make not be as recognizable as MLK, Jr. But their significance remains. We can’t always measure our impact by tangible results. Much of it we must simply do because we know we must. And then we wait until eternity to know and understand the whole story.