Catapult Media » storyworks

Giving up our Smallness

Pattie LaCroix — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:32:39 +0000

Storytelling has always had the power to transform to create change on the personal, community and global levels. Stories can only transform if they connect. Connecting through story requires that the storyteller to accept meaning as co-created. The storyteller and the listener co-create the meaning of a story.

For those of us working for progressive social change are we ready to let go of some of our control in the stories we tell? Doug Lipman offers us this wonderful insight and poses to us as social innovators a remarkable challenge.

“Transformation cannot be controlled or predicted. When it happens, it may be pleasant. It may even be ecstatic or awe-inspiring. It may also be terrifying. When the unity of the world clicks into focus, you may be put off balance by noticing your connection to something larger than yourself. Being big may mean giving up the reassuring boundaries of your smallness.”

What are we missing when we push out our stories cemented in our certainty of how the world should be and rock solid in what we need to do to get there? Can we excavate the possibility of co-creation? Can we be big enough to let go of our smallness?

Catapult Media launches storyworks.ca

Pattie LaCroix — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:06:58 +0000

So much of how we see the world is constructed by the frames in which we position our values and our ideas, in turn these frames ultimately shape our world view. Frames clearly articulated by George LaKoff, are created through language. Catapult Media has launched www.storyworks.ca to begin to work in partnership with social innovators to craft a new narrative, to create new frames with the intent of moving towards a more just and equitable world.

"No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew" Albert Einstein

Creating new narratives that shift our world view to move to the tipping point of progressive change is what storyworks.ca is all about.

Why Stories Matter

Pattie LaCroix — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:04:34 +0000

Social innovation thrives when we are able to communicate change. Innovation itself is all about change. Stories are fundamental to the process of innovation because they provide an entry point for people to see themselves as participants in innovation.

In this sea of information we daily find ourselves, narrative can provide context and meaning. As such it can be a springboard for change.

Probably one of the most misunderstood things about stories is that they are an outcome of change… and indeed they are… but they are instrumental in the process of change itself.

Creating narrative that helps us see a vision of the future and locate ourselves as participants in shaping that future is what stories have always done well in broad based social movements.