Stories are medicine. They have such power; they do not require that we do, be, act anything - we need only listen.
Interpretation
Stories provide healing and insight without any action required from the listener.
This quote by Clarissa Pinkola Estes emphasizes the transformative and healing power of storytelling. It suggests that stories are a form of medicine for the soul; they can convey deep truths and emotions, fostering understanding and empathy, all while requiring nothing more than the willingness to listen.
In practice
This quote could be used in a workshop about the therapeutic effects of storytelling.
Asking the proper question is the central action of transformation- in fairy tales, in analysis, and in individuation. The key question causes germination of consciousness. The properly shaped question always emanates from an essential curiosity about what stands behind. Questions are the keys that cause the secret doors of the psyche to swing open.
Tears are a river that takes you somewhere…Tears lift your boat off the rocks, off dry ground, carrying it downriver to someplace better.
Though fairy tales end after ten pages, our lives do not. We are multi-volume sets. In our lives, even though one episode amounts to a crash and burn, there is always another episode awaiting us and then another. There are always more opportunities to get it right, to fashion our lives in the ways we deserve to have them. Don't waste your time hating a failure. Failure is a greater teacher than success.
There's a reason poets often say, 'Poetry saved my life,' for often the blank page is the only one listening to the soul's suffering, the only one registering the story completely, the only one receiving all softly and without condemnation.
To love means to embrace and at the same time to withstand many endings, and many many beginnings- all in the same relationship.
That is what the intuition is for: it is the direct messenger of the soul.
So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why doesn't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women.
There are men and women who make the world better just by being the kind of people they are. They have the gift of kindness or courage or loyalty or integrity. It really matters very little whether they are behind the wheel of a truck or running a business or bringing up a family. The teach the truth by living it.
The wise have mastered body, word, and mind. They are the true masters.
If thou wilt be observant and vigilant, thou wilt see at every moment the response to thy action. Be observant if thou wouldst have a pure heart, for something is born to thee in consequence of every action.
IMPROVIDENCE, n. Provision for the needs of to-day from the revenues of to-morrow.
Come, live with the doors of the senses guarded, diligent and mindful, vigilant and mindful, with the ways of the mind well watched, possessed of a mind that is awake and observing.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.