FootprintsintheWind.com

There’s something rotten in Donmark.

:- Doug.

What’s the story? What’s the theme? What’s the lesson? Will Rogers: “When I die, my epitaph or whatever you call those signs on gravestones is going to read: ‘I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn’t like.’ I am so proud of that I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved. And when you come to my grave you will find me sitting there, proudly reading it.” Your epitaph will read: “Told a story so people would ___.”

:- Doug.

Footprints in the Wind^sm # 1986

If you knew you were divine, had divinity’s message in you, what would you ask people? How would you engage them in conversation?

If I knew I were divine, how would I engage people in conversation? I would ask them questions to help them see their divinity, their creativity. I would ask them how they would change the world if they could. I would ask them what they could do today to help.

Please pass it on.

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Hearing is more than listening
Hearing is the purpose of listening
As seeing is the purpose of looking
And doing is the purpose of being

:- Doug.

Where are we headed? Towards bringing our stories (to work upon) into focus. You are standing in a darkroom with the red safelight on. Watch the photo come into view in the pan of developer. This is your story and how you are experiencing it. And will experience it over years: it develops, becomes sharper the more you apply developer.

:- Doug.

What forms can story take? A recipe, maybe with side notes of where you got it. Recorded oral memories.

:- Doug.

Maybe I don’t like either candidate. So then I look for who shows humanity, who leans toward love. Even just a little.

:- Doug.

He has no sense of humor—a sign of something missing. Awry.

:- Doug.

Ancestor seeds
seed grows to story
more than bloodlines
generations of stories seeded me
my stories have no legs
can only seed progeny’s stories
or fertilize

:- Doug.

My hearer my harvester

:- Doug.

My life and work is an experiment in softening.

:- Doug.

It is five years from now. Looking back on how you told your story these five years, what sprang from that, what still springs from your story telling? How did you get here, what angels did you wrestle, what wounds do you carry?

:- Doug.

I am sorry the world and those people raise fear in you. The response of this age is to become hard. We could instead give softness a try.

:- Doug.

Words for what we find, or finds us: insight inkling glimpse reflection guess glampse to inkle findling gesture gleam glance glint glimmer glisten tinkling aroma guessling guessing thunder whiff clue earmark hallmark birthmark hint swirl possibility finding findling revealing exploit uncovering uncovery discovery hole poked pokie birthing bringing forth catch invitation. What is interesting is to notice the seeing point of view of many of these. So what would be a clue or a hint in other senses? Cue key tip trace intimation track wind evidence scent sign taste tinge wink wrinkle gather pick up whisper hiss murmur sigh breath drip jot pinch smack speck tincture bit bite dash morsel nip spoonful tinge bouquet perfume savor spice tang trail brush crease fold push shove thrust press weigh gossamer.

:- Doug.

Here we experiment in story: to find our story, to develop it.

:- Doug.

Why is point of view important? It leads to seeing more, and seeing, rather perceiving, is fundamental to a story that sniffs at the hearer’s neck.

:- Doug.

There are big questions to ask, such as What does it mean to be human? What really is our message? How to get past truisms to something real? These we can use to open, spread, widen us.

:- Doug.

What is your secret reason for telling story? What again? Again, what, but deeper?

:- Doug.

Look for found poems in the stories I hear.

:- Doug.

Describe the relationship you want with your hearers.

:- Doug.

Retell as feeling, sensing, intuiting, thinking.

:- Doug.

Retell your story in colors, scents, sounds, textures, tastes, weights, momentums.

:- Doug.