Everyone has a story . . .

A few months ago, I attended a seminar on Narrative Therapy. Michael White and David Epston are the "creators" of Narrative Therapy. Michael White was the presenter of the seminar I attended. Our conference ended on Saturday. On Monday, while in California, White collapsed during dinner and on the following Friday he died.

During the conference he spoke of 'narratives' or the stories of our lives that we tell to ourselves and others. He says that everyone has a story, and that every story is exceptional. I looked up a definition for this word on Dictionary.com -- Exceptional: forming an exception or rare instance; Unusual; Extraordinary.

One of the things that struck me most about Michael White is that he seemed to see everyone in this way -- in their exceptionality (is that a word?) of their story. I thought about this a lot after leaving the conference. What would it be like to assume that everyone I met had an exceptional life story? How would it be to walk through the world, and through my own life with this . . . assumption?Would it change my relationships? Would it change me? Would it change THEM?

What if when I saw a homeless person, or a student sitting silent in the back of my classroom, I assumed that each was the bearer of an exceptional life story. I wonder how I would approach relationships differently if I did that?

Today, I am out of class early. Probably by about 45 minutes. One of my students collapsed during the lecture and I sent the remainder of the students away to work on their group presentations due in 2 weeks.

I am left thinking of 'stories'.

What would it be like to walk through the world seeing people in the exceptionality of their stories?

Kelley