Thank you so much for signing up for the playbook course. I hope you find it refreshing and useful!
It's something to entertain and educate everyone while at home with your family.
A drop of inspiration.
Storytelling is something humans do.
So this course help you be better storytellers, give you confidence to speak up and bundles of ideas of things to do when spending time together.
It will also develop your connection to nature, widen your perception and hopefully develop your awareness of the web of life, the complex interlinking cycles of existence we are part of.
I have been a storyteller and outdoor educator and parent for almost 30 years now. I believe we learn best through stories and experiences in the relative safety of a family situation.
I don't think there is a 'normal' family.
How we live as humanity varies enormously!
But I would say a common theme is that humans have always gone about in small family groups for safety.
And now many of us are back in small family groups again.
(*See the linking section for grownups on thoughts about Stories and viruses as learning tools that follows on from these thoughts)
So here's something to connect you all with each other, and nature, through the power and magic of storytelling!
I am going to be sending you some emails over the next week to help you get the most out of the course and give you some more goodies along the way.
Look for emails starting [NEST playbook part x]
The story in this playbook, Story of The Stonecutter, comes from China.
Like Covid19!
And like the virus, a story stays alive as it passes from one person to another.
Unlike the virus, the story is ancient.
Humans have been telling stories for a long time. It's one of the ways we learnt to survive, passing wisdom from one to another from moment to moment, across the ages.
The words, the images conjured in the brain, and the journey of the narrative, release chemicals in the brain which can start to make new neural connections in our brains.
It's how we learn.
Within 30 minutes of the next time you sleep new experiences and learnings stored briefly in liquid chemical form start to become physical.
By having a go at telling the story and trying out the suggested activities you will internally be making new connections within yourself, with each other and to nature.
Is nature separate from us?
I would argue that we are all nature. Each other, viruses, stories, plants, creatures, rocks, the weather... we are all part of the mystery of life evolving from the planet we call Earth.
It's one of the underlying messages of my work... to remind us that we are all part of the earth.
I hope to show that we are as equally important as the rest of creation and that hopefully, through being more 'nature connected', we will want to take more care of nature and our home planet.
The story in this playbook helps us see that we are part of natural cycles - and that we can all feel grumpy and envious at times!
I think we can all relate to the feelings and the weather in the story, so when we re-tell it, or listen to it, we can enact or experience those feelings and portray the energy of the weather.
It's whole body learning. Wholistic. Educating the whole person. Connecting us to the whole.
So I wish you lots of curiosity, fun and laughter exploring the playbook, and good luck with re-telling the tale for the first time!
Let me know how it goes if you like - I love to hear from you.
That's it for now.
With best wishes and blessings of good health for you and your family,
