The Story Catcher
Some stories you hold too close to your heart. You believe that they are dear or precious, and you don't know what to do about those white knuckles gripping them.
The best thing, you suspect, is to let go. To release them with open hands and trust they find their way to those who need them.
I have one such story. I am giving it to you now.
Here is how it begins:
Some stories are too difficult to carry around. Some taste like ash in your mouth, others feel like they might rend you in two. That’s why we have a Story Catcher in our village.
The Story Catcher takes your stories as you tell them truly—things that make your bones tremble and your muscles shiver, things you might only be able to whisper in the dark. She receives them as happily as a person making a ripe purchase at market.
She gathers all of them from the old ones to those wee ones just learning to give thoughts shape with their lips, and she holds them in her memory, tends them with her heart.
Then, when we’re ready, the Story Catcher gives us back our tales, on a day when we need to be reminded that we once were brave or that we once were rescued. That we might be so again.
--from The Story Catcher, by Jen Lee
To download The Story Catcher in a beautiful, full-color pdf, simply enter the following information:
Saturday, September 12, 2009 at 8:42PM | Share Article | 28 Comments | Permalink | 1 Reference | in Writing, creative work, stories 
Reader Comments (28)
thank you for sharing this.
Big gigantic squashy hug. This is great stuff, Jen. Thank you.
Jen,
thank you for this generous offering...can't wait to BE in your class at SAW in days - days!
xo,
gem
Jen, this is amazing - and given so generously! Thank you!
thank you
thank you for this sacred gift...i feel extraordinarily opened by it, and my gratitude is immense.
Such a lovely gift and so generously given! Thank you, Jen.
Thank you for this blessing--and for sharing your incredible gift and spirit with us!
You are awesome ~ thank you so much!
beautiful!
Wow - truly beautiful. Thank you.
Such a gift you have given. The writing itself is magical and the way you packaged it and sent it off into the world suits it just perfectly.
I know this story is from the heart, a healing heart.
Love you!
Thank you, Jen!
I appreciate the way you have put it into the pdf that allows you time and space to breathe and read each page one by one, it is too easy when looking at things online to read too fast and gloss over things. Your formatting really allows the reader the right space to read and soak in your story.
THANK YOU! I'm sharing with many others...
oh, and... http://www.bodyeloquence.com/index.htm
Nancy Mellon is coming to speak in my area this spring, and I was just checking out her book and the sample chapter you can download from the link above... I think you might be interested...
Thank you so much for this story Jen. I'm still learning what it means to give hope to the story teller without carrying too much away in my own heart. I'm a story catcher who is still learning how not to be weighed down by the world's stories. This story contains deep wisdom and I'm so grateful to you for sharing it.
Just reading the short excerpt here made me feel nostalgic, like a world I had lived and forgotten was slowly coming back to life. Thanks for offering your work so freely.
I have a story, and I need encouragement. Thank you Jen...
WRO
So truly beautiful. Thank you for sharing such a soulful piece. I am truly grateful.x
i had the honor of hearing this story told straight from the storyteller's mouth. tears and tears and tears streamed down. this is the best of the best.
Thank you for sharing!
Jen:
I'm taking Ali E's Yesterday and Today class on Big Picture Scrapbooking and I'm sure you know she posted your audio of Story Catcher. Thanks so much for such a beautiful story. I know women "get it" easier than men, but I really need to play that audio for my husband. I think it'll help me get his story documented!! You are incredible. Thank you.
This was and is gorgeous and soulful. Thank you for so generously sharing it! :)
Thank you for sharing this. It is wonderful.
thank you so much for sharing.
thanks! :)
lets write them until the admit it, or stop doing it! i am writing them now!
:)
thank you for sharing your gifts