Why Not a Wound: Practical Metaphors to Build Your Scar-Focused Power Story

The OUaT Workshop Why

Do you struggle to express your pain without pushing others away? Do you feel unheard when trying to share your unique experiences?

We're here to help your meaning land. We’re here to help you turn your socially isolating suffering, or singular life experience, into connective power.

The OUaT Workshop How

While we can’t guarantee your safety (change and growth are inherently risky), our workshop provides a secure and supportive environment for you to learn, try, fail, grow and try again without fear of shame or rejection. We’ve got a few tricks for dealing with stage fright too!

Come with some life experience, energy to express yourself, and a bit of pain to share (which you've at least started to heal from). Leave with the tools to up-armor your truth, truly communicate and instantly connect with others through your message.

The OUaT Workshop... What

We create sacred, communal spaces for you to securely explore, master and learn to deploy what you’ve known all along, because, if you’re human…

Fido! Not again! What did we tell you about buying narrative-structure-focused workshop Eventbrite tickets! Bad dog! BAD DOG!... Sorry about that. Where were we?

Oh ya!—this wisdom is DNA-deep in all of us: we’re talking, of course, about the ancient, emotionally-transformative superpower of storytelling.

Our process empowers you to transform your existentially isolating pain into connective communal power.

Come experience it for yourself.

This month we will begin at, well… the beginning! with an in-depth conversation around

• What is a “wound,” a “scar";
• How to select the most connective pain for your power stories; And,
• When crafting your power stories, how to use these boots-on-the-ground-practical metaphors to ensure you set yourself up for success in up-armoring your truth.
• How “up-armoring” your truth empowers and encourages radically openness, honesty and emotional and intellectual freedom (while at the very same time makes space for kindness and compassion).
• Among other interesting philosophical-practical subjects!

Come On In, Y'All, The Water's Fine!

Sacredness is essential to the process and does not scale, so we keep our cohorts small. Reserve your spot now to join us on March 9th from 7-9pm at the always warm, welcoming, and cozy Community Matters Café.

We can’t wait! Can you?

Thank you! I thought you'd never ask! :P

The short answer is you’ve gotta see it to believe it. And the long answer is, well, the class—honestly the whole series of classes—itself.

But I get that that’s not super helpful.

So, medium answer! Fair enough?

The process of crafting your pain-to-power story is, essentially, all in the service of reflecting your experience to yourself and to your audience as clearly and as *honestly* as possible. And clear, honest communication is compassionate communication.

When you are more compassionate towards the outside, you become more compassionate inside.

Instead of thinking that we need to prove to everyone around us how perfect and flawless we are,

We can imagine ourselves more realistically—as people who, despite our weaknesses, are trying our best.

People respect a person who can gracefully demonstrate that they are imperfect.

Maybe most importantly—if you can gracefully demonstrate that you are a imperfect, YOU will respect yourself.

This self-respectful heartandmindset, opens you up.

And I don’t means in some airy fairy energetic kind of way.

(Although I 113% believe that to be true too! More on which if you come to the class ;).

But, no, here I mean, in very concrete, practical, boots-on-the-ground terms, that you simply become open to learning, to being taught.

To receiving help.

And when the universe, the world, colleagues, business partners, friends, family see you as a fellow human who is open to receive…

Let’s just say, in my humble experience, the floodgates open up.

The floodgates of your circle, the floodgates of our society, the floodgates of the universe open up to shower you with gifts beyond your wildest dreams.

I don’t mean money or Maseratis (though those may come later).

I mean the much more important gifts of kindness, connection, closeness, intimacy, warmth, understanding, presence, gentleness, forgiveness, compassion, love.

You think I’m joking? You think I’m exaggerating?

Fair enough.

Oh, but before you go, would you indulge me one more question?

I’ll be at this really cool event on Thursday—I think you might dig it—and I’d love to show you what I mean by all this.

Let me buy you coffee and a cruller, and show you what I mean. Because I’m confident that when you see it, you’ll believe it.

(And if not… heck! at least you got some good snacks and entertaining Thursday evening conversation out of it, right? Netflix will always be there when you get home.)

Wanna join me? ;)

Host or Publisher Once Upon a Trauma Storytelling