About StoryCommons
StoryCommons is where we tell and share all forms of our personal stories ~ from short pieces of our lived experience, to full length memoirs, life stories, and autobiographies.
All stories draw from the same universal well of motifs and archetypes that define who we are as human beings. They all follow the same familiar structure of “beginning / middle / end.” But beyond this, there is a deeper framework that characterizes all good stories, that of “beginning / muddle / resolution,” which also defines the process of transformation. The dozens of prompts offered here in the toolbox will help us to become more familiar with this structure, too.
In telling our stories within this ageless blueprint, we come to better understand and appreciate our shared heritage and collective identity as relatives in the human family. Telling – and sharing – our deeply held stories may also, in its own small way, assist us in bringing into being the reality of the oneness of humanity.
Traditionally, the “commons” held in trust the shared cultural and natural resources of a community. StoryCommons, part of the new commons paradigm movement to revive ancient forms of shared stewardship for community resources, is expanding and updating this practice digitally by offering StoryCommons as a fully accessible global commons where everyone can tell and share their stories for the collective benefit of all. We’d like you to think of it as a welcoming, safe place where everyone can feel at home learning from each other’s stories. StoryCommons takes its place in a growing network of social movements to ensure the equitable distribution of resources by preserving for future generations the stories that are most meaningful to us all.
Our stories, the narrative DNA that bind us all together as human beings living the same types of experiences on this precious planet we all inhabit, create “communities of memory,” just as did sacred stories told in traditional communities. As we tell and share more and more of these soulful stories, a love and appreciation for all living creatures emerges, and binds us all together.
How it Works
StoryCommons offers a complete set of resources, guidelines and prompts for telling the most important stories of our lives. By utilizing a timeless and universal structure that is provided, a deeper level of meaning and understanding is reached.
Through the process of sharing these stories in the Commons, everyone learns something from each other. Our personal stories get to the heart of who we are as human beings living in this world together. Telling and sharing our stories uncovers the lessons to be harvested from our journeys through the struggles, transformations, and triumphs of life that have shaped us into who we are at our core and shown us our interconnectedness.
The Commons is where our stories are stored. It is always open for browsing and researching. This is where we discover – and can dialogue with others about – what our struggles and challenges have been, how we have faced and overcome them, and who we are as a result of them. This allows a love and appreciation for all other human beings to grow. The Commons is a tree of many branches, each representing a different theme, topic, or archetype that we all experience in this life.
StoryCommons is the go-to place for personal storytelling of all kinds. It promotes community-building around the stories that connect and unite us as one human family. StoryCommons distinguishes itself in these interactive, instructive ways:
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It provides the most extensive toolbox, resources, and services for personal storytelling, assisting you to create the story you most want to tell of your life and share with others;
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As you add your stories to the Commons, and others read them, we all discover similarities we may not have known we share, through the common motifs and archetypes that all of our stories express. This highlights how the entire human family is connected through the stories we all share with each other;
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It offers a fully searchable, continually expanding collection of story types that can be read, listened to, or watched; and,
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It offers a growing, vibrant, diverse, online community transcending boundaries of culture and geography.
Mission
“To connect the human family, one story at a time”
Values to Live and Write Our Stories By…
~ In the shade, find light;
~ In a community of many cultures, colors, characters, and conditions, strive for unity in diversity;
~ Beyond what stands between us, lift your gaze to what stands before us;
~ To close the divide, put our differences aside, and focus on our shared future;
~ Seek harm to none and harmony for all;
~ Even as we hurt, we hold our hope high;
~ Rather than sow division, remember we are forever tied together;
~ Our visions are fulfilled not by the chasms we cross, but by the bridges we’ve built.
(With gratitude to Amanda Gorman)