Hope Story Circles
Join folks from all over the US, and other countries, on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month, at 9:00am PT/ 12:00pm ET and all times in between, for Hope Story Circles. The idea for this gathering came from a discussion between two Peace Alliance board members and our Teaching Peace in School Leadership Council lead just as the world was going into lockdown as the pandemic was spreading in early 2020. The question on everyone’s mind was how can we stay connected when the scientists were telling us to separate for the good of our health?
This is a twice monthly online community peacebuilding hour in which we offer a supportive environment for active listening, authentic expression, and the uplifting of others through the power of storytelling. Attendees find connection in networking, support, and resources within the international peacebuilding community.
The power of storytelling to enhance connection is as old as humanity. Stories like Stone Soup and the Allegory of the Long Spoons remind us that we cannot survive without each other- a challenge we all find ourselves identifying with as we navigate a global pandemic and the devastating loss of so many loved ones.
Get all the information you need to join us through the Calendar on our website. We are limited to 100 people in the “zoom room” so be sure to join right at the start time to ensure your place. If you happen to miss a day, no worries! You can listen to an audio recording of each Hope Story Circles by going to our Peace On Podcast page.
Please invite your friends and family to join you as we feed each other with our stories to co-create a hopeful story of an emergent community in this moment.
We thank the authors of the books below for inspiring
the birth of
Hope Story Circles.
Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story by Christina Baldwin outlines that story is the heart of language. Story moves us to love and hate and can motivate us to change the whole course of our lives. Story can lift us beyond our individual borders to imagine the realities of other people, times, and places. Storytelling, both oral tradition and written word, is the foundation of being human. In this powerful book, Christina Baldwin, one of the visionaries who started the personal writing movement, explores the vital necessity of re-creating a sacred common ground for each other’s stories.
The Giving Heart: Folktales for Exploring Generosity, by Margo McLoughlin, is both an anthology and a guide. Twenty-four folktales from around the world reveal the many ways that cultures teach generosity. Introductory notes describe the process for starting a story-circle, and each story is followed by questions and prompts to spark readers’ and listeners’ own stories.