How does all that relate to the work of storytelling? Well, I find that storytelling isn’t just about what we share with others, what gets broadcast for critique and consumption—storytelling has much to do with the stories we tell ourselves. These sacred pauses I’ve been exploring, and honestly practicing long before I had a name or the awareness, have served as an exercise in both presence and reflection. Ain’t it amazing how the themes we explore were ever-present, supporting us until our awareness can take note? Some of the stories I’ve been telling myself needed to be retired, others updated to serve both the creator and the core.

“It’s no coincidence that “aspiration” means both hope and the act of breathing. When we speak, we use the breath in our lungs to give our thoughts a physical form. The sounds we make are simultaneously our intentions and our life force. I speak, therefore I am. Vocal learners, like parrots and humans, are perhaps the only ones who fully comprehend the truth of this. ”