Producing Stories

PRACTICE GUIDE – Inner Producer

What are Stories?

We live in stories because they give coherence to our ability to make sense of things. They take the form of jokes, riddles, excuses, gossip, reasons and explanations. These aspects tend to be shaped by stories embedded deep in your unconscious mind and produced by your . . .

• culture
• family background
• unique experiences.

Stories can also be a sequence of events that bring together experience from the past with aspirations for the future that reflect our beliefs and values. It could be just a factual relating to events and observations.

“We repeatedly create symbolic systems of meaning- religion, ideologies, theories – and forget they are our own creations.”  – Walter Truett Anderson

Stories help us search for deeper meaning. We use metaphors and symbols from our environment to express our deeper feelings.  They reveal our thoughts, feelings and felt senses. We might say “It feels like someone is clambering around in my stomach with an axe trying to get out”.  The metaphor then gets expanded into a story to explain what could have led to the feeling and what happened when the feeling subsided.

It’s as if we have an Inner Scriptwriter constantly turning feelings and thoughts into words that we “ingest and extrude” into the world where they come out as “strings of narrative” (a quote from Daniel Dennett).  These stories are unique to you and get weaved together as the script for our own Life Movie. They provide the imagery you use to observe and interact with the world.

So What does this mean?

Effective conversations have a structure that requires linguistic, listening, feelings, speaking and storying skills. The way we listen determines what we notice in conversations. If you are a manager and looking for commitment, you would notice the positive and negative assessments people are making.action. The language used reveals your mood state and the stories you tell that reveal how you see yourself through the assessments you make.

Watch this video by Dan Candell as he explains how to change the movie running in your head to predict outcomes that you want by eliminating negative self-talk. What you think has emotions attached and this creates a state that guides your choices and actions.

Stories are not stored away they are assembled to fit the needs of the moment or a declared intention. Different parts of the story are told and then we fill in the blanks from our own stories. There is no one true story, but rather a framework of retellings to fit the situation that brings it to mind. This affects the way the story is structured and how or why it is being told.

For example, your inner Scriptwriter will have a “plot” in mind or a storyboard that sequences events.  How stories make sense and meaning of things depends on the distinctions being made between what is presented and what is left out. Your inner Scriptwriter is looking for what seems true and coherent before sharing the story with the audience.

How stories make sense and the meaning of things depends on the distinctions being made between what is presented and what is left out. Your inner Scriptwriter is looking for what seems true and coherent before sharing the story with the world. This involves adopting a holistic view that incorporates experience produced and shaped by assertions from the past, and consideration of the possibilities presented by a change of context.  

Your Inner Director and Inner Actor are making this workable with their assessment of which words, emotions, and posture to display in the present context. They combine declarations for desired future possibilities with an awareness of having produced misinterpretations in the past.

It’s your stories that open or close down the possibilities that you see in yourself that are shaping your life choices. If you keep telling yourself the same stories you will stay blind to alternative perspectives and sabotage your potential for seeing and doing things differently.

“It is through the process of choosing our story about who we are and how we will act that we become responsible for our identity, our being, and our life.”  Søren Kierkegaard

Stories written by your Inner Scriptwriter will open or close down those possibilities that you see in yourself that will influence your life choices going forward.  Powerful stories enable you to generate a new reality. To transcend any constraints you must shift your whole Way of Being to take you beyond the limits of your past life story. This is achieved when you use language to get action.  You can make requests of others or make promises to yourself.

As a result, the language used will reflect your mood state and your intentions. Nevertheless, you are constrained by your assumptions and facts you cannot accept. Your stories can open or close down the possibilities that you see for yourself that will influence your life choices. These stories enable you to take responsibility for your life. If you fail to access the services of your inner Producer, Director, Scriptwriter, and Actor, then outside events will define your life choices and behaviours for you.

Now What?

What is the story that dominates how you see yourself?  Consider . . . . .

• Who are you and what do you think about yourself?
• What do you believe is possible for you to do with your life?
• How is this reflected in your mood and your dominant posture?
• What are your explanations for thinking as you do? 

Practices

1. Write a short story about the events in your day, who you spoke with and listened to.  Then ask yourself . . .

• On reflection, what events were constructive and which ones did you exclude from your story and why?
• Is there a theme to these events that connect them or how you organised them?
• Which characters were significant in making it a good day and why?
• How did you mood shift during the day and what triggered the changes? 
• Did you describe it as actions you took or just what you observed happening?

What did you notice about your Way of Being during the day?

• Did you respond to events without thinking clearly, or did you reflect and hold yourself accountable for the choices you made? 
• Were you highly energised and opinionated or were you calm and willing to consider other people’s points of view?
• Did you reflect on how your mood state would have impacted negatively on relationships or did you created and control the results you achieved? 

2. Think back to the stories you told yourself about today. Did you see yourself as the lead actor or just the supporting “cast”?

• How did your story differ from the way others saw it?
• How did the story generate your mood and how did it shape the language you chose?
• Where do you think your narratives about the relationships you prefer come from?
• How are you “living in these stories”?  Do they inspire you to act or comfort you?

2. Familiarise yourself with the six Linguistic Acts and observe them operating in a conversation happening at work.

• How were Linguistic Acts used in the conversation?
• How were stories or narratives used in the conversation?
• How would you describe the purpose of the conversation?

3. What steps could you take to create a new narrative or script for a new Life Movie that tells the story of your preferred future and how you used it to influence the stories of others.

• What’s your story and why is it important in communicating what you care about?
• How do you want others to see you in their stories? 
• What is possible for you to do to impact on the stories of others?

4. When you next listen to a story in a conversation, ask yourself . . . .

• What story am I telling myself from what is being said and seen?
• What do I believe is the purpose of the story in that conversation?
• What new story am I now telling myself about what needs to change?

References

Consciousness Explained by Daniel Dennett. Penguin 1993

Reality Isn’t What It Used To Be by Walter Truett Anderson. Harper Collins 2009

Narrative Coaching by David Drake. CNC Press 2015

Metaphors in Mind by James Lawley & Penny Tompkins. Developing Company 2003