By Faye Lane
Join me at Thanks-Giving Square on Sunday, November 8, at 2 p.m., or Tuesday, November 10, at 6:30 p.m. Come share a story, listen, or simply experience the circle. Space is limited, so please find the workshop details and register in advance.
I went to India recently to talk about storytelling. I came home thinking about a man who had never told anyone his story.
He was from the Netherlands. He told me about a marriage that ended, about finding his way back to the woman he loved as she was dying of cancer, about falling in love with her again. She died in his arms.
He had been carrying all of this by himself.
As he spoke, I watched something happen. Telling this heartbreaking story, he began to light up. Someone else was hearing it. Someone else could hold a little of it with him.
I could say I gave him the gift of listening. But honestly? He gave me the gift of trusting me. I felt so honored to be there.
That exchange holds so much of what I brought home—and what I hope we’ll experience together during North Texas Kindness Week.
In India, I joined a Peace of Mind retreat hosted by Brahma Kumaris, surrounded by people from dozens of countries. Different languages, different faiths, different customs. There were people I wished I could sit and talk with for weeks.
And as we shared stories, something became wonderfully clear: we don’t have to share a culture to share a human experience.
We know what it feels like to want to belong. To love someone. To lose someone. To need courage when we aren’t sure we have any left.
The circumstances may be unfamiliar. The feeling underneath can be something we recognize immediately.
I heard stories rooted in religious beliefs I don’t share. Sometimes I didn’t fully understand those beliefs. But I understood the longing, the gratitude, the hope. I could recognize the human being telling me the story.
We don’t have to agree with someone’s perspective to honor their humanity.
That’s something I want to keep practicing. It’s easy to surround ourselves with people who think the way we think. Storytelling invites us to become curious about someone whose life has taken a different shape.
We’re already seeing this in our Dallas Story Spirals. People whose paths might never ordinarily cross sit together and hear something real about one another. Friendships begin. Someone who was a stranger becomes a person whose story you carry.
During our November workshops, we’ll practice both sides of that exchange.
We’ll share true personal stories, looking for the moments that let someone else recognize a feeling they know. You don’t need an extraordinary adventure. A moment of uncertainty, an unexpected kindness, a time you felt welcomed—there’s so much human experience inside an ordinary life.
And we’ll practice giving a storyteller our undivided attention.
At first that seems simple, but it’s amazing how quickly your mind starts preparing a response! You have advice. You have a similar story. You have something encouraging you’re sure would help.
In a Story Spiral, we give each other room to finish. We listen without jumping in to fix, compare or explain. For five uninterrupted minutes, someone gets to speak and be heard.
Imagine carrying that attention into the rest of our lives. To the dinner table. To a colleague. To someone we love whose story we think we already know.
India gave me another chance to feel how much can happen when we listen that closely. I’m so happy to bring that experience home to our circle in Dallas.
Somewhere in a story very different from your own, you may hear something wonderfully familiar.
I would love for you to be there.
Faye Lane is Artist-in-Residence and Chief Inspiration Officer at Thanks-Giving Square.