The Quintessential Story For Darkening Days

As the days shrink and dark night grows, a particular story rises up in my mind as the quintessential Fall story.

It is a story of seeking light, inhabiting love, and living out one's true nature.

Baba Yaga, also known as Grandmother Death, is a fearsome, Russian witch who lives in the deep, dark forest.  She is known to eat children and anyone else foolish enough to venture within her realm.  

Like Death, she is a transformational force.
 
She is powerless in the presence of a Mother's love and often ends up providing the very thing needed to overcome adversity.

Her fierce and threatening nature serves to reveal those whose hearts are pure, and gruesomely dispatches those whose hearts are not.

My favorite Baba Yaga story is Vasilissa The Beautiful.  I have recorded my version and would like to send it to you.  If you would like to receive this mp3, just do the following three things:

• Join or Follow This Site, 
• add me to your circles on G+, and 
• leave a comment on this post.  

I look forward to hearing from you.




       

 

 To hear Zette's stories, visit the Zette Harbour Amazon store 

or for mp3 downloads visit: Shop Zette

©copyright 2012 Zette Harbour, all rights reserved. ZetteHarbour.com

photos are royalty free from istockphoto.com

Your Story - Your Peace

Creating Peace is in your hands. Join us!

 

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Peace Day Crane Folding Parties! 

 

Storyteller, Zette Harbour will teach all who attend these free events listed below, how to fold an origami crane.  

The official Peace Love Story Fest Crane

It’s a fun, simple process that ages 8 - adult can enjoy.  We provide the paper, some delicious delectables, and a few stories to entertain you as you learn.

Your crane will make our 1,000 Crane Peace Sculpture possible, 

 

AND WE NEED YOU!

 

This sculpture is intended to be the expression of many individuals’ desire for a world that manifests Peace, and to begin the conversation about what a Peace-full world looks like.

The sculpture will be unveiled at the Peace Love Story Fest, then featured at several public locations throughout the week of September 16 - 21, in preparation for the International Day of Peace.  

 

This will create an opportunity for dialogue about the nature of Peace and the need for a strong Peace Story for our world.  The cranes will be folded by community members involving as many people as possible in the creation of the Peace sculpture.

Your crane, 

            your name, and, 

                       your manifest intention for Peace 

 

can be a part of this exciting celebration.  

 

RSVP to let us know you’re coming or send questions to Zette@PeaceLoveStory.com

or call (805)441-6688.

 

 

Serenity Yoga Center Retreat & Spa 
Friday, July 27 6:30 - 8:00 pm

Sukha Wellness Center
Sunday, August 5,  3:00 - 4:30 pm

Information Press
Wednesday, August 8, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Children's House Montessori School
Thursday, August 9,  10:00 am









Mothers For Peace
Thursday, August 9, 6:00 - 9:00 pm
SLO Farmer's Market

Whiz Kids Toys
Friday, August 10,  2:00 pm

 Paso Robles Children's Museum
 Friday, August 17, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

 Studios On The Park
 Thursday, August 23, 4:00 - 6:00 pm

Awakening Interfaith Spiritual Community
 Saturday, August 25, 10:00 am - Noon

Old Edna
 Sunday Sunset, August 26, 6 - 7:30 pm

Build Your Nest Coaching
Tuesday, August 28,  4 - 5:30 pm

Awakening Interfaith Spiritual Community
 Wednesday, September 5, 6:30 - 8:30 pm

 

 

 

Other locations to be announced soon!

Camp Ocean Pines

San Luis Obispo United Methodist Church

If you are interested in hosting your own 

Peace Day Crane Folding Party - woohoo!  Let's set the date!

Zette@PeaceLoveStory.com

How to Create a Storytelling Festival

The title says "How to", but the truth is, I'm just about to begin to learn.  I've been invited to hold a storytelling festival at a beautiful camp in Cambria, California - Camp Ocean Pines.

We have the date:  September 16

We have the place:  Camp Ocean Pines

                                      We need .......

                                                                   ...........  everything else.

It's called the Peace Love Story Fest.  I've been using the Peace Love Story for a while now, and really liked it as a theme for the festival.

 The idea for the theme came about when I was in New York City with my daughter at the Montessori Model United Nations Conference in April.  

I was watching the students caucus about the issue of the status of the Israeli/Palestinian heritage sites.  One after another, the recommendations for a resolution offered the idea that the sites should be owned by the UN, kept neutral, or managed by UNESCO.  It was then that I realized that there was something missing in these ideas.

How do you shift the Israeli's and the Palestinian's stories in order to allow for the neutrality of these sites?  Each side believes that it must preserve the sacredness according to it's own religious dictates.  Only a new story, a story in which the respective deities desire and require the two sides to work peacefully together would create a peaceful resolution.

That's when I realized that a storytelling festival could be the beginning point from which awareness, dialogue and then, action toward creating real peace would be launched.

The timing was good.  Our date was already set at the weekend of September 15 - 16.  One week before the UN's International Day of Peace on September 21. 

I decided the festival would be the kickoff of a week of Peace Awareness.  A 1,000 Crane Peace Sculpture would be unveiled at the PLS Fest, and then displayed at other locations during the week, culminating on the 21st.  My goal is to get people talking, listening, and then acting.

I did some research and learned about Peace One Day, an organization started by Jeremy Gilley.  

So, here we are 

          an idea, 

          some information, 

          1,000 cranes to fold, and, 

          miles to go before I sleep.......

When It Pays To Be An Idiot

Courtesy of myLot

Mulla Nasrudin used to stand in the street on market days to be pointed out as an idiot.

No matter how often people offered him a large and a small coin, he always chose the smaller piece. One day, a kindly man said to him: "Mulla, you should take the bigger coin. Then you will have more money and people will no longer be able to make a laughing stock of you."

"That might be true," said Nasrudin, "but if I always take the larger, people will stop offering me money to prove that I am more idiotic than they are. Then I would have no money at all."

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"You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm."  Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette

Doing what you want in life, can often make you look like a fool.  The key is, know your purpose.  When I know my purpose, nothing sways me, stops me or delays me in reaching my goal.  When I know my purpose, I have a secret knowledge that makes me as wise as Nasrudin, and as rich.

How do I find my purpose?  My Why?  

One of my favorite TED Talks is by Simon Sinek, called How Great Leaders Inspire Action.  In it, he creates a visual explanation of the importance of knowing, and communicating, your Why.  It's compelling and I have completed my own Golden Circle.

 Start with your What, the outer circle.  This is the easiest area to identify.  Then, see if you can clearly state your How.  Finally, make a list of what is most important to you in life.  Think about what would get you out of bed every morning.  Work to identify your Why.

For a blank copy of this diagram you can visit my Join The Tribe page and download a copy.  If you need assistance filling this in, Join The Tribe and send me a note.  

When you know your Why, you may do foolish things, 

you may look foolish to others, 

but you will have a bullet-proof belief in who you are and what you do.

Síocháin,

Zette

©copyright Zette Harbour 2011 all rights reserved www.ZetteHarbour.com

The Heart of Storytelling

Once there was, once there was not...... long, long ago....... once upon a time....... in the time when animals were people.......these phrases open the door to lands both strange and familiar.

They invite us to suspend disbelief and to hear the story not with our heads, but with our hearts. It is James Stephens in The Crock Of Gold who conveys it most clearly: "...the head does not hear anything until the heart has listened, and what the heart knows today the head will understand tomorrow." What better way to experience life than by listening with our hearts first, our heads second?

Storytelling and story-listening are excellent ways to develop this special, profound relationship with our daily experiences. Thomas Moore, in Care Of The Soul, considers it this way. He encourages us to develop 'mythological thinking.' This leads us away from looking for literal causes and to develop, rather, more insightful imagining. He points out that our 'stories' are not literal truths, but our interpretations of the events in our lives. By becoming an experienced traveler in the realm of myth and story we can learn to more easily recognize the themes and dynamics of our own lives.

One of the best ways to become an experienced traveler in this realm is by first becoming an experienced story listener. Spend a fair amount of time listening to seasoned tellers, read the classic folktales which have been distilled throughout time and explore the folklore of the many cultures of the world. 'Reading isn't listening,' you may say.

It is when you listen with your heart first.
Listen for that resonant chord within you. You will feel it.

Read the story aloud and give yourself permission to express the emotional journey the story takes you through. Your listeners will be most engaged in the story when they are emotionally connected to your telling of it. You will enjoy storytelling more when it is a multidimensional dance of imagery, senses and feelings. And when experiencing the first time jitters remember, in order to do something well we must first be willing to do it badly. Storytelling is best when it isn't perfect, so long as it is heartfelt.

There are many reasons to bring storytelling into your and your family members' lives.

Storytelling offers an opportunity to challenge world views, raise questions regarding personal bias and stimulate the search for creative responses to everyday living. It is a place to practice emotional responses and to develop a sense of oneself. And perhaps most poignantly, it is a place where parents and children can experience joy and laughter together.

Síocháin.

image credits, in order of appearance: antonvandenberg.wordpress.com; julia nowak