Only Humans Tell Stories

@Alan Culler writes: "My personal stories become illustrations to the point I want to make. That happens in conversation too. My songs often come from a chord progression on the guitar, which reminds me of a feeling, which I then put a story to. If/when I end up writing fiction, stories may require a bit more planning and a return to Joseph Campbell."

Honoured to be mentioned among this group of writers and storytellers @Alan Culler. I so appreciate your stories and style (sorry I sometimes miss your posts). Love this buzz; the beginning, the middle and the end. I will keep an eye opened for future stories from you. Thanks again.

#3 Definitely all connected @Alan Culler. I always enjoy hearing a story attributed to one culture that another culture claims ownership for. I think this goes back to your discussion of Jung and Campbell.

Story telling is an art form, that i enjoy, thanks for the tag.

A story well told captivates the listeners emotion set and they can place themselves in the storyline. I have met a few in my travels and can say that a good story teller can replace the media very quickly.

I am glad you posted your thoughts it was enjoyed.

Alan, Some of us come to story from without being from an oral tradition. My father didn't tell stories nor did my mother but they kept me in books from the time I could read. I "grok" science fiction because as a teen I was given a subscription to the Science Fiction Book Club. I'd been through Greek, Roman and Scandinavian mythology well before that and the writer's ability to paint new worlds and cultures with words opened my mind to a new realm. And I got into movies although it took a half-day to go into the city on Greyhound for a matinee and return.

My ex is a fiction writer. I could never do what she does. But I can write to convince or persuade. I can make people listen to a different viewpoint. And I have a voice that resonates with most people. So I speak and have done so professionally on three continents. (I'm waiting for an invite to Australia) The stories I tell in speaking are ones that make a point like Margie, The Galactic Commander (www.NetowrkingNinja.com) or The man with two wives by Aesop which I use to explain positioning.

What I've found over the years is that each of us has stories that will involve and intrigue most people but we just don't notice them. You have to want to be storyteller. That opens your eyes. Simply recalling all the sensory input of when and where the story took place will connect your audience. Then just tell the story. Hone it with the next telling. Find the words that connect every time. Make that story a signature--one no one else can tell.

#3 You're right, @Alan Culler, a passion for stories knows no boundaries! And I've heard some great tales from every culture, it's how we continue our personal and family histories.

#4 Nothing jogs the memory like a good story -Thanks for joining the conversation @Franci🐝Eugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador

#5 I am likewise pleased to be connected with you @Tausif Mundrawala - I agree listening and empathy would seem a prerequisite for a good story.

It's an absolute honor of mine to be one among many great writers. Well the topic of storytelling is vast and I think the lifetime won't suffice describing it. But in order to be a good storyteller you have to be a great listener. You should feel and view what your teller wants you to feel and opine later on. I have seen many tragic stories in my life and have tried to bring them forth on this platform and am thankful it's being appreciated by all my fellow bees here including you, my friend. It should evoke memories which would otherwise go into drain with our death. There are many stories left untold which needs to be bring forth here on beBee. Thanks for the encouragement, my friend.

One of your statement evoked many memories of my childhood where my daddy would start with his stories and though he being a disciplinarian he would give a stern look if we try to interrupt. Even now we can't interrupt until he finishes his conversation. He has taught me to be a good listener. That's what make me a good storyteller and my mom instilled in me a habit to feel emotions.

I am glad to be connected with you, my friend, @Alan Culler

Storytelling takes the listener and the learner to a whole new level. I feel relating to a story makes it easier for the listener to remember. When I was taking insurance courses, the instructors that related a story to the subject being taught deserved an A+, IMO. When exam time came around, those stories really helped in associating the question with the correct answer.

#1 @Sarah Elkins Thanks so much for your comments. It is about the story - what immerses the listener in the tale. I too have spilled my share of liquids on the dinner table gesticulating obliviously -I'm not Jewish, Greek or Italian -though truth be told I do have a passion for Mediterranean food, people and cultures. Nope, I'm just an old Celt - in the sense of the ancient European people of 500 BCE to 500 CE, the Gauls of France, the Galatians, who ended up in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall, Iberia and the Isle of Mann -who did produce some stories themselves and their descendants have spilled a lot of beer.

I think a passion for stories isn't limited by ethnicity -Google Sufi Stories.
Thanks again.
Alan

Why do you share stories? Could you be better at it? I know I have improvements to make! Good post here by @Alan Culler.

You know how frustrated I get with the use of storytelling as a buzzword, @Alan Culler, which is why this post resonates with me; it's not about the teller, it's about the story! When we have a story to tell, there are lots of ways to make it engaging, and I think that's where the magic comes in.

I've found that some cultures are more likely to pass the storytelling gene along than others, I've found a consistent trend in the Jewish and Native American cultures for sure. I've heard great stories shared in Greek and Italian families as well. What's most common among these populations? People who speak a lot - and who speak a lot with their bodies, their hands. I cannot tell you how many glasses of wine, water, and milk have been spilled at our dining room table, thanks to a particularly enthusiastic story teller. Even the most seemingly boring story can be made entertaining with the right props and vocal techniques.

Terrific beginning to this discussion, Alan.

Let yourself dwell in life, not death. I believe that's what he would want. It is glorious that you spent his remaining years not focused on his dying. I bet he appreciated that.

He is smiling down at you right now with a beaming sense of pride, and for your wedding, he may not walk you down the aisle, but he'll have the best seat in the house.

Great way to pay tribute @🐝 Fatima G. Williams! enjoyed read and shared. thank you for the buzz.

I have two fathers and Jhonny died next to my mother in bed and im pretty sure if he could choose his death thats how he would of wanted it. I am sure your father knew you loved him. It sounds like you were very active in his life. I know people who dont see thei parents for years. They come after the funeral and pawn their stuff, so having guilt because he didnt see you get married or.because you didnt spend enough time with him is just not how you should look back on your time togethet. Your name is Fatima. The fathers favorite daughter. I am sure you were loved and loved. Now i think all you can do is tell your children wonderful bedtime stories about your dada when you make your own family.

Thanks @🐝 Fatima G. Williams for reminding us of our humanness with all its limitations. We control very little after all. We are judged therefore only on our best intentions. Celebrate and rejoice the good times and cherish everything that contributes to increasing awareness. No blame, no guilt and no regret. But grieve we will because this is our lot. Feel your loss. Wish you well.

This is so deep and touching. Fatima, don't beat up yourself with, "If Only." You can't change the past and he knew you loved him. I am sorry for how hard his passing has been on you and your family. There are many nights when the pain is so great and you cry yourself to sleep. You would give anything to see them, talk to them, hug them just one more time. Death is the hardest thing to deal with and it never gets easier. There is nothing anyone could have done. When our hourglass is full we must leave this earth. I read many posts but this is one that will remain with me. Thanks for the remainder and for this wonderful tribute of your father. ((Hugs)) Brigette

@🐝 Fatima G. Williams this is a great tribute. My best wishes for you and your family. 🐝🐝💖💖

Thank you, Fatima, for this profoundly poignant post. It takes real guts and fortitude for a writer to open up the way you did by spilling their heart out on the page. You did this with elegance and grace, Fatima, which is admirable and impressive.
I likewise lost my father a few years ago. And although the circumstances were different than your situation, I also think about my dad every day. Sometimes, I feel as if he's still around and I could just pick up the phone and call him, or drive over and visit.
Every person who loses a loved one will always carry a hole in their heart reserved for that person, especially a parent or close relative. You deserve accolades, Fatima, for honoring your father by keeping his memory alive internally and externally. And that's something no one can ever take away. I feel for you...

Fatima, I do not usually comment on these kinds of posts, but in this case I feel your pain and I know you are sincere. So here is what I think. You should dwell not on what you lost but on what you had before your father passed. You must not blame yourself, for nothing you did was wrong or uncaring. Nor would anything you didn't have been sufficient to keep your father alive, had you done it. Finally, while you should not forget or stop feeling pangs of sadness or cease having bittersweet memories, you should move on and do your best to live a full life. For that is what your father would and did want for you. And to do so is the very best way to honor his memory. This I know because people wiser than I have told me so in times of my own losses. And they were right. My best to you.

My dear friend bee
I firmly believe that they know how much we love them.
With memory we keep them alive, on another plane. He knew it, you just have to see what you transmit. This bee sends you a hug, how did the bees embrace? Crossing the wings?

#23 @debasish majumder OK. How about this - thanks bud!

#13 @debasish majumder Many thanks sir.

#11 @Sara Jacobovici Encouragement from my friend in Israel is much appreciated. Thanks.

#8 @Bill Stankiewicz, 🐝 Brand Ambassador Thanks to my Savannah buddy!

#10 @Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee Very much appreciate your comments.

#7 @Chas ✌️ Wyatt No question that opening the kimono wide is fraught with challenge. I have simply come to a point in life where the absence of filters is no longer a hindrance.

#6 @Jerry Fletcher The encouragement of folks such as you do give one a little more faith in continuing down this path. Thank you.

#5 @Ian Weinberg Excellent observations all and my intent is not to resolve these issues it is to turn toward the adversity they represent and in knowing move forward. Perhaps this is one of the more challenging aspects of an active meditation practise.

#4 You raise a very good point @Praveen Raj Gullepalli. Part of the motivation for these reflections is to consider how I am handling my relationship with my two sons.

#3 I've been off the grid for a few days so excuse my tardy response. I thank you for you encouragement and do hope that your brother finds his way. @Charlene Norman

@Don 🐝 Kerr writes: "Perhaps the dissonance would be silenced with the writing and the sharing."

Dear @Don 🐝 Kerr, important story, profoundly and "beautifully" written. I echo the comments of your readers. Do write. It makes a difference. Beside, I want to add another personalized autographed Don Kerr book to my bookshelf ;-)

Beautiful, sad piece, and glorious prose. You wind your way around words like a master. The imagery is thought-provoking.

Great article 👍

@Don 🐝 Kerr, great story here. The blessing is received by doing something well outside of our comfort zone. Have a great day, Bill Stankiewicz

@Don 🐝 Kerr, you are a wordsmith. This may have been cathartic for you, but, I enjoyed the story immensely. You also touch on the battle I sometimes face in whether, or not, to reveal deeply personal details about my life in my writing. I also love the quote in the Preface by George Moore.

Don, I know that was not easy. I applaud your courage. I cheer your ability to string words together so that we can feel how this diorama tells the story but not all of it. Somehow I believe that sharing such stories is good for both of us as it enlightens each while lightening the load if even in a small way.

Thanks for sharing @Don 🐝 Kerr After many years of coaching self and others professionally, I've arrived at a place where I believe that it's not possible to fully expunge the founding circuitry of our subjective cognition, emotions and beliefs. Neither the deep neuro-archeological dig nor the 'aha' moment of self-discovery leads to automatic resolution. Nor in fact does the application of pure logical reasoning. However the application of acceptance and forgiveness together with gratitude for the good stuff, goes a long way to letting the light in. Add to this purposeful busyness, value contribution and personal achievement and you take the edge off the pain.

Very poignantly expressed dear Don. To deal with undecurrents one needs to feel the source again and again. Feel the regret and the pain. If I were to explore the kaleidoscope of the past with a microscope, I should not forget to use my sense of humour for a filter. If I cannot laugh at the shy, timid, scared, foolish yet trusting kid that I was then, I surely will end up in the deeper end of the pool again!

I think the choices we had then (with or without the supporting voices outside) still remain with us. To not fear, to fight back, to resist, to focus on the present, to have a dream and fiercely work towards enabling it with effort and not waiting for a miracle to make it happen, to care and share, to protect and nurture, to relate and reach out.

I keep asking myself - What would you say if you were to come across a kid just like you were once upon a time not long ago? Would I be able to make a difference?

Really REALLY bold Don. I don't know very many people (either sex) who would publicly display themselves like this. Yet I admire you for doing so because it must be very cathartic in so many ways.

I wish I could introduce my brother to you. He too has a very checkered past and he could stand a good intervention from a good man such as yourself. But I fear he is too far gone -- like so many -- and again like so many -- when he finally does get it, it will be too late. You, my friend are one of the very lucky ones.

Please don't stop sharing your magic.

#18 I could not be more honored than to have played some small part in this beautifully written tribute to being unplugged, @Joel Anderson. I call what you describe here as a stolen moment; when I'm in the middle of something busy, and what feels like an arbitrary or random thing abruptly stops my activity. I can choose to get angry and frustrated, or I can choose to see it as a stolen moment - an opportunity to breathe deeply, listen intently, and rethink my priorities. Excellent post, Joel, thank you for sharing that stolen moment.

I'm glad @Deb 🐝 Helfrich linked this in her buzz. "Guess what. I didn’t have a panic attack. Life as I know it didn’t stop, it actually marched on in the beauty of an early morning thunderstorm. As I became accustomed to not having internet access, I actually stopped face planting myself into my computer and took the time to go outside and stand in the rain" Isn't it amazing that the times we may envision panic cause no panic at all? I always feel like a young child (in a good way) when I stand in the rain without worrying about getting my hair wet etc... Great story. Amazing how well we functioned w/out panic before cell phones and the internet.

#23 @Jon Rueck Thanks for sharing the story. Yep, sometimes abby normal is a good thing. Storms blowing through here the past couple days. Yesterday we had an inch and a half. Got caught in a downpour just as I was walking to my truck. Just made me laugh.

#25 #24 @Sara Jacobovici Thank you for the comment and the share. Keep dancing. :)

@Joel Anderson writes, "As I stood outside, I found that those little wet things called raindrops were a refreshing reminder that sometimes we just need to stop what we are doing and go dance in the rain."

Thank you @Deb 🐝 Helfrich for sharing the link to this great buzz. Sorry I missed it the first time you posted this @Joel Anderson. Beautifully written, beautifully said!

A neighbor chided me for mowing in the rain (some time back). He got my standard response: "I was born wet!" More recently we drove through a hail storm west of Great Bend in a futile attempt to outrun the storm. It was not long after we'd traded for a new pickup (new to us, but a 2014 model). The guy pulling a trailer ahead of us kept going so we kept following, listening to the weather report baseball sized hail a few miles away. Eventually out of the storm a look at the truck revealed no damage, but the ride was exciting! Our hail had been about a half inch and mostly soft ice. Lots of noise though. Fun in retrospect. #21

#19 And thank you for you kind comment. Wishing you only the best and please continue to inspire us with your wisdom and insights.

#19 Just to let you know why I returned to this post. This morning, I was trying to beat a thunderstorm between my house and my truck. Suffice it to say, there I was walking the short distance and before I could get in to my vehicle, it started pouring. I just had to chuckle as it reminded me of the article and I just stood there, and said, well your already getting wet. just enjoy it. As I drove to work, I couldn't get this song out of my mind: https://youtu.be/U5GKrmtCAgo

#18 If you didn't exist, Joel, we would have to create you.

There is something about our pent-up adult minds that react against constant play, but will let dance slip through the vise.

I wrote an extensive comment, that must be its own post, most especially as I have been holding myself back from writing on what's transpired in June.....

Bringing this post back, reigniting this feeling of joy that often arises when we can interrupt our minds, has brought me immense energy!

@Deb 🐝 Helfrich @Melissa Hefferman @Sarah Elkins Because of you all, I changed one word in this story. Originally I had ended this with "play in the rain." Because of some of your posts and numerous insights on life in general, comments on stepping out of ones comfort zone, your reflections on life lessons and life long learning, the subject of dancing, and your passion; I changed "play" to "dance" as you continue to inspire me. I know there are others out there, but I wanted to just say thank you. Keep making a difference. Joel

#15 http://www.wikihow.com/See-the-Green-Flash and speaking of the land of lakes, isn't that where butter comes from?

#6 While visiting a friend in DC we were walking down a busy street just after a rain. We were each a mother to an young daughter. We decided to puddle hop with our girls. The looks we were given by all those DC bureaucrats were priceless! The ocean is my confidant as well. A couple hours of conversation/meditation in the early morning is life rejuvenating!
I live 4 hours from the nearest beach now. I once got up at 4 AM on a Saturday morning, threw some stuff in the car and drove there. It was a holiday weekend so I knew no hotel rooms were available but that was okay. I grabbed some coffee, juice, and pastry and spent the next 8 hours on the beach with a slight break for lunch and all was well in the universe. As the sun began to set I drove the 4 hours back home.

#12 :) Thanks @Pamela 🐝 Williams absolutely!

A cup of coffee and a misty rain (especially in the morning); one of my favorite things. I see your sanity checker with a Mona Lisa smile but also understanding that sometime you need a walk in the rain.

#4 Thanks @Julie Hickman Sometimes profound things come out of the simple little things right before us. All the best and keep making a difference.

#5 Thanks @Gert Scholtz Oh the simple things in life.

#6 Squish away. And remember "It never rains in California
But girl don't they warn ya, it pours, man it pours."

#7 Thanks @Chas ✌️ Wyatt for sharing this.

"Good night. I have said my prayer with the forest; stood to the dark and the rain; cast my voice on the storm. Though my body shall lie in heavy slumber, my petition has gone on, caught and carried in the surge of the trees, whirled in high vortex over the mountain, drifting in black mists through the fertile night. Acknowledged, answered, in the drip of the rain." ~Virginia Garland, "The Rain," Out West: A Magazine of the Old Pacific and the New, February 1908.

Coming back from my awesome Abu Dhabi trip to read this lovely Bio is a treat. I must admit it's a great place and I wish I had made the move 10 years earlier. I love Dubai but must admit Abu Dhabi as something subtle about it. UAE has to much to offer we need to look in the right place. You've captured the essence of this place in your buzz Chris :)

#32 Thanks Sara..part 2 is out today.Did tag you 😃

@Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA writes: "Mostly I remember mixed feelings – excitement at a new start, fear of the unknown and a tremendous hollowness and sadness at leaving my family behind."

I'm not surprised that a music lover (of great taste in music), such as yourself, would also be a great storyteller @Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA. I came across a quote today before I read your post. Wonder if you think there is any connection? "A biography is like a handshake down the years, that can become an arm-wrestle." - Richard Holmes Looking forward to Part 2!

Fascinating story. I can't wait for part 2.

You are a good writer @Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA - I look forward to reading the next instalment.

@Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA i aeait part two with great anticipation !! Thanks

I absolutely love Abu Dhabi. I've been going to Abu Dhabi for over 10 years. I can't wait until another client engages me to organize and facilitate team building or an executive retreat there.

#26 Thanks Lisa.Friday is the mandatory day off as that is the Muslim holy day like the Christian Sunday.Most industries also give Saturdays off although some sectors ,like construction, work a 6 day week.

How interesting @Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA. What a great experience you have received, or should I say life changing? That's cool about Elton John's band! So, does everyone work on Sundays? Does everyone have Saturday's off? The photos are beautiful. I've seen many promotional photos of the city and it looks futuristic. I would imagine there is a lot to see and do in Abu Dhabi. It sounds like you really have enjoyed the move! Looking forward to pt. 2.

@Gulcin Newby Kennettv@Anne 🐝 Thornley-Brown, MBA @Nic Fester

#23 @Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA Thanks for recommendations, I already follow @Gert Scholtz Blog., and now your buzzes.
Barcelona is one of my favorites in Spain, i´ve lived there and visited many times. Next time you plan to visit Spain, please consider visiting South, Sevilla, Córdoba, Granada, the muslim triangle, amazing experience.

#22 Thanks for your kind comments @David 🐝 Martín Alonso and for the share. Cape Town is the real gem of SA and offers so much.We in turn have visited Barcelona on holiday and loved the experience.
Please see the travel blogs of @Gert Scholtz for more on SA travel.

I enjoyed your post, can't wait for part two. I have been in SA several times for duty, and really liked, I was in Cape Town for an off duty time for a week and felt in love.

@Deb 🐝 Helfrich ..just to add we never looked back or had any regrets except maybe that we did not make the move 10 years earlier!

#19 Thanks so much for your insightful comments dear @Deb 🐝 Helfrich. Finally have some free time to put it all down! Hope to have part 2 out later this week when I'll all also do some inter-generational analysis.
PS If Michael Moore's people don't call you about the road doccie call them 😃!

I love the contrast you built up, @Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA between a life of comforting tradition and that one phone call that sent you and your family into an entirely different future.

I feel like we become more of who we are meant to be, when we step outside the well-trodden paths. Once we are habituated to a place, life tends to function on auto-pilot, especially when we are immersed in an entire community. That we are known so well is certainly a blessing, but can also be a bind from emerging into all that we are capable of.

I am actively courting that revolutionary phone call right now. But for a contrary reason. I am feeling drawn to travel - the call of the road, as you know, in order to find that place that feels like the home I want to cultivate for the rest of my life. I am ready to negotiate the staying-put part of life. But the place were I can do my best work, contribute the most value is still a mystery to me.

So a drive-about seems prudent.

Excited to see what happens in your tale next!

#17 Thanks Gert.No longer AD of course...stay tuned for part 2!

@Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA Now that does sound like a big change: East London to Abu Dhabi. I am sure, although at times you miss the shores of the Eastern Cape, Abu Dhabi offers a rich tapestry of experience and opportunity for you and your family. Thanks you for the mention Chris, and for a music lover such as you, here is Desert Rose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3lWwBslWqg

#42 I love your workable "litmus test" @Pamela 🐝 Williams. "I have found that when I have to struggle for the next thought, do edits other than typos that exist because my typing skill wasn't as fast as the flow of thoughts, then I am forcing the story and I'm never satisfied with the results". I experience the same and I salute you for highlighting this point in particular.

I particularly like this statement: "The flow of the story is like the flow of the current in a battery".
The writing of the story must be like thoughts flowing from the recesses of your mind. I have found that when I have to struggle for the next thought, do edits other than typos that exist because my typing skill wasn't as fast as the flow of thoughts, then I am forcing the story and I'm never satisfied with the results.

As I wrote my fictional series here on beBee there would be some lengthy timespans between episodes because the words weren't coming naturally. That's when I would step away and let my mind wonder, sometimes for weeks, until a light would come on and I would know exactly what needed to happen, not necessarily what I wanted, but what was needed. That's when the events would come as a surprise to my readers, and that surprise was the best reward/compliment I could receive.

#39 Dear @Lada 🏡 Prkic- you "charged" my soul with your lovely comment. Thank you

#37 Dear @Steve Brady
First, I wish you good health and I am so happy that you feel better now. I missed your presence and I am again happy to read your sound comments . You awakened the sleeping child in me. Thank you so much for I feel more creative now.

I'm glad to see that this story doesn't need recharging. The battery type has a long lifespan. 😊

Do you know where I find the charge to my batteries dear @Ali 🐝 Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee in buzzes like this one and many others on beBee. I charge my batteries through my interaction with people. There is an invisible energy that flows in and I'm charged I write a story.
The battery metaphor is apt as you can tell from my comment. Like Sara says only humans tell stories. Thank you for charging my batteries #Stayawesome

Dear Ali,
Hello! I've been absent for a while due to some health issues. I certainly missed the camaraderie and wisdom here in the beBee community. I heartily endorse your focus on storytelling and your battery metaphor is so apt. I think it reinforces the adage that good storytelling is an art. As I reflect on my own experiences in the Education sector, many, many times I saw the shift in energy that a good story can bring. I think it's a perennial form of wisdom that can resonate with the "child" in each of us.

#35 Very soon, Insha Allah. Thank you so much for your exceptional and interactive buzzes.

#34 So, when are we going to read a story book from you the wise @Tausif Mundrawala. I enjoy your senses as reflected in your comments. This one is no exception.

I do find the battery a suitable metaphor. We should start our story with the combination of many aspects and readers stay hooked if the protagonist have been carved well. People tend to forget that the antoginist is misunderstood by others but still he/she is a human. We should bring forth and unfold the story in different phases. My buzzes on stories were well received and I concluded the fact that readers like strong charcters and however weak one is but still would like to call oneself as the most strongest. The weakest characters have drawn sympathy from them but I don't like to burden my readers with the worst plight one could imagine. As always a power charged buzz which has lit my batteries on,Sir @Ali 🐝 Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee

#32 I am going to read tonight your buzz on the price of beans. I know what price you demand shall be fair @Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee because I know i shall have an added value. Keep your batteries charged.

I have gained great pleasure being a storyteller. I also loved journalism. In journalism, it is expected that you grab the reader's attention in the first few lines. Then it a chore not discharging your own batteries maintaining the pace. I've had editors "deflate" a piece and it has made me nearly rabid. One young man dared not cut my work again after removing elements that completely eliminated a cost to society in it. That was https://www.bebee.com/producer/@joyce-bowen/the-price-of-beans. I always reproduce it with his 'edits' cut.

#28 Thank you dear @Sara Jacobovici for your "friendly" comment. As you have established the hive Only Humans Tell Stories I am not surprised at all to read your comment and your attention to the value of storytelling.
Yes, in my age timeflies and I can't believe this buzz celebrated its first birthday.

#29 Thank you for your sharing dear @Sara Jacobovici. Much appreciated

The art of storytelling by @Ali 🐝 Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee.

Allow me to apologize for coming late into this discussion. I just came across it now. At the risk of sounding cliche, I can't believe that it has been more than a year since you published your post @Ali 🐝 Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee View more

#24 Mee too !

#25 May be your next buzz would be on "Building Stories"! You are an engineer @Lada 🏡 Prkic and you may build a 3-storey story, in emulation of the 3-Acts of writing stories. Your special engineering genes shall be a great asset to you.

#17 #19 Thanks, Louise! I'm glad you remembered my post about Licitars. It's one of my favorite. To write such a story, I need a special type of "battery" that is not always available. :-)
As you said, storytelling is in our genes, somewhere and to some degree.

#16 Thank you! It's always a pleasure to interact with your posts, dear Ali. But you are faster in writing than I am in commenting on your posts. I have to speed up! 😀

#14 awe, that is so kind to say, writing with love, is what I love and when it comes across and touches other hearts too, I feel fulfilled, grateful and blessed @Fran 🐝 Brizzolis

#13 I so enjoy it @Darko Lugonja thank you

You always get to reach my heart with your texts. Thank you so much @Liesbeth Leysen, MSc. International Management, Certified Executive Coach. Brand Ambassador beBee, Inc.

@🐝 Fatima G. Williams @Jeremy Miller @Joel Anderson @Joe Rowbotham @Pamela 🐝 Williams @Larry Boyer, 🐝 Brand Ambassador @Paul "Pablo" Croubalian

@Kevin Baker @Laurent Boscherini @Milos Djukic @Gert Scholtz @Gerald Hecht @Qamar Ali Khan

@Lisa 🐝 Gallagher @Lisa Vanderburg @Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee @Franci🐝Eugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador @Ali 🐝 Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee

@John White, MBA @Juan Imaz @Javier 🐝 beBee @Matt 🐝 Sweetwood @Virag🐝 G. @Mamen 🐝 Delgado

@Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA @Darko Lugonja @Jerry Fletcher @Chas ✌️ Wyatt @Patrick Poedts @Fran 🐝 Brizzolis @David B. Grinberg

thank you @Savvy Raj!

#3 thank you so much @Sara Jacobovici love your comments and glad you were swept along the words

Lovely post by @ Liesbeth

Once I started to read @Liesbeth Leysen, MSc. International Management, Certified Executive Coach. Brand Ambassador beBee, Inc.'s story, I found myself swept along with the words all the way to the end.

Bravo @Liesbeth Leysen, MSc. International Management, Certified Executive Coach. Brand Ambassador beBee, Inc.! A perfectly woven piece of a beautifull fabric of life. I understand why you added the quote but I think your words stand on their own.

#1 and you are such an adorable lady @Joanne Gardocki thank you!

I do so love your writing, @Liesbeth Leysen, MSc. International Management, Certified Executive Coach. Brand Ambassador beBee, Inc.. You write from the open heart and touch the soul.

#39 No worries a day is just # in the week @Aaron 🐝 Skogen many thanks :-)

Just another Tuesday eh, @Pascal Derrien. I'm sorry I missed this yesterday, but that is in the past and I'm typing in the present. Amazing how a seemingly "routine" event can trigger a response AND a memory! I enjoyed your mash-up of the two together and hearing the Menzingers again (it's been awhile)!

#37 Very kind of you @🐝 Fatima G. Williams :-) I am not great at commenting back but encouragement and observation are much appreciated :-)

Love it @Pascal Derrienpasca I just enjoy reading the way you write and you take me there with you like a time travel to the past and the experience is simply awesome to me. Merci becoup for this beautiful flashback. If I may on behalf of the bees. We all like the past and present you the future you does not hold a big questionmark to me🙂🙂🙂🙂🤗🤗🤗👍👍👍👍

#23 yup..nothing petty about Tom except in that name;) well, in which it is one optimist to another! :)

#20 I get the layer thing it's really the algorithm that is crazy. Consciously i want a hamburger with extra pickles, my subconscious sends me a hotdog with a flat tire on the side. My early studies of the dewey decimal system were not totally correlated into the subconscious. So the book i need requires several orders. Frontal lobe meal time as served by the subconscious is a very delightful time of mystery and intrigue.

#33 Tuesday seems like a good pick for this type of experience @Deb 🐝 Helfrich thanks so much for adding your comment 😀

An enjoyable co-mingling of your present and past, Pascal. Which is what can happen for all of us, if we allow the space for it, on every given Tuesday.

#26 The thanks goes to you. I enjoy your posts as i can identify with your brain wave musings. I'm not sure that is a good thing, none the less i sense we have walked through similar landscapes through out our lives. I only wish i could write as well as you, and lay out the landscapes.

#27 thanks a bunch @Sara Jacobovici I am looking forward to reading your ''memoirs'' :-)

#29 Cheers @Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee and thanks for dropping by :-)

Nice read

@Pascal Derrien writes, "...I am positive it was mostly about daily events sinking in the depths of an ordinary nostalgia liquor."

Thanks for sharing @Pascal Derrien. A privilege to witness and an opportunity to experience. Maybe it is the summer, but I, too, am finding myself writing less and thinking and remembering more. So, I am putting it all together and am writing my "oeuvre" on Identity. I pre-acknowledge you for the inspiration Pascal, thank you. And, as always, great music pairing! Have a great Wednesday!

#25 thanks @Harvey Lloyd you always illuminate the comment thread with your thoughtful comments :-)

You explained my brain well with the randomness of consciousness. My chemical of choice that kicks this off is adrenaline. Your parking lot dance with mouthpiece would have triggered the Alice and Wonderland adventure for me. Great story line and journey through the synaptic pathways of unconnected thoughts.

#20 cheers @Ian Weinberg you probably know one or two things about that for sure !!! I like the layer analogy it makes me think that one is doing a bit of personal archaeology when visiting his past it's historian work really :-)

#17 ah thanks @Praveen Raj Gullepalli NICE TUNE !!!! to all kings !!! I am actually very optimistic maybe I come across differently :-)i

#16 agree @Phil Friedman modestly I think checking the past every now and again is like consulting my own personal data base I am wired like that but I am always excited about the future :-)

#15 I am with you on the summer @Jim Murray I am writing less at the moment a lot of other things to enjoy especially the bike if the weather is good many thanks for reading and commenting to all Tuesdays then :-)

#45 @Gert Scholtz the Quoteful shots buzz is around the hives.

https://www.bebee.com/producer/@yogesh-sukal/quoteful-shots-with-yogesh-sukal-a-day-at-the-museum-and-surprises

Hope you enjoy it.
#22 #41 #8 #4

#45 Yes, nectar is collected and soon buzz will be around the hives.

Thank you @Gert Scholtz ☺

#40 @Deb 🐝 Helfrich Thanks Deb. Your expression of travel being good for the human compass, is pitch perfect!

#42 @Laurent Boscherini When you comment on a post I am really gratified - thank you Laurent my friend.

#43 @Yogesh Sukal I look forward to your next post on Quoteful shots Yogesh. Thank you for sharing the post.

#41 @@Julio Angel 🐝Lopez Lopez Thank you Julio. Also for your regular comments on my posts.

I totally agree. Just commented on one of travel buzz of @Paul Walters , the quote for travel writer.

As exploration is in our genes since the origin of human kind, so what can be done to know about new places in the world --> read travel story.

Inspired travel writer is a dream seeder.
https://www.bebee.com/producer/@yogesh-sukal/quoteful-shots-with-yogesh-sukal-buzz-3

Quote for every travel writer out there :)

Thank you for the buzz @Gert Scholtz and yes writing to relive the travel moment is what inspired travel writer do which inspires reader to visit the places in future.

Wow Thank you @Gert Scholtz for sharing a such amazing journey to go beyond ourselves and so closed to each of us.

Very true @Gert Scholtz

Such a pitch perfect post, Gert. Travel is good for the brain, tastebuds, and our human compass. Having the means to travel a second time, in sharing a journey via writing, is definitely one of the perks of travel that gets overlooked and should be something we all resort to, when the doldrums arise.

#37 @Ken Boddie Yours is such an eloquent comment from one of beBee’s top travel writers. I hope that readers of the post will scroll down to your read it, including: “There is nothing that sharpens our social awareness and sympathy, for those of different cultures and beliefs, than being a stranger in the society of others. And there is nothing that better propagates this affinity than being unconditionally welcomed by total and absolute strangers.” Many thanks Ken.

#36 @Jerry Fletcher How good that the post has given you some inspiration for blog about your planned visit to the marvelous Japanese Gardens in Portland. I look forward to reading it Jerry – thank you.

How true are the rediscoveries of travel through writing, Gert. Being one who has a shocking memory, I always carry a handy notebook when travelling and also gather information (rarely ever discarded) from pamphlets, tickets and posters, begged, borrowed and stolen along the way. This is much to the chagrin of my better half who nags me until I file everything in an orderly fashion. Then there are the sorting of hundreds (if not thousands) of photos and the occasional discovery of details which went quite unnoticed on the day but are revealed in that lens-captured frozen point in time. Sometimes I think that the actual trip and its preparation are a mere reconnaissance, and that the real journey is the full realisation through later documentation and photographic presentation.

But the real benefit of travel, to which you allude in your excellent post, Gert, is that we realise a greater affinity with our fellow man, at home and abroad. There is nothing that sharpens our social awareness and sympathy, for those of different cultures and beliefs, than being a stranger in the society of others. And there is nothing that better propagates this affinity than being unconditionally welcomed by total and absolute strangers.

Gert, Your suggestion of a walkabout hit home with me. Too often we forget the beauty that abounds in our own back yard. You've inspired me to write a blog about a planned visit to the marvelous Japanese Gardens in Portland. Thanks.

@Sara Jacobovici The video's are great! Glad I could rekindle some memories and thank you for your engagement and sharing the post.

@Gert Scholtz writes, "We continuously form narratives of the world and people around us and of our experiences." Read his story.

@Gert Scholtz writes, "As we write about it, we travel again."

Dear @Gert Scholtz, you are not only a renaissance man, but a troubadour as well!! Love your writing style and the way you "see" the world. Besides being so enjoyable (and triggering pop culture memories of 2 musicals; 1. which I saw at a young age, read impressionable young girl, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4Nr-IIvuTo and 2. young adult who loves musicals, you can start it a 1:11, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTymtAbaG08&list=RDNTymtAbaG08#t=22), your writing incorporates all the things I believe in: the fact that we are sensory beings and storytellers, and a great line about our brain that defies Artificial Intelligence, "The brain is a neural tangle of multiple possibilities and impressions. Thank you Gert for allowing me to tag along.

#20 @Dean Owen Perfect: “Entering the world of travel writing will increase your awareness and each trip will no longer be a vacation but an exploration.”

#18 @Paul Walters In my case it is more - have travelled, now grab notebook. Thanks Paul, for stopping over on this one.

Thank you for sharing this buzz @Joel Anderson @Peter Stefanov and @Preston 🐝 Vander Ven

Appreciate your sharing of this buzz @Sara Jacobovici @🐝 Fatima G. Williams Thank you .

The book was radiating light. He read the book and closed it, and then the light was coming from his eyes..... A beautiful visual indeed @Preston 🐝 Vander Ven thank you.
How wonderful it is to build a well lit bridge of awareness between the inside and outside for humanity to smoothly transition , to see beyond the looking .

This makes me this of a photo I saw yesterday. The comic showed a man in a dark room and he was holding a book. The book was radiating light. He read the book and closed it, and then the light was coming from his eyes.
We need to open ourselves up to listening to others and reading books that we help use grow to sometimes find this clarity. When I learn something new, I can now apply it. "Wow, I found the Needle!"

#10 Thank you for your resonance here @Deb 🐝 Helfrich and for seeing and highlighting the connect with my artwork here..

#9 Appreciate your picking up the line with the message I deeply wanted to convey.through the buzz..So thank you very much.@ @Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA.

#8 Yes indeed @Joel Anderson .
And truly so... Far too often we miss the seeing beyond the looking ... thank you very much for your kind appreciation.. Enjoyed the flow of your reflections in your words.

"Clarity meets you at the core of consciousness"

Words I needed to read today, @Savvy Raj

"Life is a cycle and this circle of life will manifest solutions in time!"

Uplifting,transcendent piece.The circle may overlap, intersect and blur round the edges but it will come "full circle" ultimately.Thanks @Savvy Raj View more

@Savvy Raj Beautiful. Oh but for the joy of the search and the absolute wonder of the journey. Far too often we close our eyes, and ponder why we can not see. Far too often we close our ears, and inexplicably toil over why we fail to hear. Far to often we close our hearts, only to search and aimlessly wander as we look for the essence of our individual and collective being. When in the end, it is right there--within and around us--just asking us to embrace it all, nothing more. The profoundness of simplicity and perspective. Thank you for sharing such an insightful post.

#6 A pleasure! Fatima Williams

#3 I've heard this story many times as examples by many elders. It's true we look outside when the answers lie inside. Looking from within by Sri Aurobindo also throws light on the same topic. Thanks for reminding me of this beautiful message.

Glad to know.Thank you @Ian Weinberg

Wonderfully inspiring. Thanks for sharing @Savvy Raj

Felt this valuable story must be shared and understood ... for greater clarity and also to realise there is always so much more than what meets the eye... thank you dear @Sara Jacobovici for the soulful connects.

@Savvy Raj crafts a story that sheds its light to help us find the meaning.

Bravo @Savvy Raj! Beautifully written, beautifully crafted. This piece helped shed light on the needle. Thank you.

Lascaux was a big milestone when I was in the French school system, always described as a defining moment some schools organized yearly trips there so much the paintings was fascinating I clearly remember my teachers talking about story telling too :-)

@Philippe Collard writes, "...there was a first story ever told."

Your post is a lovely mother's day tribute @Philippe Collard. As you say, there are storytellers and those who listen to the stories. I would add; there are those who are the storytellers and then those who are the storyhearers. The people I work with are the storytellers and I am the storyhearer. I hear their story and I listen to how they tell it. As you describe, the act of storytelling is a central part of who we are. Stories help make sense of our world and our place in it and we define ourselves by a story within time. We create stories; verbally, oral and written, and non-verbally, through movement/dance, visual symbols and signs/visual arts, and sound making/music. Where there is life, in any form, there is communication. But only humans tell stories. And then, there is a mother's lullaby.....

Happy Mothers' Day! Yes I would second that Moms started off first! ;) pointing at the moon and humming a tune...giving things names and playing teeny toddler games! In fact I wouldn't be surprised to know that they were the artists too most of the time. As the huntermen narrated their adventures and acted them out in the caves around the fires...the women using charcoal and then other more painstaking stuff to chisel in the writing on the wall. The off hunting seasons probably gave enough time to the menfolk to get creative as well with the arts and other heavier stuff...like - hey let's scoop out another cave! ;) The Borra caves in South India have fascinating formations and art inside. They go back to around 50000 years ago into humanoid presence.

And here's another ...'far far away'...
https://youtu.be/6gqCCAb8xbw

Best M day post of the day! Can't wait till my little one gets to an age when I can read her The Hobbit....

Everyone will remember the story, I include one with any presentation & make it interesting.

#29 Thanks for that @Jerry Fletcher

Ah Ian, you bring back memories of when I was much younger before both knees went on me. There is no feeling quite like that of overcoming the fears and summiting. It is good to read how others face the challenge.

#25 Thanks Paul. There was indeed a great bar at the hotel - experienced many pleasurable moments and great achievements (volume-wise)!

#25 Thanks Paul. But there was indeed a great bar at the hotel - many pleasurable moments and great achievements (volume-wise)!

#24 well you can down play it Doc but it takes some nerves (pun intended) :-)

@Ian Weinberg I only got as far as the Cathedral Peak hotel bar..that was high enough for me!! great tale...that's if you like hiking !

#21 Thanks Pascal. At the end of the day, I'm just another fellow-plodder along the path!

#19 Thanks for that @Ken Boddie Yep, I got quite good at putting things into jars over the years. Sometimes I've been unsure as to what parts I should put in the jar. And sometimes I've managed to put it together again, sans a couple of miscellaneous left-over pieces!

#20 A seed idea for another story @Ian Weinberg

Ian the super neuro I meant the super hero :-)

#18 Thanks @Ali 🐝 Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee I would propose that you can take the man out of neuro, but you can't take the neuro out of the man!

Gripping tale. Brings back some comparisons of my youth in the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland, Ian, but without the acrophobic Dave and the last minute chain ladder ascent Must have been comforting for the others to know they had a capable medic on board, to mop up the bits and put them in a jam jar home to mum should the worst occur. 😂

Neuroscience in storytelling. I wonder how you see his relationship as you proved to be a storyteller as much as a powerful neurologist @Ian Weinberg? Enjoyed reading immensely.

#14 Thanks @Sara Jacobovici and thanks for sharing

#13 Thanks for that @Aaron 🐝 Skogen

@Ian Weinberg writes, "My entire life focus narrows down to putting one foot in front of the next. And then ... we arrive." Join Ian on his adventure. Exciting read each step along the way.

You are a great storyteller and guide @Ian Weinberg. Loved every step and image. Finally took a breath when I read, "..... and I’m on the summit of Cathedral Peak!"

Wow! Outstanding story @Ian Weinberg. I'm a huge fan of heights and pushing limits, the views are amazing! Looking forward to the story on descent, as that's where I usually start to sweat, emotionally that is . Great buzz!

#10 if you're well armed you inherit the stairway to Heaven!

#8 Thanks for that @John White, MBA

Nice one Jim. Di seemed lovely. Happy mother's day to all.

Nicely said, Jim.

cool buzz, happy mothers day to all

oh my gosh...that last part ...I miss my momma so much. we are all blessed with those angels. great post Jim

A story that only @Jim Murray can write and everyone can appreciate.

Beautifully written, beautifully told @Jim Murray. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice tribute :-)

#38 Just tweeted this for you too @Randall Burns :)

#38 👍

#37 Thanks @Franci🐝Eugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador, got it, and sent John my new Buzz today as it already hit 20 :-)

@Randall Burns, your post qualifies with 20 or more relevants and over 5 comments. Please note this link and the benefits offered-https://www.bebee.com/producer/@john-white/bebee-is-taking-member-content-sharing-to-the-next-level

#35 Thank You @Liesbeth Leysen, MSc. International Management, Certified Executive Coach. Brand Ambassador beBee, Inc. Much appreciated!

deep bow this is art @Randall Burns

Thanks everyone for your support and feedback, i appreciate it, will be forwarding this to @John White, MBA now, with my new twitter address. :-)

You did it. It was aa if I was reading an account of a diver and surfer in Reader's digest. Yes you reminded me of this wonderful magazine which has always been favorite of mine. Here is my relevant,@Randall Burns View more

This is great writing and a great story. Only 4 more relevants needed @Liesbeth Leysen, MSc. International Management, Certified Executive Coach. Brand Ambassador beBee, Inc. @🐝 Fatima G. Williams @Tausif Mundrawala @Milos Djukic 😉

Randall needs 4 more relevants for John to share on Twitter! This is a fun story.

Magnificent narrative dear Randall! I almost experienced it in 3D! You brought the magic, the colours, the mystique, the majesty, the might, the awe and the unfathomable deep blue sea and sky alive! Kudos! A meditation on blue literally. You'd make the Old Man and the Sea, proud! Thanks for tagging me @Lisa 🐝 Gallagher!

#27 Flying w/the fish may be a bit easier on you right now @Paul Walters. Oh just to fly!

@Randall Burns Thats it, to hell with tennis I'm off to get some 'croakies' and a board...that is after my ankle heals!! Thanks Randall ...oh to fly with fish !

#25 Thank you @Lisa 🐝 Gallagher for tagging me. No question about the quality of this buzz by the great writer @Randall Burns. It is music, fun, deep thinking, mental and physical travelling and wisdom fused together.
Randal asks in this buzz "wow does time ever fly by when you’re having fun"? Well, my answer is definitely yes. The reading time of your buzz is 10 minutes, but I felt it less than two minutes.

I have a suspicion that @Deb 🐝 Helfrich may enjoy Randall's story along with @Praveen Raj Gullepalli @Ali 🐝 Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee and @Javier 🐝 beBee

#22 haha, YESsssssss! I'm going to find you and follow you now!

#20 LMAO!! Great to hear from you @Ken Boddie Thanks for the feedback

#18 LMFAO!!! @Lisa 🐝 Gallagher Ok, you dragged me kicking and screaming out of the dark ages, I NOW HAVE TWITTER! @randy_burns5 and Lisa, you're the FIRST following I clicked on. :-)

Following on from my comment below, I see that @Gert Scholtz has already seen this one, but @Dean Owen and @Paul Walters, you should really read this one.

Great intro on life's sinusoidal curve of ups and downs, Randy. I work in a culture of 'opportunities' rather than problems, where all experiences are greatfully received. But the concept of "balls to the wall" leads to "flying with fish" has me trumped. As for that hickie on the neck., can't see "got slapped by a flying fish" being a credible excuse with most partners. 🤣😂🤣

#22 DJ bee @Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA, you are awesome

@Liesbeth Leysen, MSc. International Management, Certified Executive Coach. Brand Ambassador beBee, Inc. "Magical realism at it's best! Love lost, love regained, love transformed"

Robbie Williams provides the musical link here: https://youtu.be/sF8eMK6dUXA

#18 wow bee @Chas ✌️ Wyatt absolutely adore your add, thank you!

#17 so beautiful how you have put it @Franci🐝Eugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador

#16 thank you @Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee much appreciated

"Hope" is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all...."
~Emily Dickinson, c.1861.

Beautiful @Liesbeth Leysen, MSc. International Management, Certified Executive Coach. Brand Ambassador beBee, Inc. I adore feathers, as well. They are delicate and graceful when they are solo. They are comforting and warm when they are united.

beautiful story

#11 I adore feathers too @Sara Jacobovici there is something mysterious about them that transcends all time and space, thank you!

#13 happy you did @Kevin Baker!

Very much enjoyed ty

@Liesbeth Leysen, MSc. International Management, Certified Executive Coach. Brand Ambassador beBee, Inc. "[digs] deep into all human emotions." A timely story, beautifully written.

#2 Keep tagging me please @Liesbeth Leysen, MSc. International Management, Certified Executive Coach. Brand Ambassador beBee, Inc.. I feel a loss when I am unable to read a story of yours but every once in awhile, an inexplicable pull draws me to one of your stories. It happened again for this one and I am grateful to have read it. A beautiful story, beautifully written. I experience how it transcends time. On a personal note, the feather is an important symbol in my life and it is rarely used in stories. Your story placed the feather in the role of messenger.

#8 thank you power honey bee @debasish majumder

@Jeremy Miller of course our graduation bee!!!

@David B. Grinberg @Kevin Baker @Milos Djukic @Laurent Boscherini @Katyan Roach

@Chris 🐝 Guest Cert.Prof.Acc.SA @Darko Lugonja @Patrick Poedts @Larry Boyer, 🐝 Brand Ambassador @Gert Scholtz @Gerald Hecht

@Devesh 🐝 Bhatt @Tausif Mundrawala @Yogesh Sukal @debasish majumder @Chas ✌️ Wyatt @Fran 🐝 Brizzolis

@Lisa 🐝 Gallagher @Lisa Vanderburg @Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee @Mamen 🐝 Delgado @Concierge Jo-Anna Silver-Sparta @Sandra Smith

#21 Thanks for the kind words @Lisa 🐝 Gallagher. Grateful for your encouragement.

Thank you @David B. Grinberg for introducing me to BeBee! #20

You're great on Video @Deborah Levine and I love your AHA moment you shared, thank you!

Thank you, Deborah, for the words of wisdom. It's great to have you here on beBee!

Thank you @Franci🐝Eugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador #18

Well done, @Deborah Levine. I enjoyed your AHA moment and hope to see more. You're a natural at this.

#15 Delighted that you enjoyed my AHA moment and will post more videos soon as per your request @Tausif Mundrawala

Thank you @Sara Jacobovici. I'm deeply moved that The Liberator's Daughter is resonating with you like this. #13

What a commendable buzz my friend. An AHA moment well described by you. I couldn't resist myself watching this wonderful video. During my break I clicked this video and grasped the wonderful aspects of it. Each and every writer experiences such an AHA moment and I agree with you that being a writer we get a voice which echoes around the world in the form of our body of work. Share more such videos and please tag me the moment you do. I am glad to watch this wonderful buzz my friend,@Deborah Levine

@Deborah Levine tells great stories, both written and verbal.

Thanks for the tag @Deborah Levine. Love your video and am excited by @stephan metral 🐝 Innovative Brand Ambassador's response. Looking forward to "seeing" the developments. As a PS, I am reading your book, The Liberator’s Daughter, on Kindle. I just wanted to share a line that moved me profoundly, "Whether an immigrant, first-generation American, or a combination of the two like me, our roots are closer to the surface and deeper in our souls than we realize." You're a great writer and storyteller Deborah, both written and verbal.

Great idea @stephan metral 🐝 Innovative Brand Ambassador. Would my online magazine qualify as a video hosting website? That's where I anchor my podcasts: www.americandiversityreport.com
What about a Youtube channel? #8

#6 To everyone who would doubt of fear to appear on video, check this one. There is your hoho moment before and your haha moment after - stunning - the keynote speak demonstrate his overcome of fear while interacting with the Audience - https://www.bebee.com/producer/@stephan-metral/god-place-the-best-things-in-life-on-the-other-side-of-terror

#7 Right now I am in office and we don't have access to any videos as it's being blocked by network administrators. The moment I would take break I will watch it on my phone. Sorry my friend for this inconvenience, @Deborah Levine

i loved @Javier 🐝 beBee interview, in english, gives a more international dimension and not only spanish. The more he will do that the more journalist will relay the buzz.

#6 At some point you will need to build a video hosting website with your own contents. knock at my door then.

#2 What accounts for the lack of access to video @Tausif Mundrawala?

Thank you @stephan metral 🐝 Innovative Brand Ambassador. I'm increasingly invested in videos and even more so in podcasts like the one I did of @Javier 🐝 beBee. I call it multi-dimensional writing. #3

Shared on twitter and FB to 2000+1600.

typo- *sharing

#27 Thanks for that contribution @Phil Friedman There is an ongoing inability of society and my profession to deal with those that are 'different'. I experienced this personally when, on presenting my work on the correlation of mind states with the body electric field (performed with sophisticated apparatus in Faraday cage conditions), the Prof warned me to lock it away if I valued my future career in clinical medicine!

In Florida, we have legislation known as the "Baker Act". It is often thought as a tool for having someone involuntarily committed to a mental hospital, but it is actually a patients' rights act that incorporates a strict requirement for licensed mental health professionals to examine and go before a judge within 72 hours of commitment to show that the patient is a danger either to him- or herself or others or release the patient.

f course, most mental health workers lie to patients about what their rights under the law are -- or are sadly ignorant of the law, which is just as bad. The most dangerous position for a patient to be in is when he or she has been committed involuntarily and at the same time has insurance that covers the stay. In such cases, if the facility has open beds, it will finagle and lie and do everything it can to retain the patient, whilst billing the insurance company more than, literally, $10,000 per day. The situation continues to be horrible for those who are not dangerous, either to themselves or others, but due to slightly odd behavior run afoul of those who would lock them away against their wills.

#25 Thanks for sharing your personal experience Deb. To be honest I haven't researched headache/migraine specifically in the context of deprivation. We do however know that there is a strong inflammatory component in migraine. A higher incidence of inflammation has indeed been found in people with nurture deprivation issues - this could be the link. In your case however, the family history of migraine is probably significant in regard to your headaches.

Unfortunately, @Ian Weinberg, I just don't know who would be able to defend their sanity against this tide of events. The way these internments go, ALL humans would become triggered with rage against the institution at some point and the only outcome is to be further buried under the meds that preclude having a rational conversation to explain the utterly common reaction.

It appears to me that we mistake psychiatric meds and their ability to tamper down personality and consciousness itself - along an easily identifiable continuum with the anesthesia meds - as helping, when in reality, we just turn the person into a just a zombie - a functioning body that has no self-awareness or ability to be responsible for self-direction.

Utterly shameful.

#22 Thank you very much @Mohammed A. Jawad

@Ian Weinberg I must say you are simply humane and so well you have exposed the agony, sufferance and escape of an oppressed person. Here's a lesson that teaches us to read human feelings with compassion, justice and trust.

#18 Thanks for that Marc

#17 Dankie Oom @Gert Scholtz . All the best.

#16 Thanks very much for that @Lada 🏡 Prkic

@Ian Weinberg Wow!! Completely blown away by this!! Sad that we pigeon hole everyone too quickly instead of trying to fully understand what is actually going! Thanks for a great article

@Ian Weinberg I read the story, marked it relevant, and had to pause a few moments to take it all in. It is both tragic and triumphant and so well told. It reminds me of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest but with a different outcome and ending. Gems from you like this one will keep me reading the Writings of Weinberg again and again. Thank you Ian.

Ian, I hit the Relevant button but the relevant isn't the right word for your piece. I wish we have the Magnificent button. :-) I was reading your post last night before going to sleep and couldn't comment before. This is so well-written, but the story itself leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Who knows how many people are wrongfully imprisoned in psychiatric institutions because of such a law. With all due respect, but psychiatrists always make me shudder.
Thanks for writing such an important story. I'm still under impression.

#12 Thanks for sharing that @Dean Owen

@Ian Weinberg Shades of "one flew over the cuckoos nest" Tragic tale well told .Thank you

If having an 'invisible friend' or talking to yourself is enough to have you institutionalized...perhaps we all should be...Despicable practice by incompetent psychiatrists...Failure of a system that has absolutely has NO knowledge of human consciousness...'Nuff said.

This sounded so much like England and the experience I witnessed first hand with my brother who had similarly been institutionalised, and in and out of half-way houses and on meds all his life. I can't fathom that even now in the 21st Century, we've seen little progress in the archaic and often brutal nature with which paranoid schizophrenia is treated. Beautifully written.
https://www.bebee.com/producer/@dean-owen/tales-of-greed-love-and-schizophrenia

Your buzzes make me more humble day by day because it makes you realize being a human. What else could I say? Am speechless. Hats off to you, Ian for dealing with such cases day in and out. Thanks for tagging me @Ian Weinberg

"no comment" should be enough of a comment.

I could feel the rage myself. Wow

@Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee @Tausif Mundrawala

Count your blessings as they say. This is a buzz right from the heart. Thanks for sharing @Scott Craig.

#166 Thank you sir.

a nice article as you know I am not sure I suscribe to the divine intervention you mention but I support well written articles written from the heart :-)

#13 It's carried me a lot of years now too, @Carla Taylor!

#12 Thank you for your kind words, and for sharing @debasish majumder!

#7 Thank you @Sara Jacobovici. I don't know any other way to write, except in pure honesty.

#5 Thank you for reading and commenting. One day, you will kick down that wall and the whole world will change for the better!

@Donna Wood - this is my favorite quote that has carried me and guided me for years! Be the light!

Fear has always been my roommate. Fear of failing... Fear of success... Fear of being powerless... Fear of being powerful... Fear of just about everything. Fear is the Boogyman. Thank you for this post

You know fear is a brand that we seem to gravitate to, you certainly placed the brand in perspective. Good perspective and insights.

Fear isn't that terrible... As all emotions, it's a question of knowing how to tame it. Fear, sadness and joy are my preferred ones and I try to avoid pain and anger as much as I can. I didn't know disgust that I experiencing at the moment. Suprisingly, it's more tasty than I was expecting...

A must read by @Donna Wood.

Well done @Donna Wood, from every point of view; your talent and ability for writing, for being a courageous and (as @Shelly Brown writes) honest storyteller, for being the light. Thank you Donna. A privilege to have read your share.

@Donna Wood I don't even have adequate words for how much this story pierced my soul. I shook my head with understanding, held my breath with relatability and tears of hope and sadness welled up in my eyes. Beautifully written piece. Hits very close to home. It's amazing how "awful" can be comforting when it's what you know. The light is becoming my roommate more and more. I would love to kick that wall of fear to crumbles! Thank you for your honesty.

#3 perfect! thank you, you as well @Donna Wood!

#2 Me too! Happy Saturday!

true, I rather share my room with the loving version!

Thank you once again @Kata Rina for reading and liking this buzz.

#31 What else could these deprived angels ask for then the prayers of a kind person like you, @Lisa 🐝 Gallagher. Our heart would wrench by witnessing their plight.

#30 Thank you so much my friend, @debasish majumder for reading and liking this buzz. I am elated.

#29 They have endured harshest of conditions which seems unbearable to a human being. I appreciate your kind words and am thankful to you for reading, liking and sharing this buzz my friend, @Franci🐝Eugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador

What a moving story @Tausif Mundrawala. Life really isn't fair. It sounds as though they make the best of their situation but deserve so much more. This has always been an issue to me, seeing class division. Maybe if the news focused more on real stories that affect so many humans around the globe, well possibly mindsets would change too. I don't know the answers but it's hard to hear of people who work so hard just to survive. You brought light to a real human situation, thank you so much for sharing this story. I wish them both their angel wings while still here on earth :))

Life takes on so many faces and this is an example of young lives enduring so many struggles just to survive. An unfortunate tale, but beautiful story, @Tausif Mundrawala.

#26 Those who goes through pain know how does it feel to endure that excruciating bitter pill. I am emphatic with those who have been through a lot. As somewhere or the other every individual goes through it. Even I have been through a lot. But the strength gained is unmatchable to all kinds of strong material available in the world. I am elated to know what you felt of this buzz.

Thank you so much once again my friend,@Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee

#20 I love the story. You are a fine storyteller. Such blind hope evidenced through childhood play caused me sadness, which is why I didn't comment. We loose such hope as time goes on. Play can no longer refresh us.

#24 Yes I know him very well. What an example, Sir?

@Tausif Mundrawala Sometimes out of blues someone reaches in support.. and fulfill the not only the one who keeps on dreams, but also those who may not.. There are many in various fields, just an example about One from region you are well aware of is "Jackie Shroff" (urf jackie da - bhidu).

@Tausif Mundrawala you have taken the stage.. Learning from the ways of your expressions makes me more inquisitive to keep following your informative awareness ways.

Thank you my friend @Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee for reading and liking this buzz. I invite you to comment on this story though you being a wonderful story teller. Please let me know what you think?

Thank you so much Sir @siraj shaik For reading and liking my buzz. You have always been supportive. I am elated.

@Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee, @Deb🐝 Lange, Brand Ambassador @beBee, @Harvey Lloyd, @stephan metral 🐝 Innovative Brand Ambassador, @Lisa 🐝 Gallagher

#16 To be very honest I am worried about them not being schooled and I always persuade Tahameena to send her kids to school. But this poor mother hardly makes ends meet and she couldn't afford to educate them. It wrecks my heart to see these kids devoid of education. You made this buzz more special because I have not received such a wonderful feedback. Thank you so much once again, @Lisa Vanderburg

The beauty of this tale @Tausif Mundrawala is that these 'urchins' (such an adorable word!) choose to see wonder in such a harsh world they live in. It's as if have instinctively understood that life is a moment-to-moment existence; they have decided to see magic, see love, see playfulness and find joy in a life that is fraught with danger, termination or pain - an art that's quite lost to most 1st worlder-kids. You've written this with such empathy and NO pity - which makes Pappu and his friends revered! Breath-taking, thank you Tausif!

I would even like to thank my friends, @John White, MBA, @Laurent Boscherini, @Gert Scholtz, @David B. Grinberg, @Kevin Baker and of course our king bee @Javier 🐝 beBee. I am elated.

Thank you so much my friend, @Milos Djukic for reading, liking and sharing this buzz with our fellow bees.

#11 It's a real story and I know them. But I agree with you on all aspects. Thanks for reading, commenting and liking this buzz my friend, @Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

#10 Thank you so much for your motivational comment. If I am criticized or praised by a person like you I know that it would be a constructive feedback and needs to be heeded. I am privileged to be connected with you , Sir @CityVP 🐝 Manjit

#57 Thanks for that @Tausif Mundrawala

We can aspire to inspire. Wow! I have been postponing reading this wonderful buzz by clicking to it but due to some work I couldn't finish it. Today I made it a point to finish it somehow or the other. You have proved that doctors are like angels for those who needs to undergo treatment on urgent basis. I was totally immersed in each and every word as the entire setting and situation sprang back to life the way it happened. The last paragraph of this buzz was motivational enough. You described very well the kinds of people who needs better care.

I am glad that I fulfilled the promise made to myself and thanks for sharing this fantastic buzz with us, @Ian Weinberg

#54 you're welcome @Ian Weinberg thank you for giving us a window into your wisdom.

#55 Thanks very much for the kind words @🐝 Fatima G. Williams

A life changing read in many ways. In terms of people and the need to help others and ourselves. I did cry when I read how you met that 10 year old girl now a women cherishing the life you helped her to continue living. Doctors are in many ways God. A faith that can make or break us. "Aspire to inspire by walking the walk" a fantastic message to take away. Thank you @Ian Weinberg I see that you are a caring human, an outstanding surgeon and hope and pray for more surgeons like you out there. The world needs more doctors with the heart to give than just with the need to take as is the case in most places in the current medical world.

A standing ovation at your smartness and blessed heart. Thank you

#52 Thanks for that Tricia. I'll check it out.

#51 Thanks for that @Lisa 🐝 Gallagher Maximize on the good stuff and do what you can for others, but ensure your own gratification needs are also met! Best wishes.

Wow @Ian Weinberg what a beautiful piece you've written here and an amazing conclusion. My own path of auto-immune antibodies and lack of an answer from medics led me on a journey of discovery towards a biopsychosocial model of dis-ease via energy psychology practices (starting with Reiki & Emotional Freedom Techniques, to arrive at META-Health (a scientific framework, that has its foundations in German New Medicine, which details emotions & beliefs specific to organ tissues & the corresponding brain layer the organ tissue relays to) & mBraining coaching - the cardiac, enteric, cephalic, reproductive brains & ANS intelligence). I totally get the significant life event preceding dis-ease you write about that creates the bio-logical conflict. Different paths & expertise, yet the same illuminating conclusion. I believe my clients are my teachers & reflect what I need to learn/heal within me.Your work sounds absolutely fascinating. I mention META-Health as it may interest you. Here's Dr Anton Bader (he can read a brain scan and tell what the biological conflict is, which organ tissue & if it's active or resolved) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5WR6RKrJKg

I was moved to tears reading this @Ian Weinberg. What a wonderful man and surgeon you are. I can't imagine the times you worked so hard and fate didn't want to cooperate. I'm sure those are the times you remember the most. How enlightening to read the story of the 10 year old who you met much later in life. I think your meeting was meant to be. I love how you ended your story, "And we can't control everything and fix things to conform to our own expectations. But one thing we can always do …. we can aspire to inspire!" I agree and honestly, this is something I've been working on. It comes easy at times and other times depending on what we are going through we need to be self aware. My husband is going through a tough time right now for various reasons. I have been trying hard to inspire him and pamper him because he needs it. I hope it helps. Inspiring story!

#48 Thanks again @Deb 🐝 Helfrich for sharing important insights.

#47 Thanks Melissa

I have to reiterate the awe-inspiring accolades - this is such a well-crafted piece of writing. In each human life there is a time and place for the intricate processes and procedure that contemporary medicine excels in, as well as a time and a place to learn to use our thinking equipment to support our own best healing and life outcomes.

The highly skilled and exhaustively intense work that you perform, @Ian Weinberg, is so tremendously necessary in times of acute trauma, but even with coaching, it is up to the owner of the brain to decide how to regard this episode of their life. As gruelingly hard as those hours of surgery clearly were, your life-saving work is a tiny fraction of someone's life. If they don't cherish their own life and reinforce this belief with their consistent thought processes there is a risk that their body won't be able to fully heal if they cannot learn to live in a calm, relaxed, and grateful parasympathetic state.

The more we open up to just how much influence our thoughts have on the efficient functioning of our immune system, via the ways we stress ourselves with limiting and self-defeating thoughts, the more we can pair up the skills of medical interventions with the appropriate mindset needed to ensure our body can devote all required resources to healing during a crisis.

Bravo!

Woah, snarly isn't a common word and I used it in a festering thought in my brain and World yesterday... there is something here for me to learn, yes, and your scientific approach does wonders for ones reflective understanding. "It’s not about being driven to changing other people. It’s about applying those changes to yourself." Inspiring, you are, THANK YOU! *clapping*

#45 Thanks very much @Jerry Fletcher

Ian, I am in awe.

I thought, what would a brain surgeon write about. Now I know. I thought, what else intrigues a man poking inside of heads. Now I know. I thought, will there be a connection. Now, I know.

A brain surgeon can write about the troubles of the soul. A brain surgeon can be intrigued with how thoughts and beliefs can physically heal or maim. A brain surgeon can shed light on matters we seldom glimpse and find the words that can make them visible to the rest of us. Thank you.

#42 Thanks Robert

#41 Thanks very much for that Aaron

Profound experiences, @Ian Weinberg, and to think thirty years ago, the mortality and morbidity rates for such cases was so high. There are miracles, and it's interesting to see they're manmade instead of "heaven sent." Good piece and very inspiring. Thanks.

WOW! Outstanding post @Ian Weinberg! I spent a bit of my time as a medic. I loved my time spent in that profession as the field of medicine has always intrigued me. I was one who, however, "preferred" a trauma call over a general medical. Preferred is the wrong word really, I hated to see people hurt, but as a Medic, trauma's were somewhat easier to manage for me anyway. Thankfully my regular partner was the opposite, as she preferred the general medical calls.

Anyway, this is a great story. You touch on a great point about recovery and dealing with injury in this piece Ian. I am often amazed at how attitude and our ability to manage emotions can impact our health and well-being. Your spot on, that's up to the individual to choose and not you. I went through an executive leadership coaching session recently with a small cohort and the phrase "Aspire to Inspire" was used by our coaches. The phrase is so applicable, regardless of our "field" of work.

Well done Sir, very well done!

Thank you for your uplifting story and your skills. My wife had Brain surgery two years ago and I appreciate the skills needed to do this job.

#21 Great quote!!

#20 Absolutely @Lisa 🐝 Gallagher, I think that's everyone's life. One of my favorite quotes by John Lennon;

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"

#18 Great point about everything going as planned.. those stories can be boring depending on the type of story!! I don't think much goes as planned in my life. That's life, right?! ;-)

#15 haha Do you know my mom, you must that's what she says.LOL Truth be told, I'm watching sunsets until I see a green flash then I will know I can return to the land of Northern Lights! :) Have an awesome week, make sonething scrumptious!

Thank You @Lisa 🐝 Gallagher , always great to hear from you. if you were hoping that it wasn't going to fall then you already knew that it was going to, (your intuition was already there). It is a matter of perspective but I don't think it would be as good of a story, or a message, if it didn't fall. Makes me think about how many great stories I've missed out on because everything went well and "as planned".

Wow great story, great attitude @Randall Burns. I bet the Conch Shell was beautiful but she smashed! I was reading this and hoping I wouldn't hear that it fell.. glad you still had a great time and didn't let it ruin your day!!

#13 Thanks @Dean Owen, I always appreciate your feedback. Harbin is reputed to be the world's largest Ice/Snow festival in the world, would love to see that, another item for my bucket list.

#12 Thanks for your kind response @Melissa Hefferman I can assure you that Canada misses you too, hasn't been the same since you left.

#11 @Don 🐝 Kerr , Thanks Buddy! Is that possibly a little touch of Newfy accent I'm hearing in your response? Aren't chainsaws just too much fun?

I am in awe of your talent! I do hope you get a chance to see (or even participate) in the annual Harbin Ice Festival:
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/09/travel/harbin-winter-festival-china/

Ice sculpting!!!! Awesome! My snowmen were sculptures to my young Canadian eyes. Oh home sweet home I miss you. Though I suppose home is wherever I am and really, San Diego's sunshine is its own slice of paradise for now for certain. Loved this!!! Your pen sculpts things too! :)

@Randall Burns Ah Jeez my son, what a beauty Husqy. You must have ripped it up some good! Great story again. Reminded me of my dad, he ran a sawmill, and the first chainsaw he introduced me to back in the early '60s. Seven freakin' hp!!! Sounded like a Zero diving on to the Indianapolis!

#9 I remember watching! Yeah, from memory, I thought they opened Strange Brew with The Great White North in the background too . . .

Regardless, those guys were hilarious. I still LMAO when I watch that show. It never gets old.

Being from MN and knowing many Canadians, I always felt a sort of kinship with our friends to the north.

I may have to watch a few episodes of SCTV via the Internet tonight. A laugh would do me good 😉.

#7 Thanks for the great feedback @Sara Jacobovici, @Kevin Pashuk, @Aaron 🐝 Skogen
- Great version of "Oh Canada", I had to stand up in my office while watching. :-)
- Sthil's are excellent saws! The title photo is actually from the 'SCTV" show, Canada's answer to SNL, a regular sketch that they did, (Bob and Doug McKenzie), called "The Great White North", was the predecessor to "Strange Brew". Note, this was "back in the day" when they could still smoke and drink beer on TV, LMAO!! A lot of Canadian actors got their start on "SCTV", Martin Short, John Candy, Dan Aykryod, just to name a few, hilarious show.

#4 Thanks for the shares @Javier 🐝 beBee, I appreciate that.

@Randall Burns writes, "I like sculpting; chocolate, lard, wood and ice and although it had been a few years since I had done any ice carvings I was looking forward to this event."

Yes, i agree with all, @Randall Burns; you are a great storyteller, mood music and all! Love your attitude towards your sculpture falling. Love your story of the beer encounter with a fellow Canadian, eh. Love the diversity of images and sounds and how you pulled it all together. Please keep sharing your stories. Hope you enjoy this Vancouver version of O'Canada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc3OO0IUPjE

@Randall Burns, I'm a Sthil guy myself, but that Husky is a no doubt a good saw. The closest I've come to ice sculpting was cutting my dock free after leaving town for week at thanksgiving. I came home to find it locked into six inches of ice. . .

"My brother, he's a genuis eh!"

Being a Minnesota farm kid and one who's dad had a sawmill, I can relate to "haven't we all. . ." In both contexts 😉.

Loved the Strange Brew intro photo! Great story Randall!

Great canadian bees !!! I love them ALL !!! thanks @Randall Burns for sharing your stories with us ! sharing right now !!!

Randall is a master story teller... and he's Canadian! Two of my favourite things!

#29 Yes you do! :-) Thanks for reading and commenting @Lyon Brave

I want to try a Truffle!

Thanks @Javier 🐝 beBee, you have a great day as well! :-)

@Randall Burns this is a great buzz ! Many thanks for sharing it on beBee. Have a great day !

#25 I will convert you from beans on toast! Once you taste shirako (Cod fish sperm sacks), lightly fried in a tempura batter, you'll never go back!

#2 @Dean Owen Ah, pass me a little more of the Akimo Dean San ... yes the monkfish liver, drizzled in reindeer dribble . Oh you foodies , to what lengths will you go ?

#20 Yes, @Ken Boddie is the leader of the pack.

#22 Cheers @Phil Friedman!! (that'll be 2 toonies and a loonie buddy!)

#21 Truffles do that... as do your lyric vision and prose. Have a Molson on me, and send me the tab. Cheers!

#18 LMAO! thanks @Phil Friedman, I just responded to @Franci🐝Eugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador about the "poets" coming out

#17 HaHa! Thank You @Franci🐝Eugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador, i appreciate it, I don't know why but the "poets" seem to be coming out. Did you see @Ken Boddie 's great comment?

#16 Thanks for the positive feedback @Paul Walters and @Don 🐝 Kerr, I appreciate it, glad you liked it

Randall, in your honor and that of my spiritual home, Taranna:

A truffle's not a trifle,

With an appetite to stifle.

Though you never need a rifle,

To hunt around for thy fill.

Thanks for the neat story. And cheers!

Well, you certainly grabbed by attention. I have had truffles but I don't believe my enjoyment can compare to your delightful experience.

A few lovely truffles
my senses ruffled
I long to savor
their exquisite flavor

@Randall Burns loved this piece. Great story and thanks for sharing.

@Randall Burns great piece,,,, thank you

#11 I saw a program on TV last yr and I do know one place they grow and people are very territorial over them.. Oregon. I'm sure they grow in other States too but that show came to mind. Glad you enjoyed my comment lol.

#9 Thanks @Ken Boddie, HaHa! nice poem buddy!

#7 Thank You @Sara Jacobovici for your wonderful feedback, I appreciate it

#5 Food porn @Lisa 🐝 Gallagher, LMAO!!! Thank you so much for your feedback, I can't think of a better compliment. :-) I'm in Northern Alberta, unfortunately I'm not familiar with any restaurants in the cities that you mention but I'm sure that fresh truffles will present themselves to you one day

#53 That is a wonderful way of thinking about it @CityVP 🐝 Manjit. Furthermore, I love that you shared with me "Metanoia", a new word to me, but an accurate one. Thank you so much for this thoughtful and kind comment.

It is peculiar how things work in life for if you had highlighted "On My Knees" I would have clicked it but I did not see the link on the word "here". I am glad I did not because I read material here as a part of my learning journey and allow myself to virtually travel and having read the first piece, that virtual travel gravitated me towards the being of Alyn Shannon.

You might say that you have never met her, but you have, your spirit has. No matter how many children we pick and feed there is a limit to how many people we can touch unless we are equipped with great spiritual dimension. When you mention Mother Theresa, here is a woman with spiritual dimension that multiplies a million fold larger than mine - she came into the world as that being.

So did you in your dimension except it took the accident to release that spiritual dimension within you. We don't know this until that shell has broken, it is quite possible that if I had such an accident that I might discover that my life was an outer image which was greater than my inner spiritual dimension - but I don't know that because I have not been through that. What I do know from my sojourns and learnings is that what you have experienced doe have a word for it and it is most important word :

Metanoia
http://soulpainter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Metanoia.jpg

Yet your buzz is not just about metanoia, there is also serendipity involved, because as I followed up on the story of Alyn Shannon, I also discover her deep of love of motorcycles and her Harley Softail. This story I know because I read the piece on her niece in which she speaks of the one person who deeply inspired her (her aunt Alyn) http://www.antiquemotorcycle.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=85&cntnt01returnid=97 As I see it, your mission began not just with God but also, like Alyn, with a motorcycle.

#49 I can understand @Pamela 🐝 Williams, no apology needed. I think we need to choose to see the good. I believe there is more good out there than we see. Especially considering the 2 min media cycle and focus on the "sensational". What would the perspective be if the "nightly news" (or morning, or midday) flipped the amount of time spent on attention getting, negative, sensational stories, with the amount of time spent on the positive and uplifting stories (which seems to get the last 90 seconds of the six-o-clock news). . .? I wonder. . .

Remember, each of has the power to choose to lead by that example you mention.

thanks so much for joining the conversation, I do appreciate it Pamela!

How can we be the nation we are right now? So focused on having more and more, turning our backs on humanity. I weep for the beautiful faces in the video, for the beautiful children you helped care for. Why Aaron, is our bountiful nation becoming a separated angry mob when there are entire nations like Haiti whose children can find such joy in just having or even being splashed with clean water. And yet we want more, more, more; it's a sickness. Though I no longer call myself a christian; the video illustrated what I was taught was Christianity, not the judgmental, hate filled, selfish crap I witness in too many in this country. Sorry for the soapbox; I'm just not taking what's happening in my country well.

#42 Indeed we do @Ivette K. Caballero! I am so glad you found inspiration.

#41 It certainly had an effect on my perspective Sandra. Thank you!

#40 I am so happy this touched you @Rod Loader, thank you for the kind words my friend.

#39 I appreciate that @Jan Stephens. I often think; we plan, God laughs. . .

#38 That feeling is mutual my dear friend @Jason Versey. Thanks so much!

#37 Thank you so very much @Shelley Brown!

Very inspiring stories! Thank you @Aaron for sharing this part of your life and for sharing what a powerful God we have!

Bless you...We take for granted so many things, complain about things that others in the world would be grateful for... my boy is 2.5 but always wears a size bigger... I could not imagine him being the size he was at 18 months now - impossible to even fathom. No wonder you were devastated... I hope you were able to nourish her back to some semblance of health...

Waht a difference God makes @Aaron 🐝 Skogen, both in your life and through your life. By reaching out to touch the lives of the children, you have touched our lives. None of us will be the same. Thank you. Now I can wipe away the tears.

There are no words to express my emotions when reading this. I looked forward to hearing about your Haiti trip but did not expect my response to this.
I can only echo Shelley's comments: aching and powerful.
God works in funny ways; he saved you to bring you to those babies and to bring this story to us.

Extremely powerful and emotional post my dear friend. All your stories touch my heart but this one moved me to tears. Thank you my friend. I love your heart and the lessons it often teaches me. ~JV

@Aaron 🐝 Skogen I hung onto every word almost breathes with chills and now tears. God is so good and I am so grateful you survived that horrible accident and you are alive with a heart so full and yet so broken for those babies. Thank you for going to Haiti. Thank you for doing the work God wants us to do. You shined out God's light through these words for me this morning and I am so grateful. What a beautiful, aching powerful story.

#35 Thank you so much @debasish majumder!

@Deb 🐝 Helfrich and @Pamela 🐝 Williams. One of you asked me to give you a heads-up when I published something new. :-), I hope you enjoy.

#28 Don't underestimate the power you have @Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee. See my reply to Phil (so I don't repeat myself), and I'd add to that with my second favorite quote from Mother Theresa "Be faithful in small things, because it is in them that your strength lies". We will indeed have a chorus!

#27 "Sometimes we are the recipients, other times the giver." Well said @Kevin Pashuk. I think faith is a lot like my guitar playing, far from where I'd like to be, yet I just keep practicing. . .