Publisher Description
Stories tether us to what matters most: our families, our friends, our hearts, our planet, the wondrous mystery of life itself. Yet the stories we've been telling ourselves as a civilization are killing us: Fear is wisdom. Vanity is virtuous. Violence is peace. In Between the Listening and the Telling, author and activist Mark Yaconelli leads listeners into an enchanting meditation on the power of storytelling in our individual and collective lives. We tell stories to remember who we are. We tell stories to savor the pleasure of living. Stories can be medicine, and they can transform entire communities.
Through his work with The Hearth nonprofit, Yaconelli has spent thousands of hours listening to people as they grieve loss, deepen friendships, strengthen families, shed light on injustice, and recover hope. In this moving exploration he shows us how individuals and communities can recover the practice of storytelling to address the despair of climate change, the trauma of school shootings, the tragedy of undocumented immigration, and the daily struggle for meaning.
With a foreword by Anne Lamott, Between the Listening and the Telling offers an alloy of story, commentary, and meditation. In an era of runaway loneliness, alienation, global crisis, and despair, sharing stories helps us make a home within ourselves and one another.
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About Mark Yaconelli
Mark Yaconelli is a writer, speaker, spiritual director, retreat leader, community activist and storyteller. He is the founder and executive director of The Hearth Community, a registered nonprofit that assists cities and charitable agencies in producing personal storytelling projects. Mark has developed, facilitated and produced community storytelling events for multiple groups within the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom including The Ford Family Foundation, The Church of Wales, The Boys and Girls Club, The Geos Institute, Asante Hospital Hospice, The Oregon Department of Human Services and many others. Prior to his work with The Hearth, Mark spent five years as the co-founder and program director at The Center for Engaged Compassion at Claremont Lincoln University where he helped to develop a compassion formation program. Mark is the author of numerous books including Contemplative Youth Ministry, Growing Souls, Downtime and Wonder, Fear, and Longing. Profiles of Mark and his work have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, ABC World News Tonight, New York Times Online, Washington Post Online, CBS Radio and Youthworker Journal. Mark lives in Southern Oregon with his wife Jill and their three children.