I’ve particularly been curious about how, in times of confusion, not-knowing, deep questioning, and despair, if we reflect on and re-explore the stories we loved as kids, we might find diamonds in the mud — clues and messages and guidance for our souls that can support us when we’re having a tough time.

In today’s blog I want to share more with you about how those three stories – “Baby Boom”, “Miss Rumphius”, and “The Country Bunny With the Golden Shoes” – have played a profound role in shaping my life and how they continue to provide guidance when the way forward feels particularly foggy for me.

I also want to walk you through some inquiries to help you reflect on your beloved childhood stories and explore some of the messages and meaning these stories may have for you, even today…

The Power of Stories.

Stories are an entry point to the soul.

Stories – whether in film, book, audio or oral form – have been, since time immemorial, one of the primary ways we as humans have learned how to be. How to live. How we’ve received guidance about what life is. And how we can skillfully navigate it.

Stories have this incredible way of bypassing our rational, logical, ego-driven minds. And speaking straight to the soul.

Stories are, in my opinion, psyche medicine and life guidance of the highest order.

While it’s rare for communities and families to sit around campfires today and pass on oral instructional stories, we can see that this kind of storytelling/soul instruction persists around the veritable campfire of movie screens and in our collective Netflix queues.

For instance, I’m guessing you – like I – maybe once or twice have gone to the movies and, for a few hours, really identified with that superhero or that post-Apocalyptic badass heroine on screen, so much so that when we left the theatre we felt filled with some of the nerve and grit and steely determination of Katniss Everdeen, or Hermione Granger, or Tris Prior or [fill in the blank]. Am I right?

That experience of fully identifying with a character, of getting swept up in a story is powerful and also deeply nourishing and instructional for our souls — particularly for those of us who grew up in homes where they wasn’t exactly an abundance of loving or helpful guidance from the adults in the our lives.

“Stories are wonderful vehicles for images, feelings, atmosphere, and depth because they lead the readers or the audience to identify with and learn from the characters.” – Jean Shinola Bolen, MD

Childhood Touchstones.

While stories are powerful and important for us at all ages, it’s the stories we passionately loved as children that I think can be particularly helpful to explore when we’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, and filled with despair in life.