One of the most powerful storytelling techniques used by storytellers and teachers and presenters around the world is, ironically, not talking. Silence. Stillness. A Pause.

Today, notice your hooks. Notice when you are moved, irritated, inspired or impressed. Note the hooks and then see if you can use them later. Perhaps when telling your spouse about your day – or writing in your journal – or telling a story to your little one as she is falling asleep.

Many of the So Many Fairies and By Thistle By Thimble stories are inspired by thresholds or challenges that our children (or their parents) are facing. Moving to a new home, death of a beloved pet, teasing by peers, how to share a toy – these things we have met and continue to meet. And we meet them with story.

Storytelling is convenient. It is portable. It is effective and holds immense variety. Parents have complete control over content and it is FREE! Keep reading to learn more about attention, the first of the four tenets of intuitive storytelling.

The more I think about stories, the more I realize that virtually everything I think is a story.

David discusses how, in growing brains, it is not the amount of neural pathways that makes smarts - it is the clarity of them.

When you tell a story, you are offering your listeners engaging images that build another pathway. You are giving them a new way to get to “happiness” or “courage” or wherever they want to go.

You cannot breathe out unless you have breathed in. The light follows the darkness. You cannot wake unless you have slept.

Stories are dreams. They are given in the waking state but they are basically the same thing. Children respond to them the same way too. Their eyes glaze over, their jaws slacken and they are transported. This is a gift. And they are grateful.

In this post our focus is on our highly achieving, industrious and motivating, Earnst Bernard, or EB, Herz, the boy who found the valuable gold nugget, and in a way, also found his own worth.