For episode eighteen of the Real Love Podcast Series, Sharon speaks with Catherine Burns, from the Moth, about transforming our perspective and connecting with others through storytelling.
Catherine Burns is The Moth’s long-time Artistic Director. In this episode, she and Sharon look at the way in which stories affect us – the stories we tell ourselves, the stories we tell other people and even the stories others tell about us.
The Real Love Podcast Series is a special series on the Metta Hour featuring a variety of conversations with some of the world’s finest thinkers and teachers exploring Sharon’s new book “Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection“. Real Love a field guide for anyone seeking awakened living in the 21st century – regardless of age, race, gender, ethnicity or status. The book explores love is three different areas in life: love of oneself, love of an other, and love for all of life. Real Love is now available to order in hardcover, ebook and audiobook format.
Listen to The Moth and check out upcoming live events at TheMoth.org.
Show Notes
The Moth (Opening) – Catherine shares the history of The Moth and how she came to be a part of the organization. She describes the eclectic storytellers they have hosted and the unique venues that the events are often held in.
“Storytelling is obviously one of the most ancient art forms, we certainly didn’t invent it, but I think what was a little different about The Moth is this idea of telling a dinner party story. The stories aren’t meant to be a big performance, its just meant to seem like a story you are telling over the kitchen table, except there are 300 other people there instead of two.” – Catherine Burns
Authentic Connections (6:45) – Sharon and Catherine talk about the subtleties of storytelling and communicating better with authenticity. They talk about how storytelling affirms our commonalities and deepens our connection to one another.
“After many years and thousands of stories that I have heard and worked on, I 100% believe that what we have in common is so much more abundant than what separates us. Even looking around at the crazy state of the world that we are in right now, I think people want to connect and find that commonality. Even people who might have different views on bigger things – they can sit down together and share pictures of your kids or talk about something that happened in your childhood. There is always a way to connect and I think human beings naturally want to connect to each other.” – Catherine Burns
Stories about Us (14:30) – The two reflect on not just the stories we tell about ourselves, but the stories others tell about us and how they affect our perspective. Catherine talks about cultivating a different point of view through the act of telling our own story to others.
Poet and Author, John Fox, joins RamDev to talk about the healing power of poetry on Ep. 12 of Healing at the Edge.
Personal Practice (29:10) – Catherine shares how Sharon’s teachings have influenced her over the years and talks about how meditation practice has changed her life.
“Meditation has really made a difference. When I slack off I feel like I can tell, my husband can tell, my seven-year-old son can tell, my staff, suddenly everything feels so hard to manage and that’s the one thing that, if I do the time, all of a sudden everything feels more manageable.” – Catherine Burns
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