Create Your Life Story : Helping You Record a Lifetime of Stories

Help others find what is in the audio – Metadata

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In this Episode 17 of Create Your Life Story we look at the extra content to include within the files and posts that will lead others to discover your Life Story.

A life story is full of content about a life experienced during a particular time in the history of a culture. Here in this life story we have the first hand account, in someone’s own voice, of what they experienced during particular events. For an easy understanding think of any cultural significant event, then wonder what it would be like to hear stories of being in that era to experience it.  What about the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing, World War 2, Death of Princess Diana or something larger like the Cold War.  Many of us have these memories but future generations won’t, like we don’t know of the Victorian Era, WW1 or the assassination of Lincoln.

Why are we creating a Life Story?  Why are we going to all this trouble?  Will anyone care?

All good questions and I’m sure there are many answers to them, most will be primarily concerned with family and friends within a few degrees of influence to the person who’s story we are recording.  They are the ones who know the person, they are the people who personally care because of an intimate relationship of some sort. Parent, Grandparent, Grandchild, Child or even a very close friend. All people who know them personally through a varying emotional relationship.

Many events that family members will find fascinating will be of little concern for others but in amongst the general information will be stories that historians and sociologists will find rich pickings for understanding a culture and first hand accounts of historical events.

In preparing your Life Story for it’s place in the great archive that is the Internet, it’s worth taking some time to consider what content you wish to associate with the audio.  Additional to enhancing the audio for the interest of family and friends, there are several places where this content can be included to enable others to not only find but also augment the already available audio Life Story.

* Episode titles

* MP3 Metadata. Including tags, descriptions, comments, lyrics and album art.

* Blog post text particularly title, links, categories and tags

* Images, videos and slide shows all described and tagged

* Blog post audio timeline with descriptions

* Archive.org page text, description, tags and images

In all of these locations text can be added to help researches find interesting content on a subject that is relevant. Also by linking  between different storage locations such as audio (Archive.org), image (Flickr, Panorama), video (YouTube, Vimeo) and your WordPress.com site you can increase the connectivity and chances of being discovered.

It’s worth taking the time to include as much content as reasonable, in all these places so as to create the best chance for a researcher to discover, then locate the information they are after in the audio. This is not only for researches but also for family members who want to locate that bit of audio about…Whatever it is.

One great method to assist with this is to create a timeline of the chapter.  Once the audio is completed, scan through it writing short descriptive notes with the relevant time within the audio.  This list when posted will enable others to firstly search and find the relevant subject, then to locate within the audio where that section is, rather than listening to the entirety of the audio.

If the time is taken to describe and create the “behind the scenes” metadata and text of all the media,

Playing Audio on Your WordPress.com site

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We have our audio and we have our website, now in this Episode 16 of Create Your Life Story we bring them together in one place for the world to be able to easily access and listen to your Life Story.

The great thing about having a WordPress.com site is that it’s completely free and fully maintained. There are no issues with having to deal with the “back end” of the site as an ongoing concern. However as with all things there is no such thing as a free lunch and with a WordPress.com site there are some restrictions on the way you can use the site. WordPress.com do this to ensure that those who are using the WordPress.com sites don’t bring malicious code that can damage things for everyone and in the case of today’s subject so that people don’t abuse the free nature and use up too many of the resources of WordPress.com by hosting large media files such as audio and video.

It’s easy to play video files through your WordPress.com site that are hosted on sites such as YourTube, Vimeo and Viddler by using the embed code available from the hosting sites.

Audio like video also needs to be hosted on a service to then be linked back to your site at WordPress.com. There are paid services such as Amazon S3 and Libsyn but like having your own hosted WordPress.org site there are costs and maintenance issues and it’s important that once you have completed your Life Story project, it remains permanently, without fear of disappearing because you forgot to maintain the fees or there is now no one left to care for it.

Archive.org the Perfect Place for Your Audio Files

The Internet Archive (Archive.org) is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission: “universal access to all knowledge.” It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitised materials, including websites, music, moving images, and books.

By placing the audio files at Archive.org they will be stored for all time and your website can then play the audio by link to the files at Archive.org.

* Go to  Archive.org

* Click on “Join Us”

* Fill out “Email Address”, “Screen Name”, “Desired Password” then “Confirm Password”

* Click on “Get Library Card”

Next you need to upload your complete audio files.

* Click “Upload” button to the top right

* Then “Share” button to the top right

* Browse for the media you want to upload. You can select more than one file, or you can click the Share button again to select additional files.

For additional information go to this page at Archive.org

Upload all the files related to this single Life Story at once so they are all the individual files are held on a single page like chapters. If someone is listening on Archive.org they will then be able to move onto the next chapter on the list. Once the files are uploaded you can then edit the information to include text and images.

Privacy at Archive.org

Privacy at for your WordPress.com site is available by selecting the level you require when you are writing a post or page however with Archive....

It’s easy to share a Life Story on a Personal Web Site

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With the developing ease of blogging sites it’s now easy to build your own web site, to share with the world a Life Story, in this Episode 15 of Create Your Life Story we’ll look at how simple it is.

We have the audio recorded, with all the great stories captured in the conversational storytelling style that we  love, we’ve then edited it to remove the conversational hiccups and errors along with adding some music and maybe effects. Now after all our hard work we have something that we can share with the world, someone’s personal Life Story in their own voice, for all to hear.

But how will we share these memories? We have several methods, including burning CD’s or even making cassette tape recording but lets look at building a web site as a central place to send people to and listen to the audio.

The advantage of having the audio on a web site is to enable anyone, anywhere in the world with an Internet connection to read and listen to this personal Life Story.

* No need to send anything in the post

* Anyone can listen from anywhere

* Lives on forever

* Available for researches via search engines to discover

* Storage media won’t break, be misplaced or become superseded

Today we are going to look at how to build your own personalised web site that has enough features to tweak to suit your personal style while still being easy enough to manage without all the dramas of being a major web site.

Ideally we want a site that it is fully hosted so all the maintenance issues are looked after by others and free so it will live on without any issues, none, forever, (whatever forever means).

The Best Web Site is a Blog.

Blog is an abbreviation of  Weblog and is designed to be used somewhat like a journal, which is perfect for our uses. Fortunately blogs have come a long way in the last few years and are now easily altered with themes and templates to alter the look so that you can have a variety of different styles to suit your personality.

Create Your Life Story is run on a blog using the same software that I’m suggesting.

There are several free blogging platforms on the market. MoveableType, Blogger, TypePad and WordPress being the most common systems that I know of. All of them have different features and functions but for the sake of choosing one and as I know it best we are going to be working with WordPress at WordPress.com.

WordPress is available in two forms…

WordPress.com – Fully maintained without any costs (My recommendation)

WordPress.org – Self hosted software on your own server with maintenance and fees required (I use this option)

Building a WordPress Blog

* Go to WordPress.com

* Click on “Sign up now”

* Fill out the form with “Username”, “password” and “email address”, click next

* Choose a “blog domain” – see notes below…

* Give your “blog a title”, just as a starting point, this can be changed later so don’t fret it.

* Click on “Create Blog”

* Go to the “Dashboard” and start setting your blog up in the way you want

Set the scene, create the mood and make a point with music.

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Music can have profound effects on the mood of an audio Life Story and in Episode 14 of Create Your Life Story we are going to dig in and see how to use it for our benefit.

When I first started Your Story I realised that music was an important component to include, not because of anything other than because it’s always used in every decent radio, television or film production and I was happy to follow along with the status quo. What I’ve realised over the years since starting these projects and in comparing situations where music has been used and not, is that music can have an effect like probably nothing else in setting a mood and helping with the flow of between content components.

Create the mood and feel the era

Music is used at a subliminal level. It’s designed to create a feeling, rather than being something that you listen to. So in choosing your music always reference to how it makes you feel, while considering the audio it will be enhancing.  Feel how it washes over you rather than listening to it.

Music has multiple applications within a piece of audio:

* Create and introductory feeling for the incoming audio

* Leave the listener with a feeling of completion after listening

* Linking between chapters, periods or themes

* Developing storyline with evolving musical styles

* Subtle background atmosphere to create mood

* Use lyrics within tune to add to the story

We are all fully aware of how music is used in films but the same applies for us in creating the subtle effects on our Life Story project. A piece of music can set the emotional scene for a Life Story so seriously consider the style of music to use with a particular chapter of a persons life. Things to consider are:

* Period of time being represented – jazz – 30’s & 40’s, big band – war years, rock’n’roll – 50’s, lounge or punk – 70’s

* Music to suit the persons individual personality and tastes

* Style to balance with the subject matter – fast, melancholic, dreamy, slow, frantic…

* Development of the mood that is desired – reflection, hope, enthusiasm, regret, etc.

You’ll feel the correct music

I choose music carefully but in a very intuitive manner. I have initially edited the audio to remove all the conversational issues that spoil an easy listen so I know the piece that I want to select music for. I know the persons personality and I know what they are talking of, including the period of time in which it is placed. I have a feel for the cadence of the conversation and the personality of that section of conversation. Then I start to listen to music that I think is roughly of the era and style that suits the audio that I’m marrying it to. I start listening to all the music I can locate. I start with playing the music, skipping every twenty or thirty seconds to get a feel for the piece, how it feels more than how it sounds. What are the feelings that this piece helps to create in me as I reflect on the audio that I have just recently become so familiar with. As I quickly move from one track to another I note every time I feel something about a piece. If it feels just okay, even if I’m not sure why, I note it and then move on.  This is done quickly. Some tracks I know won’t work within one or two notes. Other pieces I’ll listen to ten sections of the track before noting it. Some tracks are obviously not suitable, some have possibilities while others are obviously just the perfect track.

The Recording is completed, now to make it a listening pleasure!

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You have the audio recorded so now tt’s time to look how you will edit your Life Story and what style we use.

To date you’ve been concerned with everything you need to generate the audio recording. The emotional, physical and technical aspects of sitting down and recording someone, in a clear well produced and expressive way, while maintaining all of their personality. Now you have the audio recorded, it’s time to start the process of post production on your way to sharing a Life Story.

Audio editing software is available in free versions, if you have an Apple computer, the iLife suite has GarageBand or get the open-source editor, Audacity which is available for Mac and PC.

No recording will be perfect from start to finish and even if it is, there are still things that can be done with the audio to enhance the quality of the sound and to improve the listening experience. Sure a recording in the format in which it was recorded can just be put onto a medium for replaying like a compact disc but that will limit the uses of it and doesn’t make it all that it could possible be.

The reason you’re creating a Life Story is not only to capture the information that is contained within the stories and life experiences but also to share that information. In order to help people to listen and engage so they learn the information that is in those stories. You need to endeavour to make the audio as interesting and entertaining as possible. These are the reasons behind the previous recording and storytelling technique episodes but also the motivation for spending some time in tiding up the audio to make it a pleasure to listen to.

The aspects of audio that will often require attention are:

* Removal of introduction and closing chatter

* Enhancement of audio quality

* Removal of background ambient noise

* Editing long pauses and repeated sections

* Rearrange audio to help with conversational flow

* Remove sections that are on reflection, inappropriate to mention

* Removal of interruptions

* Normalise (even out) volume of recording to a constant level

* Introduce additional voices

* Enhance with music and sound effects

* Chapterise long sections

* Format various versions for different consumption methods

* Duplication

If a recording was to be commenced without considering any future editing we would always be “on task” from the moment the record button is pressed. By allowing editing we can start the recorder, then set and forget while we worry about the more important task of having an engaging conversation.

Editing software enables the removal of pauses, umms and args and inappropriate stumbles which although a normal part of everyday speech we find irritating when listening to without the non-verbal queues of a physical conversation.

All conversations wander around the timeline and themes, requiring some reorganising in order to help with the flow of the greater conversation but also, as new things are discovered and remembered there will be a need to rearrange the audio to suit the flow of the conversation. This also assists with later searching of thematic information, as we know where in the general area of the audio to search for a subject.

Editing software has many tools not only for removal and rearranging of audio but also for the enh...

Just before and after you press Record!

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In Episode Twelve of Create Your Life Story we look at what we are going to do in the actual recording process

We have everything ready and it’s time to actually start recording.  You have:

* Prepared the person for the recording by telling them about it and to start thinking of stories and events

* You have a general list of subjects, events, questions and people to discuss

* You have prepared engaging questions and opening statements(self recording)

* You have arranged a time and place to do the recording

* Equipment is prepared and you know how to use it

* A quiet comfortable environment has been chosen

* Refreshments are on hand

* Photos, documents and paraphernalia are nearby for discussion

Now it’s time to dive in and start.  But lets sort out the microphones first.

Placement of the microphones require two considerations:

* Vicinity to the source of the sound being recorded

* Comfort for the user of the microphone

Placement to the person needs to be close enough to avoid picking up too much of the ambient sounds from the greater environment but not intimidating or distracting from the conversation.  Some sounds will always be picked up as the background atmosphere as is appropriate, provided the conversation is always the dominant audio that can be heard clearly without effort.  If the microphone is too far away from the source it will be necessary to increase the gain(volume) of the audio, bring with it the increase in volume of the background sounds.

Comfort is of greater importance.  Desk microphones will give superior sound but require the correct use of microphone technique and performing to the microphone(a skill that takes time to learn and develop), which is not a relaxed conversational style.  If the microphone is situated so as to pick up the conversation then the participants can relax, move around a little and chat in a natural style.  Placing a microphone on a table nearby that picks up everyone within a smallish radius means that you can engage while sitting at a table.  Using lapel(lav) microphones enables the microphones to maintain the same distance from the person as they move around without the concern of speaking to the microphone.

Test the use of the microphone so that you are not breathing into it, creating plosives and popping but speaking past it.  Lapel mics need to be attached to fabric that moves in such a way as not not rub against the microphone or create a rustling sound.  The sounds coming from the microphone are different to the sounds that you hear when just listening to a conversation as the sound is recorded not from the greater atmosphere that our ears hear but from the end of the microphone.

Once the location is established with refreshments, physical prompts and notes, set up the recorder and microphones and fire everything up to check sound quality, audio levels and adjust so that everything is correct and as is desired.  Now is the time to sort out any issues before you start so they are of no concern later.  Turn the fan to blow away from the microphones, put the dog outside and pour another beer.  Now you’re set and ready to record.  Press record before you are ready to record and just let it run as you settle in, doing the final bit of fiddling, idle chatter and banter even if you are self recording.

So here you are everything is in place and the recorder is recording already capturing you mumbling to yourself or chatting away.  Time to start…

* Say a greeting

* Include the date

* The reason you are here and how you feel

Setting the Location for a Great Audio Recording

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Noise, noise, noise!

The number one bane of my existence in recording audio is finding environments that are suitably relaxing and quiet.  Pleasant environments like cafés are inevitable noisy with coffee grinders and espresso machines, crashing plates and ruckus conversations.  Often with music and background bustle of a community.  Quiet outside environments like parks suddenly have passing traffic, construction sites and overhead aircraft.  Interior home environments have fridges, air-conditioning units and family noise.  Computers have hard discs automatically starting and hard walls.

The perfect location is in a recording booth double insulated from the noise of the outside world with padded walls to deaden the sound creating a controlled rich sounding audio.  All well and good but that is not the real world that we live in and we have to make do with what we have.  Our homes and community environments.

The great thing about recording at home or somewhere familiar is the immediately relaxed attitude that it creates.  It’s not far to the tea makings and the photo albums are on the shelf just over there.  The challenge is in managing the audio or physical distractions that can interfere with the recording .  Some of them are:

* Background sound – Construction, appliances, aircraft, traffic, people, weather

* Furnishings – Tables drumming, squeaking chairs

* Clothing – Attaching microphone,

* Fiddling – Pens, glasses, plates, tools

* Breeze – Background noise, blowing onto microphone

* Wildlife and animals – annoying pets

* Other people – background chatter

* Appliances – phones, fans, air-conditioning, equipment, radio etc

Closed headphone allow you to hear the reality of how the microphone will pick up the sound. Our ears and brains are very good at filtering out the extraneous sounds so that we can concentrate on a conversation but a microphone doesn’t do that and when we listen to a recording we hear everything.  Monitoring the recording will enable you to hear something when it appears as a background sound that you couldn’t tell if you’re just listening without headphones.

By creating a space that is as quiet as possible you can concentrate on what is necessary to make it more comfortable and relaxed during the conversation to help the stories flow in the way that all great conversation happen.  If you’re constantly being disturbed by discomfort, events, noise or other people the conversation will have to be constantly restarted with the natural slight awkwardness that comes with restarting.  Remember the best conversations you have ever had, have been the ones where despite discomfort you don’t dare leave for fear of missing something.  That’s the feeling we are attempting to create for the listener so having the comfort on our side of the microphone will help to create that intensity of the conversation because there are no distractions from the storytelling.

Make sure you have:

* Comfort – Seating, table, lounge, temperature, etc

* Refreshments – Drinks, food, snacks

* Choose a room with curtains and furnishings for sound deadening

Additionally actions you can take to improve situations:

* Close windows and doors

* Turn off all noisy appliances

* Hang temporary drapes or blankets to deaden the sound

* Remind family members not to disturb you

Just a note to not overdo this.  We are wanting to achieve as natural an environment as possible while maintaining quality sound recording.  Most of our recordings will have some noise from the life around us and that often enhances...

Directed Conversations – What we do when we’re interested in others.

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It’s easy when we’re fascinated with what they have to say.

Are you prepared with all the questions that you’re going to ask and do you have a good expectation of what answers you’re going to get?  Are you there with an agenda to entrap and find something out?  If your answer is “Yes” then what you’re preparing is an interview, maybe even a hard hitting interview!

Journalists interview, we have conversations!

If your answer is “No” to those questions you’re not recording an interview,  you’re here for a conversation.  If you wish to ask engaging questions, wanting to help someone relax and open up, to share a life and reveal things that you have no idea of.  If you want to be surprised and touch with real humanity, you have to have a conversation.  And if you take that conversation down the particular rabbit holes that will be discovered it’s simply a directed conversation but a conversation all the same.  Two people on equal footing having a chat about specifically one persons life.

Most people think of sitting down for a recorded conversation as an interview but that is not what we are talking about here.  Sure the conversation may well be biased towards one person and the other may be engaging with many questions but it’s still a conversation and that attitude is what will work best in helping a person relax and open up.  This is not about you, this is about them and you need to want to explore everything that they know with an attitude of genuine interested of their life.  When they tell a story you must want to know more out of interest not just to have the answer to your question so as to tick it off your list.  You must really want to know about their life.

The best preparation you can have is a general knowledge of the times and life of the person you’re to sit down with.  A little history is a good thing here, not just their personal history but their times and culture also.  With a general understanding of the greater history when an unexpected statement is made you can then ask an engaging question to either explore that specific incident or take the conversation in a new direction.

This leads to the preparation.  In preparation you don’t want to have all the answers, it’s best for you to be surprised so the conversation sounds natural and an exploration of a life as it will be for the listener.  It’s important to do some general homework so as to have an overview of their life:

Preparation

* Childhood

* Family members, parents, sibling, grand/children, spouse

* Training and career overview

* Major interests in life

* Future goals

Ask some questions of family members about the important aspects of the individual and greater family.  Get to know the “lay of the land”.  Family members will know of the general life and times but they often don’t know of the details, that is what we want to discover in the recorded conversation.  Note down the general information in a loosely chronological order to be marked off once covered.

Review the general prompts laid out in episode 7 for a few more ideas remembering all the time that it is not detail you want here(that is for the conversation) you only want a 50,000 ft overview of their life.

Attitude

Your attitude is the single most important aspect of how well the conversation will develop and progress.  Additional to an upbeat friendly attitude with genuine interest,

Telling Your Story – Authentic, Laconic and Captivating

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You’re Telling Your Story

Storytelling is the art of taking a story,  your story or another’s and retelling that story.  Creating entertainment utilising all the skills of theatre to modifying your style to suit and engage with the audience, drawing them into the story until they drift into an altered state and become part of the story.  Retelling, reflection and practice improves your skills in the storytelling art.  There are guides everywhere on storytelling and although the general principles are relevant and if you have great storytelling skills all the better but that is not what we are doing here.  You are not Storytelling.  You are Telling a Story.

Instead of telling and re-telling the same story, you are telling your own individual personal story and most probably only telling that story once.  You can re-record and as skills improve maybe that is worth considering but hopefully by following a couple of basic simple techniques you can make one recording that tells a great story using the skills developed by the great storytellers.  Some of those general principles I have included here along with some of the skills of storytelling from the world of journalism.

It’s a story not a lecture

Telling your story is not like writing an essay as you were taught in school. Don’t mention what is to be said, then say it, then recap. With the traditional method of setting out the content of what is to be mentioned the story is over before you’ve started, there is no drama, you know how it is going to end.  The punch line is contained in the beginning and then you go on to repeat the detail of the content only to bore the listener because they know were it is all leading.  Let’s leave the punch line for the end where it belongs, let the story evolve, taking the listener on a  journey not knowing where they are going and the punch line will be revealed at the end.

Instead create an anecdote that builds the story, event by event as it happened.  Ideally a great story will have a variation on these elements:

* Beginning – sets the stage

* Body – starts and builds the story

* Sequence of events – helps to create a story

* Bait – Constantly raising questions(where is this going?) and answering them in a reflective way

* Climax – story builds to a high point

* Resolution – the punch line results in the reflection on the story

Once you have the story that you want to mention, think of the introducing question and your opening statement as mentioned in the previous episodes, then sit with it, mulling it over for a few days.  Reminiscing on the events, times and people involved.  Live with the story for a while as you may not have considered these points for some years and it’s a good idea to become re-familiar with it.

Don’t over think the story

Once you have the subject of the story in mind, then only prepare by having a clear opening and final statement, the rest is an anecdote and is best to be something that is told from the heart as natural and in your individual style as is possible.  Think that you are talking to someone you know in an intimate one on one casual conversation.  Allowing yourself to drift into a self-reflective state of reminiscing by just letting the story flow.  If the story is flowing well  from your memory, you should hopefully be naturally following the following general guidelines:

* Appropriate – Imagine who is listening

Passion – The compelling force of any kind of feeling or emotion.

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Episode Eight of Create Your Life Story is about the Passion that is the energy behind all great stories.  It is a term used in various different ways but for the sake of our discussion I like this version from the Macquarie Dictionary:

Passion – Any kind of feeling or emotion as hope, fear, joy, grief, anger, love, desire etc, especially when of compelling force.

With the richness that is everyone’s life some things are going to float to the top as passions and these will be the elements of a great story, they will also be defined by the elements quoted above, good and bad.

Your life is full of everything that you have done and the memories of those things are often all that you need to rekindle your passion for them. Then it’s all about telling the stories as we laid out in the last episode.

We need to look at the subject of passion in a couple of different ways.  Primarily, the passion of the person who’s life story it is and secondarily the interests of the listener.

Positive Passions

The passions that fill a life with joy…

* What are the passionate interests that they will talk incessantly of?

* What are the fascinating elements of their life that others are interested in?

Negative Passions

Strong feelings and passions can be of the difficult times in a life…

* What are the experiences of life that are difficult but are still able to be shared?

* What are the things that others are interested in that maybe are not mentioned because they are painful?

The Positive Stories

The most passionate of subjects can be spoken of easily.  Asking only a casual question will start them off onto a stream of multiple subjects and experiences all interrelated to their underlying passions.  They will weave the passions into many of the stories and don’t actually need to be asked many questions directly of their passions as they will be brought up as a matter of course throughout the other stories of life.

Slightly more challenging will be bring up subjects that are of interest to others but may not be high on the interest of the person being recorded.  These are the stories of someone’s life that are often taken for granted. The stories of the mundane and everyday.  The stories of “What was it like in your day?”  Where the person could often think, “Why would anyone be interested in this?”  These are often the stories of before technology when things were different to as they are now but because they lived them they are taken for granted.  Then they become aware that for those listening, these stories are amazing and vastly different to what is known today.  They empathise with the listener and develop a similar sense of wonder because the world has changed and they have the knowledge to share with those listening and a passion for sharing their life is created, even if routine and mundane.

The Negative Stories

Everyone goes through some difficult times, some go through truly tragic experiences and it’s important to realise that these stories are also part of a life lived.  Some people love talking of these difficult times and will talk easily of them, with passion often also.  Some will talk of difficult times to help others understand how things were and how things have improved, how from those challenges life is now better in some way.

Others may still have the pain and suffering of a long distant experience, although still broken from the experience they are able to communicate how hard it was and still is for them.