Barbara Brooks created Flamingo Strategies LLC to help clients stand up and stand out, through telling and sharing their stories of impact and purpose.
Hacking Away at Happiness is her blog.
All in Storytelling
I read somewhere that the only reason to look back is to see how far we’ve come. But I think there are other reasons too. Especially when we’re feeling lost. Or itchy to discover what’s next.
Over-sharing can be annoying—even dangerous. Or so we’ve been told. But under-sharing also is a trap of our own making.
I probably should have written less. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, I didn’t have time to write a short blog post, so I wrote a long one instead.
Some people are making lemonade right now. Others are choking on the sour. But unless we ask, unless we listen, we don’t really know who’s who.
Why is it necessary to do the hard thing? Because the path of least resistance is a terrible teacher. And the obstacle is the way!
Whether we aim to jumpstart our writing—or to make sense of our lives—isn’t everything we need to know located in the glimmers we experience or observe?
If we keep singing or writing about something—and hoping for the truth in our words—then we can make them true. Love is the seventh wave, I say love.
Whether we make art, or simply notice how light lands on surface, what matters most is where we place our frame.
Every nonprofit should have a sustainable strategy for capturing stories of generosity and impact.
As a professional teller of stories of generosity and impact, my only job is to empathize with the teller's emotions.
Like the Greek nymph Echo, who loved the sound of her own voice, a storyteller who merely self promotes is destined to be ignored.
Like the wild dingo dog that snatched an innocent baby in the Australian outback, I wondered if a pink Flamingo beast has somehow made off with my kid.
Typically, contestants prepare and rehearse, but I put my name in the hat anyway. The theme of the night was “Tests,” and I was going in cold.
Improv—with its cardinal rule of YES, AND..."—provides the safest-possible stage. Then, if no one is judging, why is it so hard to go boldly into a scene?
How can we be 10% truer? 10% more vulnerable? 10% more open? For me, it begins by knowing there IS another 10%.
When we are floundering—especially when we are floundering—how can we find and follow the through line of our lives?
