The essays and tales offered
here are part of a larger book and storytelling project designed by Laura Simms.

"Every once in awhile, we humans get it right... Such is the case with this book by Laura Simms, storyteller... A collection of 18 healing stories from around the world printed by the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation, Inc. Share the stories with your own children and know that many other children will benefit from your kindness." -Chinaberry

Telling Stories at PS 19
Kids at Ground Zero want scary stories! It's "practice" for containing the larger emotions.

Through the Story's Terror An essay about working with fear, rather than fleeing it.

Words of Inspiration: Calm yourself, then help others.

Go to the Healing Story website, for Laura's stories for Children in Crisis.

Join the Healing Story discussion list.

Real stories told and heard do not thrust into fantasy, but engage us in an experience of the world as it is. 

This is the invisible ordinary magic of the process of storytelling.
 

New! A collection of stories, created by Laura Simms

STORIES TO NOURISH THE HEARTS OF CHILDREN IN A TIME OF CRISIS
Created by Laura Simms. 
Stories are also posted at the Healing Stories website.
Laura works with Staten Island School District storytellers in using the book. Details in "What's New."

From the Introduction:
"Truth used to run around the world naked. Everyone was frightened and avoided him.  He saw someone dressed in beautiful robes surrounded by friends. Truth asked her name. She answered, "I am story. I could dress you." And from that day forth Truth and Story traveled together."  A Jewish tale

The immensity and suddenness of the tragic loss of lives from the September 11th attacks is incomprehensible. The shock of the bombing of what appeared impenetrable cuts through all our dreams of safety from harm. At the same time, it is as if a knowledge that was within us all the time, invisible and true, has been uncovered: nothing lasts forever. Nothing, no matter how seemingly solid or valuable, is protected from the reality of impermanence.

As storytellers we have poignantly, even  humorously, expressed this truth a thousand times in our tales. In the very structure of the narrative process, we have taught it experientially with the beginnings, middles and ends of stories. To know that death is real is to render us more tender and whole. To know that everything changes is to make our life more precious and mysterious and meaningful.

In response to these difficult times, my call to action has been to gather traditional stories from around the world that can provide an internal place of peace and inner nourishment -- to help us help others relax their minds from the insistent feelings of powerlessness and fear.  It is my hope that these stories can provide new and rich images particularly for our children to find ways to deal with tremendous overpowering feelings, and images, as stories have always done. It is also my intention to honor the basic human need to acknowledge impermanence as a way of sustaining sanity in a time of crisis. 

The stories that I am speaking of, traditional tales, are very old and have always served to bring people together and to stimulate imagination. Where fresh energy and insight arise, the heart opens from within regardless of outer circumstance. An open heart is the gateway to fruitful mourning. It is a way of maintaining both the invisible and the real connection to the living and to those deceased through memory, heart, or spirit.

These stories contain seeds of healing. The seeds are fertilized through the special act of telling. Storytelling is never a solo performance of one person speaking something at another. Thus, the dynamic process, as well as the images and meanings evoked by the unique reception of image in listening, exercise the inner muscles of intuition, and emotional intelligence necessary to function in such times of crisis.

No matter how many buildings are destroyed, what can not be destroyed is the power of our minds and hearts to find meaning, to know inherent goodness, to love and to feel renewed.  Real stories told and heard do not thrust into fantasy, but engage us in an experience of the world as it is. This is the invisible ordinary magic of the process of storytelling.     - LAURA SIMMS

Surrounding the publication of this book, we have launched THE STORY JOURNEY PROJECT which will include a special training for a chosen task force of storytellers in New York, who will train with Laura Simms, Interfaith Center, and a special therapist on uses of storytelling in crisis. We will begin sending storytellers out to work. The sale of the story booklet ($10) and a series of benefits and grants will support our work.

To order, send check made out to Laura Simms for
$10 (add $3.50 for shipping for 1-3 units, $4 for 4+) to: 

Laura Simms
814, #3 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

Want to help more, with a tax deductible donation?
Donate $100 or more, and we can donate books in your name, and you will recieve a note. Designate your check as a donation, made payable to Unity Project, and send c/o Laura Simms to above address. Books may be handed out through Mercy Corps, where they see books are needed (ie, for Katrina victims). 

Related Stories, Essays

Through the Story's Terror. An essay about working with fear, rather than fleeing from it.

Notes from the Field: A Storyteller's Journal. Stories about being a storyteller, the issues, thinking on your feet, telling appropriate stories, etc.

See the Healing Story website, for the collection of stories to help Children in Crisis. 

The Gaindeh Project, An International Storytelling for Survival Initiative. Contact Laura Simms, director.

See The Communication Initiative, a central hub, international, about how to communicate effectively about developing issues (ie, public health, development, etc.). This page was featured in its "Communication News" column. Join their "Drumbeat" newsletter.

Join the Healing Story discussion list. Storytellers share techniques and stories useful in "healing" situations such as prisons, hospitals, drug addiction facilities, hospices, children's wards, etc.