12 minute Audio Recording Lecture: Contemplative Storytelling
Basically in this recording (along with some quotes) she asked us to make a “Discoverer,” as described in the online lesson after the recording in these words I copied here . . .
PAUSE 9. Today, I invite you to try a simple and poetic tool: the discoverer.
A cardboard frame with a square window. It’s as simple as it is effective. Looking through it, we isolate a portion of the world and make it the protagonist. It’s our “thing-finder,” as Pippi Longstocking would say.
Let’s Narrate Without Words
- Create your own discoverer by taking a piece of cardboard of at least 10 by 10 centimeters (or 4 by 4 inches) and cutting out a 4-by-4-centimeter (or 1.5-by-1.5-inch) window in the center.
- Take a silent walk through an everyday space—your neighborhood, a park, a square, or even a quiet corner of your home.
- Spend a few minutes looking through your discoverer in different places. Don’t photograph anything yet. Just take a look.
- Then, choose one of those frames—and take a photograph. Only one.
- Write a whole page about why you liked this image—describe its physical qualities, its colors, what it made you feel, and what it reminds you of. Don’t just describe what you see—tell the story this small piece of the world whispers to you.
VERY IMPORTANT
Once you have completed this exercise—and not before—check the next step at the bottom of the page.