One of the oft-repeated questions when people meet me for the first time and when they come to know that I blog, is ” What do you blog about?”
My typical go-to response has been ” slice of life “, “life experiences”, “nuances of life” etc. I was still trying to figure out what could be a more detailed and soulful response. That made me look at some of the backdrops around which I get an idea to blog.
Take this incident for example…
Our maid comes after 3 pm every day for cleaning the house. That is the time I have noticed that I shift my workplaces from my room to the balcony and to the drawing-room sofa. This gives her a chance to tidy my workroom and also for me to get into a new setting and also get some exercise. As they say, when your body moves your brain grooves. One afternoon while I was on the sofa and as she was sweeping, her eyes caught on to a piece of paper cutting. She instantly picked it up and handed it over to me and said ” Brother it could be useful for you”. I thanked her instantly and took a quick look and I was fascinated by that small piece as it had some nice phrases and nice anecdotes. It also had a reference to our first world cup win. It had lists of movies that are good for corporate storytelling. One of the best lines from that piece of paper was a line which I will share as my take away line later in the blog
This was just an incident but what drove my curiosity was that our maid has never been to school but my wife is always in high praise for her presence of mind and sharpness. I appreciated her observational power as she has seen that in my room I always have a mini stationery shop and most of the time if I am in the room she must have seen me either typing, reading, or talking. It was brilliant of her to have that consideration and it made me appreciate her presence of mind. It gave another insight into how much she enjoys her work. I wouldn’t have noticed and appreciated it if it is not for this act from her side. That piece of paper was a confirmation of my ideals on everyday life stories. I did realize one thing that day, “She doesn’t just tidy the room”. She doesn’t clean the room, she gleans.
The lesson I got from that episode was ” What is that little extra I am putting into my work?” Naval Ravikant said it best, ” When you are doing it your own way it doesn’t feel like work”. He goes on to say that, ” The definition of work is a set of things you have to do that you don’t want to do”. So in other words, ” if you want to do it, it is not work.”
It was pure serendipity that this incident happened and I got this blog idea. I follow a path of consumption, introspection, and connection. In this case, was the Incident ( consumption), introspection was that instead of just sweeping away that piece of paper she took the paper and offered it to me ( Introspection) and the connection was connecting disparate items as told by others and in this case Naval. Finally, It was curiosity that drove me to understand a little more from that incident. So that was the Why of the blog.
What do I blog about?
They say when the why is clear you can endure any how ( and what?).
I found the answer to the “what,” as each passing day offers events. It is about stories. I was fascinated with this idea and I was inspired to google and get these 13 tips about stories which I loved so much.
Here are 13 quotes on storytelling to help inspire you from Inc.com
- “Stories are a communal currency of humanity.” –Tahir Shah, in Arabian Nights
- “Great stories happen to those who can tell them.” –Ira Glas
- “The engineers of the future will be poets.” –Terence McKenna
- “The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.” –Mary Catherine Bateson
- “Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.” –Jean Luc Godard
- “Story is a yearning meeting an obstacle.” –Robert Olen Butler
- “If you’re going to have a story, have a big story, or none at all.” –Joseph Campbell
- “Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.” –Hannah Arendt
- “The stories we tell literally make the world. If you want to change the world, you need to change your story. This truth applies both to individuals and institutions.” –Michael Margolis
- “Those who tell the stories rule the world.” –Hopi American Indian proverb
- “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” –Maya Angelou
- “There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.” –J.K. Rowling
- “Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.” —Robert McKee
So my takeaway line from that piece of paper was ” Majority of the stories roam free – in the vast expanse called everyday life. It’s just that we have to introduce ourselves to them“. So I’ve derived a new way to respond to that question in the future.
I blog on the Minutiae of Life’s every day stories !
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