Friends… my latest update is out and its full of all things story for us writers out there who are chomping to get words on the page in November which is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
I open with some disclosure about exposure.
I just had to write that… 😉
And then I share with you all the cool things happening over the next 30 or so days: workshops, readings, performances, screenings… all the things…
Tina Overbury is a Storyteller, Facilitator, and Expressive Arts Therapist (in training) who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. While her art centres around harmscapes and the imprints they leave, her work is rooted in the healing power of the Arts. Tina brings thirty years of storytelling in theatre, film, and workshop facilitation and is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a deep listening retreat held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada.
Ana Nenadic did for me what I get paid to do for you. She listened. She asked beautiful questions. She answered my curiosity with Yes/And… I think this is my most favourite conversation I’ve had about story in the last year or so. We met at a business networking lunch and just hit it off. There’s at least 25 years between us and yet, walking and talking with her feels like hanging out with an old friend. And I mean old friend. Like the kind of friend you don’t see for decades but you pick up where you left off because you have history. We don’t have history. It’s cool.
Have a listen to our conversation. My youngest often says to me, ‘Mom, what do I say to people when they ask me what you do?’ I say… ‘Tell them I’m a story coach’. ‘What does that mean?’, he asks. ‘This‘, I’ll say. ‘This‘.
Tina Overbury is a Storyteller, Facilitator, and Expressive Arts Therapist (in training) who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. While her art centres around harmscapes and the imprints they leave, her work is rooted in the healing power of the Arts. Tina brings thirty years of storytelling in theatre, film, and workshop facilitation and is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a deep listening retreat held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada.
Press Conference & Digital Premiere of OMYGOD by TinaO
Storytelling for Reconciliation
May 17th 2021 – Vancouver, BC Canada – PowHERhouse Impact Media Group with TinaOLife announces the three country press conference and the global digital premiere of OMYGOD, a Storytelling for Reconciliation experience about the women we’ve burned, the babies we’ve buried and the Gods we have worshipped.
There are Some Stories only Art Can Hold
On May 28th 2021, the digital press conference and screening of OMYGOD will connect audiences of Ireland, Canada and the United States to introduce the social impact project Storytelling for Reconciliation, and meet the writer/storyteller TinaO alongside the core creative team behind OMYGOD.
OMYGOD Press Conference
Friday May 28th at 10am (PDT)
OMYGOD Screening
Ireland 7:30pm BST / 11:30am PDT New York / Toronto 6pm EDT / 3pm PDT Vancouver / Los Angeles 6:30pm PDT
What is OMYGOD?
It’s not a feminist show or a witch burning show, and it is not a “dead-babies” show. It is a weaving of complexity and historical scar tissues that exists not to entertain, but to invite transformation. It is a production offered in a spirit of restorative justice, reconciliation and as a bridge of humility between cultures.
In Canada we have a Highway of Tears. In Ireland, they have an Irish Triangle.
In our current time, the narrative of OMYGOD follows a little girl named Cristiona who loses her mother, and her 50 year old self says yes to a call to Ireland as she wrestles with her own story of God, faith, Indigeneity, and grief.
The Tuam Babies and the Death of 9000 Irish Babies
In Tuam, County Galway Ireland, the remains of 796 unnamed babies were found buried in an abandoned septic tank outside of the Bon Secour Catholic Mother and Baby home. Such homes existed across Ireland, and more than 56,000 children from a ‘fallen’ mother were born there. The anonymous testimony from residents compares the homes to prisons, and recalls that the nuns verbally abused the children, often calling them the “spawn of satan” or “devil’s spawn”. Some were adopted out of the homes illegally to the United States and across Ireland, others spent their whole childhoods in such home. Across Ireland, some 9000 of these children died in Mother and Baby County Homes, each erased from their mother’s care and for many, from their actual existence.
Canada’s Indigenous Genocide and the loss of 6000 Children
Before we can have reconciliation we must have truth. Starting in 1831, the colonial governments in what we now call Canada removed Indigenous children from their families and forced them into residential schools with the explicit goal of cultural genocide. Priests, nuns and clergymen belonging to Christian Churches operated these homes and effectively carried out the task of “civilizing” more than 150,000 children, thousands of whom lost their lives in the schools, thousand more of whom suffered through abuse of all kinds and subsequent trauma.
The Murder of Women
In 1487 The Malleus Maleficarum, or, the “Hammer of the Witches,” was written by Catholic Clergyman, Heinrich Kramer. This manual detailed the how-to of naming, torturing and burning a witch, and it became a founding trauma tool in the Christianization of Pagan and Celtic Ireland.
Seven generations of children watched their mothers emerge from cages and prison cells after being crushed and tortured, becoming screaming witches before their eyes.
Witch burning continues. In 2010 Ama Hemmah, a 72 year old grandmother was burned alive in Ghana after being named a witch.
OMYGOD is a Storytelling for Reconciliation experience. It is a poetic, often humorous and harrowing journey across time, cultures, and faiths to invite each of us to walk a full story all the way through the trauma to acceptance, to grief and ultimately to a place of rest beyond blame. As a storyteller, this is TinaO’s offering to reconciliation: even if we weren’t there, we can still say we’re sorry and mean it.
Before we can have Reconciliation we must have Truth.
OMYGOD is Executive Produced by Impact Media Producer Charlene SanJenko. PowHERhouse Impact Media Group is a 100% Indigenous owned organization who champions social impact projects that change the narrative for H.E.R. – Human Expansion Realized.
OMYGOD – KEY CREATIVE TEAM
Writer/Storyteller/Performer – Tina Overbury
Dramaturg – Nicolle Nattrass
Creative Consultant – Dean Paul Gibson
Digital Director – James Gardiner
Director of Photography – Randal Hrytzak Bemoved Media
Sound Designer – Paul Tedeschini
Editor – Jay Lehmann
OMYGOD, a Storytelling for Reconciliation piece about the women we burned, the babies we buried and the Gods we have worshipped, premieres on Friday May 28th with a Digital Press Conference at 10am PDT, followed by three individual screenings: Ireland/UK screening 7:30pm BST; New York/Toronto 6pm EDT; and Vancouver/Los Angeles 6:30pm PDT.
My name is Tina Overbury and I’m a writer and storyteller living on Nex̱wlélex̱m (Bowen Island), in British Columbia, Canada.
I need to introduce myself to you because I’ve written and performed a piece that intersects with your story and I wanted you to meet me as a person first, before you hear about me as a storyteller somewhere else. The story that doesn’t belong to me but has found it’s way into my heart and hands is the Mother and Baby Homes across Ireland, and the Tuam babies of County Galway.
Before I go any further, please let me first say how sorry I am for all that has been done. I’m truly sorry. I’m sending you this message to share a few bits and pieces about how this painful part of your history has impacted me, and I’ve attached a few links about the piece I’ve written as part of a social impact project called: ‘Storytelling for Reconciliation’. It’s called OMYGOD about the women we’ve burned, the babies we’ve buried and the Gods we have worshipped. It’s a 97 minute solo-show, and the Tuam story is only one of three story threads in it, but it’s a significant one and it matters to me that you hear from me personally. It’s just what’s right and respectful.
So thank you for listening.
I want to give you a bit of a back-story because I didn’t set out to write about this. It began as a solo-show project to celebrate my 50th birthday, but the more questions asked, the deeper the answers went and as it evolved, it took me in an entirely surprising direction around the forgotten and ‘accepted’ wrongs done to women and children, Indigenous people, and our culture pre-Christianization and colonization.
It’s not a piece about blaming, it’s about naming, witnessing and holding enough of a container to actually take it in, accept the truth of the atrocity, and be changed by listening to it. I believe that storytelling and theatre can do that.
When I started, this show was about exploring why women are self-conscious and why they (me) second guess themselves consistently. I started with a narrative called: ‘the making of a madwoman’. As I began to unpack that idea more and more and ask why we people (often of the feminine persuasion) do this so much? And where did it all start? It lead to me to a number of unexpected story threads including: Indigeneity. Why aren’t there female Gods? Then I stumbled upon The Morrigan & Brigid, which led me to try and figure out the witch burnings, which then challenged my own faith journey.
The last thread to arrive was the story of the Tuam babies. I had been watching the news while folding laundry by the fire in January when I saw all the socks and shoes dangling in the wind on my screen. I thought of my own story of being adopted and losing my mom at eight years old. As a mother to three boys (almost men!), I also remembered what it was like to lose my first child. I kept watching, until I heard what felt to me like a pretty insufficient apology offered by the Irish government and then I just couldn’t shake it. This part of Ireland’s history (and yours) struck a chord with me.
Here’s a bit more about where this piece called OMYGOD is taking me: This might not sound like it intersects but it does. So again… thank you for hanging in this far. I am part of a 100% Indigenous owned organization called PowHERhouse Impact Media group. The founder of the organization is also adopted, is Indigenous and was part of the foster care system for four years before she was adopted by a family.
Where Ireland and Canada’s history intersect is here: In Canada 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families and forced into what we called residential school. 6000 children lost their lives there and countless others were traumatized for life. I understand that in Ireland 56,000 babies were born in Mother and Baby homes, and 9000 children lost their lives. Again… I am so sorry.
Truth and Reconciliation is a big part of Canada’s current awareness and we are all learning how to listen to the wrongs we have done (whether we personally did them or not). My kids are learning about it in school and my middle son just last week talked to me about it. I know this was never something that would’ve come up when I was in school. We can only continue to do better and better with the truths we are made aware of. While doing research for my show I just couldn’t get over the similarities in our collective history.
I have screened OMYGOD to a small audience already and the feedback has been overwhelmingly encouraging. I have to admit I was quite nervous. The subject matter is quite direct and as a white woman woman of privilege I know these conversations are complex with a lot of pain and trauma wrapped up inside. But what happened really inspired me to keep going. The screening opened up challenging conversations and it seems to invite a space for stories like this to be heard, and that is what this show is all about for me. It’s about reconciliation, truth telling, and humility as we move forward together through the wrongs we’ve done to each other in this really divided time in our history.
I may have given you way more information than you needed or wanted, but I’m a writer and I come by it honestly, so thank you again for listening.
If you’ve moved on from this part of your personal history already and would really rather just put it all behind you, I’m sorry for bringing it up. Truly I am. I hope you can hear my heart on this.
On this path of conscious reconciliation, and as an artist, storyteller and mom to three boys, I am stumbling forward here and learning as I go. I keep hearing from the Indigenous elders around me that ‘before we can have reconciliation we must have truth’, and I couldn’t agree more and it takes a long time for that truth to be received. I don’t think of truth as an intellectual exercise of saying the right thing. To me it’s experiential and I notice how uncomfortable I am with how painfully slow it can be. The other thing we keep hearing in the arts world, and I’m working on being in practice of (also a slow process for a western mind and over-achiever like me!) is: ‘not about, without’ – meaning don’t tell someone else’s story for them, and definitely, not without them.
I recognize, this Tuam story isn’t mine to tell, and I’m not Indigenous to Canada either, yet these two story threads are woven into me, so here I am with an open heart and I’m trying. So thank you for taking the time to hear me out.
There’s a press conference on the 28th and a screening in three time zones. I hope it goes without saying that you are more than weIcome to be there. I am open to talking more about any and all of this with you as well. I know I’m not going to be able to reach all of the Mother and Baby Home survivors and those affected by what happened, so if there are people in your circle, will you forward this letter to them? Again, I am so sorry for all that has happened. This is a big wound that deserves to be honoured, and at the same time deserves to be laid to rest and heal.
My hope is that my piece: OMYGOD can do a bit of both.
Sincerely,
Tina Overbury
Mother to four, three with me.
Daughter to two, one with me.
Settler to Canada, grateful to call Nex̱wlélex̱m (Bowen Island) on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations my home.
Tina Overbury is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She is devoted to global reconciliation through the exploration of origin stories, sharing our oral history, land-based knowing, and a continued focus on communication as a sacred practice. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a weekend retreat of deep listening held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada and is the voice and story behind TinaOLife, home to Stories from the Core – her weekly writing and conversation series. She is a proud associate of PowHERhouse Impact Media as a core-communications specialist working with individuals and organizations who feel called.She is a co-host of GATHER for HER, and a PowHERhouse Artist of Impact Amplify Coach helping leaders become artists and artists become leaders.
On May 28th 2021, you are invited to Christina’s 50th Birthday un-party in Tuam, County Galway Ireland where an 8 yr old girl who thinks she’s a witch meets Jesus, a woman who knows how to boil an egg, lights three fires of reconciliation, and the special guest at the party is The Morrigan, a shape-shifting Irish deity of prophecy, battle and sovereignty.
OMYGOD is a mythical tale about the women we burned, the children we buried, the Gods we worship and the fires we light after seven generations of children witness their mother turn into witches before their very eyes.
Writer/Performer, Tina Overbury catches us off guard with her humorous, poetic and harrowing tales of life as a woman who loves the sacred, but offers: “I love God, but does he have to be a man?” She reminds us about the power of books by showing us the Malleus Maleficarum, the ‘Witch Burning for Dummies’ instruction manual which shaped us for 300 years. She asks us to come and sit by the fire with all aspects of what it means to be a woman. She offers, we are The Morrigan, The Three Mary’s of the Gospel, and the infamous Lady M herself. We have a conversation with Jesus, and we’re introduced to Mouse Woman, the North American Indigenous mother of Raven.
As guests at her un-party, audiences will witness the makings of a mad woman and say we’re sorry as we sweep up the ashes of those we have burned in the name of being holy.
OMYGOD is a mythical and redemptive tale across time, culture, and faith that is as funny as it is brave. As world patriarchal structures crumble, we are not left with void of wisdom, we need only look to the cultural stories that exist within to remember that God belongs to everyone, and power within gender is not hierarchical, or a conversation about sex, witchcraft or worthiness.
This is STORYTELLING for RECONCILIATION
Before there can be reconciliation, there must be truth. And there are some truths that only art can hold.
Storytelling is a way we can honour the scars left behind from unspeakable atrocities. It’s a way through the bruising to remember, witness and move toward reconciliation through a restorative process of embodied listening.
Theatre can do that.
OMYGOD is the first storytelling experience offered by TinaO. Semi-autobiographical and inspired by real-life events and historical references, this storytelling experience is offered in the spirit of reconciliation and restorative justice, and as a bridge of humility between cultures. It is a feminist narrative combining humour, storytelling and poetry which brings together two Indigenous cultures rich in oral history and a shared scar of cultural and human genocide.
From the residential schools of Turtle Island (North America) to the Mother and Baby homes of Eire (Ireland), from the triple essence goddess of The Morrigan to the three Mary’s of the gospel, from witch burning to the everyday making of a madwoman – OMYGOD offers historical explanations as to why we are the way we are, and asks us:
‘Who do we become when seven generations of children watch their mothers burn?’
This story is personal, hopeful, humorous, and deeply tender. We are human. Storytelling reminds us of this.
Tina Overbury is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She is devoted to global reconciliation through the exploration of origin stories, sharing our oral history, land-based knowing, and a continued focus on communication as a sacred practice. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a weekend retreat of deep listening held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada and is the voice and story behind TinaOLife, home to Stories from the Core – her weekly writing and conversation series. She is a proud associate of PowHERhouse Impact Media as a core-communications specialist working with individuals and organizations who feel called.She is a co-host of GATHER for HER, and a PowHERhouse Artist of Impact Amplify Coach helping leaders become artists and artists become leaders.
Welcome to Voices from the Stones – 50 Nights with TinaO leading up to the launch of
STORY STONES – The Book
& O MY GOD – The Show
& Celebrating my 50th Birthday
On December 25th, Christmas Day and day one of my 50th year, I will begin fifty nights of poetry, soliloquies, creation stories, musings and more… sharing excerpts from my upcoming solo-show O MY GOD, and reading short bits from the second draft of my book: Story Stones.
I will send excerpts to you via email to enjoy over these long & chilly winter nights when you subscribe here.
The Set Up:
It’s her birthday and you’re invited to help blow out the candles.
At the party you’ll meet a young girl haunted by a 15,000 year old giant, a painfully self-conscious witch lost at the altar, and a Celtic shape-shifting mistress of war sharing the burn of what it means to fiercely love and protect.
Some uninvited mythological guests drop in to offer jokes, warnings and insights about the sacred irrelevance of the divisive words and worlds we lovingly, and whole-heartedly refer to as God.
This isn’t a book about rocks, though my house is filled with them.
It’s not about divorce either, but like the big jagged stone it is, it’s in here.
I didn’t want to write a cancer comeback story either, but… it happened.
And it’s not about God.
Who am I kidding?
It’s always about God.
Voices from the Stones
50 Nights with TinaO
WHAT: 50 Nights of Poetry, Soliloquies, Readings, and Musings. I will be reading you excerpts from my upcoming book: Story Stones, and sharing with you some of the behind the scenes moments and inspirations from my solo-show in development: O MY God. Come, listen with me over these long winter nights. Let’s fall into the story together.
WHY: Pure listening enjoyment, plus receive first access to pre-order TinaO’s book: STORY STONES, and reserve your limited seating (and socially distant) tickets to her Spring tour of O MY GOD (March – June 2021)
Tina Overbury is a core-communications specialist who works with individuals and organizations who feel called. She is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a weekend retreat of deep listening held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada and is the voice and story behind TinaOLife, home to Story Stones, TinaO’s online gathering of listening in to sacred stories. Tina is a proud associate of PowHERhouse media where she listens and supports the ‘stories’ of whole and integrated leaders of tomorrow.
Four years ago I woke up in shock that the world had gone mad. When Donald Trump was elected president it haunted me for days.
This is the morning after…
The day after the 2020 election, it was a very different walk on the beach for sure.
2016 and the Day After
This year on December 25th, which is both Christmas Day and my 50th Birthday, I am stepping into a new story…
and I know what I know what I know about how stories work:
Stories won’t let go of you until they’ve been fully heard.
This is release #8 of sixteen Story Hits (vlogs) from as far back as 2013. Some are my favourites, some are yours. If you missed week #1, you can start at the beginning with: Out of the Water here.
I will be writing more about these moments in both my upcoming book: STORY STONES (coming fall 2021, and in my one woman show: O MY GOD (touring spring 2021).
On my 50th Birthday, if you’re on my VIP list, I’ll be sending you 50 Days of Christmas Story Gifts from Dec. 25th to February 12th. If you want some story goodness filled with sneak peeks into the creation and rehearsal process, plus be able to pre-order the book, and order tickets to the show, click here and the let the gifting begin! (You’ll get a bunch of cool story right away)
UNDER THIS, PLEASE PUT THIS IN THE PARAGRAPH FORMAT:
Tina Overbury is a core-communications specialist who works with individuals and organizations who feel called. She is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a weekend retreat of deep listening held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada and is the voice and story behind TinaOLife, home to Story Stones, TinaO’s online gathering of listening in to sacred stories. Tina is a proud associate of PowHERhouse media where she listens and supports the ‘stories’ of whole and integrated leaders of tomorrow.If you’d like to know more about TinaO’s approach to STORY and receive updates about STORY STONES the book, and O MY GOD, her one woman show, click here and you’ll be added to her ‘stay in touch’ list plus she’ll send you a few short intro videos about what story means to her. CLICK HERE for TinaO Story stuff.
You know I even had someone create a meditation for me
About it.
I slept with
it,
the meditation
and I dreamt about
it
Woke up with it
Spoke with it
Joked with it
Croaked with it
I didn’t toke with it
I don’t
smoke
it
I think I’ve had it
Because your encouragement is
starting to feel
like nagging
The truth is
I suck
at it
being supported
and ocean swimming
has been my greatest teacher
Where We’ve Been – Circa 2017
Pre-Triathlon Iron Man 5150
I was four months out of cancer treatment when I started training for the Iron Man 5150 (Olympic distance triathlon). I could barely swim ten strokes without losing my breath.
I had suffered a shoulder injury after a full on knock down drag ’em out with young son and couldn’t rotate my shoulder.
But I was committed to the race. I trained with a kickboard up to ten days before the swim. After being told I would be disqualified if I brought my trusty board, I panicked. This video is less than seven days before the swim.
So an Angel took a seat in my truck today. Just in time.
This year on December 25th, which is both Christmas Day and my 50th Birthday, I am stepping into a new story…
and I know what I know what I know about how stories work:
Stories won’t let go until they’ve been fully heard.
This is release #6 of sixteen Story Hits (vlogs) from as far back as 2013. Some are my favourites, some are yours. If you missed week #1 or more and want to start from the beginning, you can start here with: Out of the Water.
I will be writing more about these moments in both my upcoming book: STORY STONES (coming fall 2021, and in my one woman show: O MY GOD (touring spring 2021).
Tina Overbury is a core-communications specialist who works with individuals and organizations who feel called. She is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a weekend retreat of deep listening held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada and is the voice and story behind TinaOLife, home to Story Stones, TinaO’s online gathering of listening in to sacred stories. Tina is a proud associate of PowHERhouse media where she listens and supports the ‘stories’ of whole and integrated leaders of tomorrow.
If you’d like to know more about TinaO’s approach to STORY and receive updates about STORY STONES the book, and O MY GOD, her one woman show, click here and you’ll be added to her ‘stay in touch’ list plus she’ll send you a few short intro videos about what story means to her.
I was working through the label of ‘woo woo’ which is thrown around lovingly and always jokingly… but always with an element of judgement underneath.
It was time to say… I am woo… and it’s what makes me think the way I do.
A little time in one of my favourite places – Mt. Gardiner Dock – 2016
This year on December 25th, which is both Christmas Day and my 50th Birthday, I am stepping into a new story…
and I know what I know what I know about how stories work:
Stories won’t let go of you until they’ve been fully heard.
This is release #5 of sixteen weeks of Story Hits (vlog) from as far back as 2013. Some are my favourites, some are yours. If you missed week #1, you can start at the beginning with: Out of the Water here.
I will be writing more about these moments in both my upcoming book: STORY STONES (coming fall 2021, and in my one woman show: O MY GOD (touring spring 2021).
On my 50th Birthday, if you’re on my VIP list, I’ll be sending you 50 Days of Christmas Story Gifts from Dec. 25th to February 12th. If you want some story goodness filled with sneak peeks into the creation and rehearsal process, plus be able to pre-order the book, and order tickets to the show, click here and the let the gifting begin! (You’ll get a bunch of cool story right away)
Tina Overbury is a core-communications specialist who works with individuals and organizations who feel called. She is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a weekend retreat of deep listening held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada and is the voice and story behind TinaOLife, home to Story Stones, TinaO’s online gathering of listening in to sacred stories. Tina is a proud associate of PowHERhouse media where she listens and supports the ‘stories’ of whole and integrated leaders of tomorrow.
If you’d like to know more about TinaO’s approach to STORY and receive updates about STORY STONES the book, and O MY GOD, her one woman show, click here and you’ll be added to her ‘stay in touch’ list plus she’ll send you a few short intro videos about what story means to her. CLICK HERE for TinaO Story stuff.
Oh my… It’s interesting to me that I find this video cringe worthy. I realize that says more about my ego than it does about the video doesn’t it?
I think I sound preachy.
I think I risk being ‘divisive’.
I think I sound green and innocent and immature – and feisty.
Isn’t it interesting how much effort it takes to say something publicly?
That is my lesson in this video. I cared a lot about the stand the teachers were taking back then in 2014. The kids were out for five months. Nuts right? But I was firey about supporting the teachers so much so that I decided to share my world view in my first video ever.
This is the video that launched a thousand vlogs.
There are things in this video I want to take back, like the poem I’m reading above. I want to silently remove it from the roller, fold it up and painlessly drop it into the waste basket. And isn’t that interesting too?
The truth is, my position hasn’t changed at all, I just wish I could present it better. Again… totally, my ego talking. This was almost seven years ago. Wild.
You know, I wonder how much more willing we would be to truly say what we think and feel, if we acknowledged the courage it takes to be seen doing and saying anything at all.
I wonder.
This year on December 25th, which is both Christmas Day and my 50th Birthday, I am stepping into a new story…
and I know what I know what I know about how stories work:
Stories won’t let go of you until they’ve been fully heard.
This is release #4 of sixteen weeks of Story Hits (vlog) from as far back as 2013. Some are my favourites, some are yours. If you missed week #1, you can start at the beginning with: Out of the Water here.
I will be writing more about these moments in both my upcoming book: STORY STONES (coming fall 2021, and in my one woman show: O MY GOD (touring spring 2021).On my 50th Birthday, if you’re on my VIP list, I’ll be sending you 50 Days of Christmas Story Gifts from Dec. 25th to February 12th. If you want some story goodness filled with sneak peeks into the creation and rehearsal process, plus be able to pre-order the book, and order tickets to the show, click here and the let the gifting begin! (You’ll get a bunch of cool story right away)
Tina Overbury is a core-communications specialist who works with individuals and organizations who feel called. She is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a weekend retreat of deep listening held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada and is the voice and story behind TinaOLife, home to Story Stones, TinaO’s online gathering of listening in to sacred stories. Tina is a proud associate of PowHERhouse media where she listens and supports the ‘stories’ of whole and integrated leaders of tomorrow.If you’d like to know more about TinaO’s approach to STORY and receive updates about STORY STONES the book, and O MY GOD, her one woman show, click here and you’ll be added to her ‘stay in touch’ list plus she’ll send you a few short intro videos about what story means to her. CLICK HERE for TinaO Story stuff.
organizations who feel called. She is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of 
