It’s a verb. In Hawaii I asked a guy how his day was going. He said. “I have a great job. All I do is drive around and talk story with people all day.”

That’s a cool way to think about it. When you are on vacation or in a resort that is what happens. You meet new people and you talk story with them. They tell you theirs and you tell them yours.

Try it sometime. It really takes no time at all or it can take all day depending on the length of the story and how much you have in common. Sometimes you have a lot.

We met a guy sitting on a wall watching the high surf yesterday. He was on his way to the airport to go back to the states and then on to St Thomas. He talked about snorkeling and how much he loves it and the fact that he travels a lot to concerts all over the US. He was fascinating. Our common ground was geographic. We were in the same place watching the same awe inspiring sea crash against the lava rocks.

In most cases you will have a geographic connection with who ever you are with and as Meg Wheatley says the only solid base for a community is PLACE. If you are in the same place you already have something in common. Start there.

We should all spend more time talking story to each other. We could get to know each other a lot better and we would learn to be story tellers and conversationalists. In the company of others we are happier and healthier. In a crowd we could be alone, but all it takes for a crowd to become company is people willing to talk story.

Change a lonely experience into a chance to meet a new friend and exchange stories … only the bits you want to share of course.
Talk story with someone today.