The words below were drafted immediately upon waking one morning prior to giving a full day seminar.
They were written without thought and without editing, with tears flowing the entire time.
They are posted here by repeated request.

For PDF version, click here.

THE CALL

You do not get to choose in this lifetime or in any other whether or not you are a
storyteller. You can only choose by intention or by action whether or not you will
yield to the impulse, the gift, and the demands of telling stories. It is a double-
edged sword at best and will take of you its price either way. The costs of the
journey are many and high, the cost of not taking it beyond measure.

 The truth is stories and storytelling are living things of their own and only allow
us or not to embody them, to inhabit them, and, the divine willing, give them
expression. The best of the stories that any of us will ever have the impulse and,
if possible, the ability to tell, will never be those of our own choosing but those
that choose us to tell them. They will call on us to tell them before we know what
they are or what we are to do. They will call on us until we can in fact live them,
and in so doing give them birth, expression, and life.

 You do not choose whether or not you are among the chosen, only whether or
not you will heed the call. So read these words and weep. If you understand them,
you are among the chosen and the bearer of a burden that will lift you in
proportion to its weight. If you do not understand, pray that the chosen are
among you and that they heeded their call. They are healers, guides, and heralds.
They are the seekers, seers, and voice of the divine.

Patrick A. Horton, PhD, The Story Coach
www.thestorycoach.com