Our stories can reveal a lot about ourselves and what shaped our perspectives and listening. Here’s one that shaped my listening.

Growing up in Queens, New York, I always visited my local library. When I was in the 6th grade, I brought home a science fiction book that was an adventure story about a young boy and his friends.

The friends loved learning about space in school; somehow, their science teacher discovered a way to Travel through it. The group didn’t use rockets to travel; they only used their minds and bodies. Together, they could leave Earth and transport their bodies through time and space to unknown places in the galaxy.

They visited many unusual places and encountered many strange Beings. Some of these Beings helped them, and others did not. No matter what they experienced, this little group persevered and moved across the galaxies together without fail. But soon, they grew weary and homesick.

However, when they decided to return home to Earth, their teacher warned them that the journey home may be more challenging than the one they had just had. They had to stay together, keep positive, and not let anything deter them.

When the students started their journey back to Earth, they encountered an extensive section of black nothingness that felt more ominous than anything they had ever experienced. The darkness grew, separating the children, who could no longer hear or see each other.

But what they could hear were horrible voices whispering in their ears—voices saying terrible things to them that scared them. One of the young boys started to feel trapped by the darkness and felt himself getting angrier. The angrier he got, the more the darkness surrounded him, preventing him from traveling through space.

When he felt himself starting to be overcome by hate, he remembered what his science teacher told him about caring for his fellow students. So, he started thinking about his friends, science teacher, and everyone back home on Earth. He used all his strength to ignore the voices in the dark.

The more he did this, the more he felt love. The voices started to get quieter, and darkness began to loosen its grip on him. So the boy started to say the word “love” out loud again and again. The boy held onto these feelings until the darkness left, and everyone found their way home.

His love had led them home.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

When I read this book as a middle schooler, it gave me hope during a very challenging time. Although it’s been decades, the book’s concept that “love will bring you to a better place” has always stayed with me.

I have searched for that book over the years. I even spoke to a librarian at the library in Queens, which I used to frequent, to see if this story sounded familiar. While the book’s title continues to be a mystery, the book’s lesson does not.

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Julienne Ryan Humorist, Speaker, Trainer, Facilitator, Coach

Julienne B. Ryan began her professional career at age five when she did TV commercials and learned important things like “the teamsters always eat first,” her social security number and how to endorse checks for bank deposit.

Ryan studied psychology in college because she wanted to understand humans. She conducted her “field work” in a variety of roles, hearing the phrases “merger synergies, reorganizations, downsizing and rightsizing for change” more times than she cares to mention.

Later she enrolled in an Ivy League graduate school where she paid oodles of money to validate her prior on-the-job learning experiences. However, she did learn to name drop up-to-date theories and trendy psychologists with alarming ease.

Ryan evolved into working in “Talent Management,” a fancy way of saying “try to find people and keep them moderately happy.” With inadequate budgets and staff allocations, she had to find creative ways to encourage her staff to work effectively. These ranged from begging and borrowing resources, improvising childcare, telling stories and even giving snacks as rewards. She tried to convince herself that working a bazillion hours and “multi-tasking” equaled achievement.

Her work took place in cubicles, conference rooms or, with luck, in offices with a door. Occasionally she would make the time to emerge from her allotted real estate to really talk to people. Ryan learned something transformative in the process:

Yes, she was effective. But not because she used fancy theories – or gave great snacks. Ryan’s success, her staff believed, was a result of her uncanny knack for weaving storytelling with humor to motivate and encourage them. Crucially, they encouraged Ryan to de-emphasize “that normal HR stuff” and focus on bringing her unique storytelling skills to a broader stage.

Thanks to them, Ryan continues to collect, connect and tell stories in her work helping people find their “true selves in the world of work.

She is the author of the humorous, all true "The Learned It In Queens Communications Playbook - Winning Against Distraction!".that now includes a workbook and is available at booksellers across the globe..

She is a guest contributor to The Procurement Foundry, LifeBlood, and the global storytelling community.

Certifications include
Accumatch (BI) Behavior Intelligence
Narativ Applied Storytelling Methodologies
Collective Brains – Mentorship Methodologies