Hey Storytellers!
I am creating a new series of videos designed to help Immersive Storytellers tell deeper and more impactful stories. Would love to hear if this video is helpful for you, and I am taking topic requests too.
Take care,
Joshua
Hey Storytellers!
I am creating a new series of videos designed to help Immersive Storytellers tell deeper and more impactful stories. Would love to hear if this video is helpful for you, and I am taking topic requests too.
Take care,
Joshua
Every person has their own “Story” of how they arrived where they are. This is always true. However, as a person transforms their perspective their understanding of their story also transforms.
As business people and entrepreneurs, this very much applies to the value being created, and therefore the very essence of the brand as well. As a perspective shifts around a personal story, motives and passions also become new and fresh in the process.
So what is Storyweaving? It is the process of creating a tapestry of someone’s life work thus far. Combining useful experiences and insights from the past, along with an open and expansive view of the future. It is combining personal interests and curiosities alongside those of potential customers who feel a resonance with the same.
Let’s take my interest in writing as an example of a straightforward Storyweaving process.
I write so I can go on a journey. It is deeply personal to me, and it assists me in forming conclusions about intuitive nudges I have not yet explored.
I want others to come with me of course, but the initial journey is for me.
The journey can be through fiction or non-fiction. Either way, it generally contains a story arc, a hypothesis, a development and expansion of a smaller concept toward a bigger one.
And this journey is of course not “going anywhere”, because one can stay physically in the same place from beginning to end. However, by the end of it, both I and the reader generally feel “as if” we have just traveled somewhere. The more impactful the writing, the more life can be seen through a fresh new lens.
The more the author has been consciously exposed to their own tender parts, the more precisely and movingly they are able to touch upon the tender aspects of the reader.
And if the author has managed to actually resolve fear and convert it into power, they can create an experience that essentially does the same for an audience.
As I am writing this, I can sense that we are about halfway through this piece. Even though I am not telling a “story” here, the story structure is still very present. It is so in every single decision and every single movement, from small to large. Stories exist within stories within stories. Thus, whether we are discussing creating transformational content (screenwriting, books, games), or if the topic is focused on creating alignment within a brand selling widgets, the story aspect is a consistent key.
It is said that “There are no new stories”, and yet weaving these layers of stories together creates a wholly unique framework for understanding the world. Everyone is living stories within stories, and it is simply recognizing them and illustrating them or making them tangible and accessible in some way that creates value.
Every single brand, whether it is a large enterprise or a solopreneurship, has an array of perspectives available through which to view its unique offerings. A seemingly minuscule shift in perspective, even a slightly new understanding of their personal story, has the potential to completely shift a brand from low gear into high.
Even though Story can technically be considered invisible, brands and businesses are absolutely built on this foundation whether they own it or not. It is never too late or too soon to weave together the old with the new, to discard the irrelevant, and to make space for curiosity and expansion.
Individual stories always come to an end, but life continues to go on and so our work must be constantly updated so that the basic nuts and bolts that define our day-to-day lifestyle can keep up with the tapestry of our own actual evolution.
Inspired by the term “Depth Psychology”, Depth branding takes the concept of business value proposition and deepens it to include a true alignment with the whole person. An alternative name for such a lens could be “Holistic Branding” or “Aligned Branding”.
It can be easier to understand Depth Branding by understanding what is NOT Depth Branding.
Most brands are strategically aimed at manipulating target audiences to have a certain craving. Cravings/Desires can either come from fear and seeking of comfort, or they can come from an authentic willingness to truly move forward. To honor our deepest selves.
The word “manipulation” gets a bad rap. It’s not evil by any means. Hugging or encouraging someone to help them feel more comfortable, for example, can be considered a positive form of manipulation.
The truth is: customers long to be manipulated — in healthy ways which actually move them forward.
And it can be tricky to discern which type of desire is pulling on us.
For example, a new piece of very efficient exercise equipment comes out. Their advertising reaches customers, who then long for it.
But the question is, are they afraid of not having it and not getting fit? Or are they deeply inspired and open to a radical change? A primal knowing of what it looks like to honor themselves?
Typically, the answer to this depends on the depth of the branding. The subtleties of the voice through which the business reaches them. The thoughts and emotions systematically catalyzed in the advertising and brand awareness process.
A brand that comes from alignment is going to naturally exhibit true generosity and fearlessness. This cannot be faked. It will be inspiring because it is real. Reading this and taking it as “advice” won’t work. It can only ever happen through a deep process of facing ourselves. A willingness to see our core business motives. A willingness to get real about what you might even consider to be the “ugly” parts of what drives you.
Depth Branding shifts everything, in only the best ways.
“Hollywood romance is to women what porn is to men. Both create a separation from reality.”
Our world has changed, and it will never be the same, and with that change comes radically higher standards for business transparency and content messaging.
Gone are the days of “filler”. Audiences are activated and hungry for real change. Real answers and practical steps to accomplishing their dreams. Without these crucial elements, businesses operating in the old way are going to be left in the dust.
Can your business keep up with massive inflation? Can your business keep up with these lofty expectations? We all need to become vitally necessary or go extinct. Now is the time for change.
We always have more options than we realize.
We cannot see our options as they truly exist because our energy is stuck in fight or flight, and so and we habitually disregard our emotional experience as a means for survival.
“Play” is options consciousness.
By relaxing the nervous system we can come out of codependent behaviors and this allows for aligned creative solutions to strike us.
Image: A frame from the film Dean by Demitri Martin
From a wounded perspective, shadowed power can appear to be light and true light can appear as shadowed power.
This is a great time to discover our true motives for emulating others, for attempting to attain really anything at all.
Diving into truth reveals our backward thinking, our unnecessary protective habits, searching for whatever feels like home.
Our true motives very often are caused by wanting to be seen in a certain way, especially by ourselves. This is what it looks like when shame is driving.
If we can become safe in being humiliated in front of ourselves, nothing can harm us and we move toward returning to the zero point of self-image.
A True sense of Safety has absolutely nothing to do with circumstances and everything to do with trusting in our own competency, resilience, and significance.
Seeing ourselves as totally capable is the best decision we can ever make, and this individuation process is often ignored in all of the fancy spiritual discussions.
Structure is necessary for wildness to truly be trustworthy, as you alluded toward. A baby is wild and innocent but that doesn’t make their decisions trustworthy because they lack structure.
This is where the boundaries discussion comes in, as (healthy) leadership tends to demonstrate what strong boundaries look and feel like.
Those who set the container need not be the strongest or wisest, but hierarchy is necessary in order to simply organize what being on the “same page” consists of.
Encouraging the wildness is also why I enjoy being available for all personal questions.
While Male bodied wounding most often craves (feels safest) to be mothered, most female-bodied wounding most often craves to be FATHERED.
We generally desire to embody what we perceive to be lacking. Fear and Desire both arise out of wounding, and so we are attracted to what we fear.
More specifically, we are attracted to what we fear (and desire) BECOMING.
In looking through the lens of the dating world:
Just as cats hunt playfully, Women are more suited to choose Men and not vice versa.
Swarming like bees for pollen, Hunting as a form of Play. This illustrates the immense need to eliminate competition between women.
Men’s forays into hunting are strategic. It is not open-ended. It is targeted. This orientation is dangerous and tempts men into using and objectifying women.
It is natural for the woman to approach the man. A man in his truth is focused on his mission, not on women.
A man who is looking for a date is indulging in his addiction. He does not believe he is capable of embodying what she embodies.
Healthy men say NO to sexual encounters much more often than they say yes. This simultaneously provides feminine wounding the fathering experience they crave.
Female lions hunt for the pack because lions do not have the embedded PRIDE wounding urging them achieving a certain status based on their kill.
In fact, WOMEN are readily designed for decision making in the workforce as they excel in matters of community and finance. They are innately designed to collaborate and SHARE authentically, whereas men are innately less in need of community…which ironically when a man is experienced as a ‘safe’ person tends to experience community forming around them.
The common feminine stereotype of ‘Airy Fairyness’ is a result of the Feminine wounding craving becoming the Masculine because the True masculine is information which is of the air.
The ultimate symbol of masculinity is the Sun, while “Mother Earth” is, of course, the feminine.
The Kundalini rising (from the earth) brings the feminine (inner child) into the brain (the Sun of the Body) – which represents the inner parent.
Many times people have Kundalini awakenings prematurely, which means that their inner parent is not sufficiently developed and does not know how to handle the wildness of the inner child (integrated knowledge of boundaries).
Women do NOT need to learn how to surrender to men. Prioritizing that is literally INSANE.
Women need to learn how to trust their OWN will, to trust THEMSELVES. In doing so, they can then discern who is truly safe and who isn’t.
Then, they can spot a man in his addiction and will KNOW that surrendering to him would be irresponsible to themselves. In having that awareness and self-trust, surrendering to a safe and integrated man becomes automatic and does NOT need to be learned or practiced.
Average Women report a significantly higher amount of exercise and quality of life than men. Women report exercising for weight loss and toning more than men, whereas men report exercising for enjoyment more than women.
This is why we see almost all WOMEN in yoga classes, while men are out playing baseball, tracking sports stats (or their own sex stats), trying to lift a certain amount of weight, simply for the metric of achievement. Men are measuring their progress because subconsciously they hope that they can one day become as powerful as WOMEN.
This is also the cause of witch hunts: For centuries men have pulled every card to demonize and disgrace expressions of femininity.
Because they both fear and desire it.
Women are much more commonly found singing and dancing because they are generally more compassionate toward the subtle energetic needs of their bodies (the Earth). Women are much more likely to have eating disorders because they oscillate between fear and desire with food. Which is closeness with the Earth.
Men are more often aimed at PUSHING to achieve an external goal in order to symbolically change the public perception of themselves, motivated to make an impact (like the sun makes an impact). Making an impact then gives them ‘permission’ to change their perception of themselves.
When men ‘bulk up’ to appear a certain way, they are manipulating perspective to demonstrate the impact they can potentially make. Specifically, because they do not have the subtle energetic tools which women have, to make an INTERNAL impact, and thus they believe they need a woman to accomplish this.
Men are generally addictively on the hunt for measurable glory, which they will later convert to positive feelings. Hunting for the Truth CAN be a healthy addiction when it is NOT connected to self-worth (when the larger part of the self-image is purified and restored to innocence). Male lions defend their territory because they are designed to protect their right to exist (information), NOT because they feel pride, and NOT because they fear shame.
Women are addictively on the hunt specifically and DIRECTLY by following the subtle energetics of the qualitative Truth, and generally NOT for the purpose of accumulating information. This CAN be a healthy addiction when understood as curation without attachment. This is why it is often said that “God is a Woman”, or that women are closer to the imprint of the Truth. Because Men’s natural addiction is one step removed from completely valuing this direct experience.
The Feminine innately embodies ACTUAL power, and thus the wounded feminine perceives KNOWLEDGE as power (scarcity perspective). They have forgotten that POWER is KNOWLEDGE, and they already HAVE IT.
Most everybody has this very backward.
The wounded masculine represents disembodied INFORMATION which desires to merge with the feminine by BECOMING power (and therefore desires to become a symbol of power). The wounded masculine cannot comprehend the true merging with their own INTERNAL feminine.
Well, that was fun! This was a very complex paradigm to unwind, so some small errors are possible and I reserve the right to modify as needed. Your processing helps my processing. Happy to answer any questions.
Thank you for reading. May this information bring you deeper self-trust, sovereignty, joy, and ease in your mission here on earth.
Feel free to share.
Joshua
P.S. This corresponds with another writing, The Backward Masculine