đź’ś[11/14] the creativity for good friday five

this week’s highlights on creativity for good

Author

Shelly Jay Shore
November 14, 2025

Hello, dear ones!

I’m coming off a very long week of travel and conference work, so for the second week in a row, I’m going to be tweaking our Friday Five format a bit. However, rather than me just smashing my head against the keyboard and sending you something tomorrow, this week we’ll be bringing back some classic Creativity for Good energy with some questions and prompts!

Earlier this week, I had the delight of teaching a workshop on storytelling at a conference for Jewish end-of-life care providers. Putting aside the fact that I am a very silly person who totally forgot to bring copies of my book (you know. the one about Jewish end-of-life care. yep. that one) to said conference, it was a really beautiful experience. But it got me thinking a lot about the work of storytelling — why we do it, why it matters, and why every kind of creative work has storytelling at its core.

So to continue in that spirit, let’s talk about stories.

your friday five!

five questions on creating for good

  1. What is the earliest story you remember learning? Why does it stand out to you?

The stories we remember always have one thing in common: They made us feel something. That emotion could be from the story itself (sadness when Bambi’s mom died, excitement at the duels in The Princess Bride) or from the situation we were in when we experienced it (the comfort of a parent reading to us at bedtime).

When you’re creating something, what is the story you’re trying to tell? What do you want people to remember?

  1. What comes to mind when you think about a story told through something other than words?

For me, I think about the Nutcracker Suite from Disney’s Fantasia. Even if you have no idea what the Nutcracker is, or how classical music works, you can watch (and listen) and still have a total sense of narrative, emotion, and energy.

What does it mean (to you) to tell a story without words?

  1. Maya Angelou wrote, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Why are emotions so important in storytelling?

When you’re experiencing a story, what do you notice? Think beyond your emotions: What do you feel in your body? What kind of sensations (emotional and physical) do you try to evoke through your storytelling?

  1. Whose stories do you value…and are you hearing them?

We talk a lot about representation, about marginalized voices, about whose perspectives are given weight and whose are not. But even those of us with the best intentions sometimes fail to seek out the stories that we most need to hear.

An assignment for this week: Think about the stories of a group, perspective, or voice that you “keep meaning” to explore. Take at least one action to experiencing those stories — whether through fiction, nonfiction, music, food, art, or any other media.

  1. Finally: How are you telling your story?

At the opening of the conference I attended last week, we were given two ice-breaking prompts: first, to tell our conversation partner about an ancestor who we were bringing into this work with us and why, and second, to tell them about what we, as future ancestors, hope to take from this experience to share with the next generation.

With the understanding that the next generation doesn’t need to imply a biological connection: What are the stories that make up your life? What wisdom have you accumulated? How are you making plans to share your stories — and what are your hopes for what those stories will bring to those who learn them?

See you next week!

đź’śShelly