'My life is an open book'

One of the more fun groups I have had the opportunity of first sitting in on... then participating... and now joining... is the Story Circle group. I'm told you can find one in a good many countries across the world... and if you can't find it, well, please go ahead and create it.

What it is is a group of ladies coming together once a month to write about what they know best... their lives. The prompts differ from month-to-month, but the stories that come out... well, they can make you tear up, laugh, shake your head in dismay or just sit back and smile.

The group that I attend is a wonderful mix of ladies - an assortment of cultural backgrounds and age - and the one thing that strikes us all is how universal family is. For in all our stories, there is some commonality... and everyone has felt the other's emotion at some point in their own lives. Sickness - everyone goes through it. Parenting - the children are different, but the experiences have the same roots. Childhood - it could have been spent in different parts of the world but hey, it's a common language we all understand.

For some people it's therapeutic. For other it's healing. It doesn't matter how you choose to label it... you leave with a sense of comprehension. A flash of insight. This is my life. This is who I am.