Learn@Lunch

Practical Magic: Change Your Story, Change Your Life

Laura Oliver

April 9, 2024

“Words are the most powerful drug known to mankind.”— Rudyard Kipling. 

Your happiness is less dependent upon circumstances than it is upon the story you tell yourself about those circumstances. And that’s something you can control. Join us for Practical Magic: Change Your Story, Change Your Life. Beginning with the placebo effect, we will learn the science behind the power of words to change our thoughts, feelings, expectations, and ultimately our experiences. We will learn to rewire our brains to create satisfying tales about ourselves and others that we can actualize. In the end, everything is story.

Laura J. Oliver is the author of The Story Within, New Insights and Inspiration for Writers (Penguin Random House), featured by “Poets and Writers Magazine” and “The Writer Magazine” and endorsed by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Jon Franklin. A developmental story editor and writing coach, Oliver has won a Maryland State Arts Council Award and an Anne Arundel County Literary Arts Council Award for her work. She is currently a top story weekly columnist for Spy Community Media newspapers; https://talbotspy.org/author/laurao/. Her stories are featured on NPR Morning Edition (WHCP radio) and appear in national newspapers, magazines and top-tier literary reviews. Oliver is a popular speaker on the craft of writing and using writing to create wellbeing.  Oliver has taught creative writing at the University of Maryland and at St. John’s College. www.thestorywithin.com