The Wonder Health Benefits of StoryTelling.

Jules Heartly | December 2nd 2021

The memory is there. I was standing by the kitchen door observing my dad sitting down on the living room sofa, his body resting back while keeping a good posture, just like a yoga instructor except for the leg crossing. His arms at his side on the “ready to get up mode” and his iron-strong but leathery soft hands playing with the car keys.

The chair was in a “privileged“ position.  One that will allow him to keep an eye on the kitchen, waiting for the arrival of his favorite dish while watching whatever was happening on the street. Perhaps the neighbor arriving in his military uniform with a straight but formal face making a grin to say hello, or perhaps on his street clothes halfway drunk, smiling and lifting the bottle to say hello. The next-door teenage girl walking her dog or the neighborhood kids playing soccer outside and sometimes taking breaks to come and poke my dad so he told them stories. 

And there I was, taking advantage of those moments to also listen to his life tales that were as vivid as any movie I could ever watch. His narration didn’t leave any details out and from the beginning it submerged me in a universe of the past. A magic realism from the world he had lived and recreated with his #storytelling.

I still remember a scene of the story about his first teaching assignment. A post on a remote town where he arrived covered in mud like a hippo on the wild or as a tourist after a rejuvenating thick mud dive in a natural clay pool. His wet and color fading clothes clung to his body like ivy to a tree. All this after hours of holding strongly with his arms like a drowning man, to a good samaritan drover’s horse’s tail, just not to be left behind on the narrow muddy mountain path he had to take to arrive there.  

My dad‘s storytelling practice didn’t change in adulthood. His stories were one of the main reasons my friends and I enjoyed talking with him. 

Sometimes I wish I had the technology that exists today to tape his words, or better to film him during his narrations or during his speeches. But would it be the same? Would I cherish it so much? Would it bring that remembrance? Or it would be like the instant Tik Tok you enjoy viewing and then put it away because you know you would be able to always play it back?

Why do stories work so well? Why do they stick with us long after the speech is over?

Because “….Our brains, incredibly, are able to “light up” the same areas of actual, physical experience when we are exposed to storytelling and vivid language. Stories are the perfect vehicle for this miraculous, empathetic trip because they relate someone else’s’ physical experience. For instance, Professor Keith Oatley of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto has suggested that reading stories creates a simulation of reality which “runs on the minds of readers just as computer simulations run on computers.”

….storytelling illuminates parts of our brain that are only active when we actually experience something. We understand the rich detail and action of a story in a more complex way than if we were simply processing pieces of information. for example, when someone tells us about how delicious certain foods were, our sensory cortex lights up.”

Jennifer Aaker, marketing professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business said “Research shows our brains are not hard-wired to understand logic or remember facts for very long. Our brains are wired to understand and retain stories.”

A story can put our entire #brain to work. .  I remember some of those stories told by my dad and I might picture the details. I possibly almost sense the weather at the time the event took place and even taste in my mouth any meals described, including the warm fragrance, the aroma of the rich melted hot chocolate he took when he arrived at the remote town where he taught his first High School class. Things I may not imagine doing when remembering some movies I liked. 

In contrast, today, there are things I don’t make an effort to remember anymore because I have the confidence of having them ready to be replayed by reaching out to my phone or the tablet.  

In that case, only certain parts in the brain would get activated. But when we are being told a story, not only are the language processing parts in our brain activated, but any other area in our brain we would use when experiencing the events of the story are too.

When my own kids were growing up, I did tell them stories, some fictional and some not, and they were so eager to listen to them. I wish I knew how well they remember them now.But for a long time, they were as if they happened to them. Out of the blue, they would ask me about the whereabouts of characters I had created during my narrations. 

Now, when I see my baby nephew, I wonder what he would cherish? How those instant memories of things seen on the smartphones, TV, tablets, etc. may have a different memory effect. #And then I realize today parents may have bigger shoes to fill. They may have to compete with the #TikToks of our world to create even more cherishable memories than those abundant on our tech savvy media universe. To ingrain certain memories on their children, to plant those seeds to be carried to adulthood.  Not only of things done together as a family, but the ones from oral storytelling/knowledge sharing/bonding, which come from being in the moment away from media distractions. 

My dad used to say spoken words are privileged because they create. ( And that is a double-sword! ) and indeed at least those words I listened to at story-telling times, created memories, created admiration, created respect, created a desire to know more, to read more, to learn more and now, remembering them, created this blog.  It is amazing how the brain works. 

I invite you to take advantage of this holiday time and adventure in the world of storytelling. Happy tales! 

Thank you for reading my blog. I would like to hear about your storytelling/listening experiences and how that may have changed in today’s tech world. 

Remember to follow me on twitter and Instagram @JBRADIANT and check my website JulesHeartly.com for my collection of books available in digital and paperback on Amazon.com