Telling Our Stories
Today on the blog, I’ve rounded up some words of wisdom on the power of storytelling and advice for approaching the page to tell your own story.
“Storytelling may not have the biological effects of an antibiotic or offer the physical transformation of surgery, but it enables patients to take control of their illness in a way that pharmaceuticals can’t. As SunWolf points out, many cultures have long recognized the importance of telling stories. She cites West African folklore in which the healers ask the sick, ‘When was the last time that you sang? When was the last time that you danced? When was the last time that you shared a story?’”
A Witness to the Human Experience: Why Medicine Needs Storytellers
“But both the good and the bad inspired me to record the events that changed my patients’ lives. And mine. When I got to the point in my career that my emotional armor was stripped away, it was the freedom of the blank page that provided solace.”
How to Tell Your Own Life Story
“If you’ve interpreted the events of your life to mean that you’re unlucky or unwise, it’s hard to look optimistically at the future. Conversely, if you acknowledge that you’ve made mistakes and faced difficulties but seek (or have already glimpsed) redemption, you’ll feel a much greater sense of agency over your life.”
The Healing Power of Telling Your Story
“Because telling your story—while being witnessed with loving attention by others who care—may be the most powerful medicine on earth. Each of us is a constantly unfolding narrative, a hero in a novel no one else can write. And yet so many of us leave our stories untold, our songs unsung—and when this happens, we wind up feeling lonely, listless, out of touch with our life’s purpose, plagued with a chronic sense that something is out of alignment. We may even wind up feeling unworthy, unloved, or sick.”
The Importance of Telling Our Stories
“Telling our stories is not an end in itself, but an attempt to release ourselves from them, to evolve and grow beyond them. We tell our stories to transform ourselves; to learn about our history and tell our experiences to transcend them; to use our stories to make a difference in our world; to broaden our perspective to see further than normal; to act beyond a story that may have imprisoned or enslaved us; to live more of our spiritual and earthly potential.”
Feeling inspired? Listen to stories (and consider submitting your own story!) on StoryCorps, an organization committed to preserving stories, “to remind one another of our shared humanity, to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening, and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone’s story matters.”