Telling Stories

What do our stories tell about us? What’s the fascination in hearing personal stories? Where can I go for a storytelling event? How does storytelling fit into the both spoken word and literary arts scene, locally and nationally? How can I craft a better story?

The definition I’m using for storytelling is an oral art using words, sounds and gestures to convey a series of events to an audience.  This can include literary reading, stand up, slam, storytelling events, monologue or performance arts.

Maybe the place to begin is to look at why we tell stories.  What are the personal and community benefits of storytelling? Following are some reasons I’ve discovered, presented in no particular order. Please feel free to contact me with some ideas of your own.

1. We tell our stories to be known.  Being listened to and heard seem to be basic human needs and essential components of optimal mental health.
2. We use our stories for self reflection. When we organize our thoughts in order to tell we have the opportunity to experience our lives in a different way.  Stories can evoke memory and can put our lives in a greater global context.
3. Our stories may have a moral. They may teach lessons or add clarity to a subject.
4. Stories allow the listener to draw their own conclusions so they get the point without having to be told. A story can illustrate a point without having to draw the whole picture.
5. Some stories can heal emotional hurts. They can be used as a way to deal with trauma and pain, either individual or community wide.
6. Stories keep history alive. They allow us to remember and to be remembered.
7. Storytelling can be an art form and edifying entertainment.

Whether you’re telling your story to a friend over a drink or a roomful of strangers, I think the motivations are the same. As humans we crave connection and need community. We need to be in each others presence, not just typing alone in a room (exactly what I’m dong right now).  Too much of our lives are spent in isolation which is a precursor to all sorts of modern day ailments including depression and loneliness.

One easy antidote is to tell each other our stories.