Video Summary:
It’s important to understand that storytelling is innately a form of expression and communication. It plays a huge role in how humans work together, especially on a chemical and neurological level.
Psychologists have been studying this topic for quite a while and have proven that when listening intently to a story, the same neural networks involved in language processing, emotion, deciphering, imagining, and movement were activated.
Your brain is also creating some familiar chemicals like dopamine (motivation), cortisol (stress), endorphins (pleasure), and oxytocin (empathy).
It takes a lot of energy to create chemicals in the brain to shift and keep our attentional spotlight on something. You’ll likely notice yourself always doing multiple things or thinking about other things while working. Hopefully, you’ll also notice those rare flow-states where your attentional focus is on one task only, all your resources are being directed to that area – You’re in the zone.
Once we have focused our attention onto a story for long enough (depends on your attention span), we’re more likely to emotionally resonate and empathize with the character in the story. This is mostly where the oxytocin comes into play. When the brain makes a lot of this stuff, you’re more likely to make generous, compassionate, and trustworthy decisions.
Stories help us get better by making more connections in our own brain, relating to others more, and remembering and translating what we learn more effectively.
“I’m writing my story so that others might see fragments of themselves.” – Lena Waithe
If you have an inspiring story that you’d like to share or know someone whose story should be heard, we’re promoting these stories on our podcast. Please reach out to see how we can help get these stories told in different mediums.
(Limit Break Stories – Podcast – Coming Soon)