Telling Stories: A Powerful Communication Tool

Storytelling was powerful magic to our ancestors. Primitive men told
stories of hunting, in the hope it would improve their success rate,
and they painted their stories on the walls of their caves. Wall
paintings at the Lascaux caves, in France, date from 35,000 years
ago.MetaphorTelling stories remains a powerful way to communicate. The
right description strikes a chord with the listener or reader that
communicates something of real importance.That's why our language is
stuffed full of metaphors: descriptions that convey one thing in terms
of another. Use the phrase "a misdeed always comes back and bites you"
and your listener can see a picture in her mind: much more memorable
than "don't do that".Learning Children learn about life through
stories. The tale of Little Red Riding Hood warns your child about the
dangers out there in the world, while he remains safe at home with
you. What's more, he'll remember the story for the rest of his life.
It's easy to learn through pictures in the mind, conjured up by
storytelling.HypnotherapyStorytelling helps people alter the way they
think and act, according to Milton Erickson. A renowned
hypnotherapist, he used stories to bring about real change in his
client's lives. Powerful stories can be simple. In her book "NLP at
Work," Sue Knight recounts an Erickson story of how a stranger
returned a lost horse to its owner. He guided the horse along the road
it wanted to take, encouraging it to keep going. When the owner asked
how he knew where the horse came from, he answered, "The horse
knew."ExplanationYou use storytelling to make sense of all the
information that comes at you, every day, suggest Ramachandran and
Blakeslee in their book "Phantoms in the Brain". A story lets you fit
the information into your own understanding of the world. It avoids
telling you what you should do, and allows you to make your own
decisions. Each person, on hearing or reading Erickson's fable, is
likely to find something different and maybe even
life-changing.Unconscious Erickson suggests that most of life is
"unconsciously determined." Much of what you do is the result of
activity in parts of your brain that operate without your knowledge.
That's why you keep breathing, whether you think about it or not. It's
why you may suddenly wake in the night, remembering something
important you had forgotten. Stories can tap into your real hopes,
fears and desires, at an unconscious level.PracticeTelling stories is
easy. Anyone can do it, though some feel reluctant to try at first.
Talk about something you've seen or heard; tasted or smelt. Try this
exercise: in a group of three or four people, take turns to tell a
short tale. Any topic will do, but remember to keep it short. After
all the stories, everyone must take it in turns to tell each of the
others what he enjoyed most about their story. You'll be amazed at the
different meanings each simple story will hold.AdviceAvoid trying to
explain what you meant by your own story. It may mean something else
to the listener and your explanation could be confusing. Let your
story speak for itself.