Episode 4: We are storytellers—Our life story is a living roadmap for many others
Through our new perspective of our deeper connection to the world, we begin to see how the very choices we make and the way we choose to live our lives, leave an indelible impact on the world around us. The story we tell and who we are matters to the world, even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes. In today’s podcast, we explore what it means to be a storyteller—the power and impact we have on the world, the responsibility that comes with it and also, more importantly, what it truly means to share our story with the world.
Listen now:
In this episode of Super Soul Podcast, we will…
Explore what it means to share your story with the world
Learn about the impact your story has on people around you
Gain perspective by understanding about the resonance of sharing
Redefine our relationship with people and with our environment
Discover the power you have to influence the world around you
“Your presence itself is a living story.”
Full transcript below.
Here is a new topic that I am really excited to explore with you. Often we explore topics that speak of our inner selves, our experiences and things we can do and so on, because of course, change and growth is something that happens first and foremost within us, but I think it is important to balance the understanding of our inner selves and inner landscape with the understanding of our outer environment and how we relate to the broader world around us—because only through our relationship with our environment, can we deepen our understanding of our impact and therefore of our importance in the world we live in.
And it is through this new perspective of our deeper connection to the world, can we begin to see how the very choices we make and the way we choose to live our lives, leave an indelible mark on the world around us. The story we tell and who we are matters to the world, even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes. So in today’s podcast, we explore what it means to be a storyteller—the power and impact we have on the world, the responsibility that comes with it and also, more importantly, what it truly means to share our story with the world.
A few years back now in 2017, my friends and I went on a 1842km kick scooting trip across Japan. We kick scooted, purely leg energy without any motors, from the south in Fukuoka to the north in Hokkaido. During that period of my life, I had been actively training for marathons and triathlons and so it wasn’t the first time I had done such physically demanding events, even though it was the longest I had done. I wasn’t quite challenged by the physical aspect of it, given that I had already completed a shorter, individual 200km version of it, prior. And I wondered what the purpose of doing it was and what I could learn from it, you know… So there were four of us in a team and we each had a role—I was in charge of the blog and social media updates, being the expressive one in the group, and promptly got writing about our day, every evening after dinner. This was a daily responsibility I had to do after scooting around 80km on average.
I hadn’t thought much about the whole sharing and blogging thing, treating it more as a disciplined act of documenting and journaling, as I have a habit of doing in my daily life. But something curious happened along the way that opened my eyes.
With each post that I shared, we started getting more and more messages from friends. As the weeks passed, the engagement on our posts increased steadily. And one of our dear friends who was French and living in a different time zone, told us that he would often wake up early before work, just to catch our updates and read our posts. It was from his message I realised, hey our story is catching on. One by one, we got messages from people saying they were inspired by us and wanted to do the same. Another lady we met along the streets bought a new smartphone just so she could follow our Facebook updates. Many others bought stuff for us for our trip as a form of encouragement.
I could feel the vibe and the energy increasing with each day we kicked and it was then I knew, our little ripple had gained momentum beyond just our friends and had gone on to inspire strangers to change their lives for the better. It was a very touching and humbling experience for me because I had never, ever considered that my impromptu decision to scoot across Japan had much of an impact in the world around me. It struck me then the responsibility I had carried, in the way I chose to live my life and in the words I wrote and story I shared everyday.
The word “storyteller” conjures up the image of a person who is good at imagination, communication and who is talented at recounting events, whether real or imagined. Yet the essence of a storyteller is so much more than being able to narrate events well. Storytellers have the power to shape perspectives, evoke emotions and create connections among people, mostly by universal themes, tackling complex issues and providing insights into the human condition. Whether it's a bedtime story told to a child, a novel that transports readers to distant lands or a podcast that engages listeners in thought-provoking conversations, storytellers play a crucial role in shaping cultures, sparking conversations and leaving lasting impacts on individuals and societies.
So how are these special people? Here’s the interesting thing. Regardless of talent or skill, we are all storytellers in our own right.
I use the sentence, “Your presence itself is a living story”. What does that mean? We accumulate vast amounts of experiences throughout our life. Our memories of childhood, the rebellious teenage years, the discovery of adulthood and the subsequent responsibilities that come with it, make up the threads of our existence. These threads form a part of the tapestry of our life story. They are woven from the deep emotions we felt with each heartbreak and disappointment, successes and failures and hope and despair. Your life as it is today, is the result of the choices you have made in the past; each one representing a story to be told.
All of our experiences, even the seemingly casual ones, leave an indelible mark on our hearts and souls. They course through our existence as surely as blood courses through our body, influencing the way we express ourselves, our personality, our likes and dislikes, the type of relationships we have with people, right down to the very minute aspect of our lives. The energy of these experiences are embodied within us, carried from generations long past in forgotten history, each one passed down from father to son, mother to daughter, into future generations, forming a part of the enduring wisdom of humankind.
Our individual stories make up the collective whole of our culture. With each narrative that we share with the world, we open up a dialogue and create the space for connection, understanding and empathy; witnessing others and being witnessed in return. These golden nuggets of stories inspire another person to embark on their own personal journey of growth to gain courage and resilience, through a grounded way that is interconnected to our common humanity.
When I look at it from this point of view, it’s like we’re passing our hardwon universal truths to the future generations after us, just like we pass on our DNA. For better or for worse, it makes us who we are and it shapes the world we live in.
Recently, I heard an audiobook about music called “The Listening Book” by W.A. Mathieu. He spoke about the concept of musical resonance in a rather poetic and lyrical way, describing resonance as sound waves of similar frequencies vibrating together, just like how two people sharing an intimate story feel a tingling sense of connection.
He says and I quote,
“Every natural thing has its vibrations, the chair its squeak, the pot lid its clang, the guitar string its sweet purity. When two strings are tuned at the same pitch, their vibration synchronise, one for one. They are in step, in tune and each reinforces the other’s energy, like the good feeling that arises when you walk in step with your close friend. Resonance in this sense is the very core of musical experience. When you move with music and play in tune with it, you are feeding its energy and it is feeding yours. This is the musician’s heaven world. As you become conscious of resonance, that heaven world becomes wider, more vivid and more down to earth where people can use it.” - The listening book, track Resonance
I thought this was really apt to our topic of sharing stories. It is the same as two musical notes in resonance, except here are two people resonating with each other’s experiences. When we hear another person’s story that is similar to our own, we feel an immediate sense of connection and intimately understand each other without even having to say a single word or having to explain what or why. There is an effortless ease and comfort of being understood—it makes us feel like we are not alone on our journey. This feeling is so precious.
You know how there are some people in your life where you barely need to say a single word and they get you so completely? W.A. Mathieu says that resonance is, and I quote and unquote his words, “the good feeling that arises when you walk in step with your close friend”. This sentence moved my heart so much when I first heard it. I remember thinking, aha, I have found one of the secrets of the cosmos.
Through resonance and connection, a healing that takes place, the tension that we have carried through the generations wounded tightly around us, gets loosened, thread by single thread—all our struggles coming to a head in recognition and awareness, acceptance and compassion. When we feel witnessed and seen through each other’s stories, when our trials and tribulations are acknowledged, our deep-rooted generational struggles are released and transformed to something new.
A beautiful flower blossoms in its place, creating new life that marks the beginning of a brand new story.
All around us, flowers are blooming constantly and in this very present moment itself, the choices we are making right now are also creating ripples that will result in the blooming of a flower; one that resonates beyond ourselves, extending like waves to the larger Universe and influencing the world of tomorrow. Your very beingness, the thoughts you are having, the emotions you are feeling and your intentions in life, contributes to the environment around you. Each ripple, big or small, holds significance and can gain momentum that possibly changes the entire course of history.
In other words, how you choose to live your story today, affects the future of mankind too, that without realising you have direct control of how much you contribute to the story of humanity and you have the power to influence it, much as you may not seem to think so. YOU ARE A LIVING STORY ITSELF, A STORYTELLER and your story is important. It might sound like a big and overwhelming responsibility but even the simplest actions ripple outwards in waves, for example, even a smile that you give to a stranger—one that is casual, simple and in passing.
Would you believe it? That every moment, we are given that gift of choice. We get to decide how we wish to express ourselves in the world. Maybe we stand for something and it goes unnoticed, but eventually over time, one person will perceive it and another and another—a gradual progression that snowballs into an unstoppable force, akin to an avalanche gathering energy, velocity, and momentum.
The only question is, what do you want the world to pick up energy, speed and momentum in? What values do you wish to stand for? What narrative defines you? We have a responsibility to be conscious storytellers in today’s world and for the world beyond us—a spiritual responsibility if you will. And it begins with the choices we make daily—choices that define the legacy that we leave behind and the indelible mark we leave on the narrative of humanity.
And so, I will end this podcast with three questions I would ask my younger self:
Is there a type of music, book, movie that you enjoy? When you are listening to a piece of favourite music, what feelings do you get? Often the simplest way to understand the truest and deepest part of ourselves, is through the things we enjoy.
Is there an action you have done in the past that has set in motion a chain of events that impacted the people around you? Understanding this will guide you to tune into your sense of awareness of yourself and of the world.
And the most important question of all—What kind of story do you wish to share with the world?
To put it really simply, your story matters. How you choose to tell your story matters, in other words how you choose to live your life today, matters to your loved ones, your children, your friends and even to the stranger you meet down the street. You matter to the world around you, don’t forget this. Because no man is an island and we are all made of stardust.
So, how will you tell your story today?
Thank you for being here with me on this week’s journey. Stay curious and hydrated on yours.