Power of Storytelling
... and singing, too.
The austere Smithsonian Magazine recently featured findings from a self-named “Story Scientist” who is part of the Project Narrative - an academic think tank for the study of stories. There they build on the belief articulated by Aristotle, that story elements infiltrate our imagination, our emotions, our psyche, which can then improve our mental function.
These literary inventions can alleviate grief, improve your problem-solving skills, dispense the anti-depressant effects of LSD, boost your creativity, provide therapy for trauma (including both kinds of PTSD), spark joy, dole out a better energy kick than caffeine, lower your odds of dying alone, and (as impossible as it sounds) increase the chance that your dreams will come true. They can even make you a more loving spouse and generous friend. - Angus Fletcher, smithsonianmag.com
The author describes eight story inventions but the last one called, “The Anarchy Rhymer” is most intriguing. It combines rule-breaking with cadence and musicality, within a formal structure. Neuroscience tools show activation of the brain’s Default Mode Network, which is associated with creativity, when reading/hearing these types of literature.
Nursery rhymes were one illustrative example given. But I immediately thought — cadence, musicality, rhyming, breaking rules = 1950’s beatniks’ jazzy congo drumming poetry. Consider Annie Ross’ Twisted:
Which, of course, lead to our more contemporary HipHop and Rap genres. Consider the recent one from Tom McDonald’s Fake Woke:
The power of these story inventions is derived from that Black Box of the brain, the subconscious:
Here is where you generate that sense of lift and expansion inside of you when you hear the resounding call of a choir singing Handel’s Messiah Hallelujah chorus. What occurs is experiential and impressionistic. Here is where the dots of sensation and subliminal memory connect into forms of beliefs, myths, dreams and new creations. Here is where you generate the body sense to hit the homerun or do that funky dance. Here is where all those nonverbal cues and communications turn into your ‘gut instinct’ making quick judgments. - Laura Kragie. Be the Rainbow * Bridge Heaven and Earth: How-to Manual for Integrating Alternative and Evidence-Based Medicine (p. 48).
So Dear Reader, I wish for your life to be uplifted on this glorious Easter Day.
Enjoy Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus!
REFERENCES
https://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Bridge-Heaven-Earth-ebook/dp/B0081UEYIU/
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Storytelling reduces pain and stress, and increases oxytocin in hospitalized children https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-storytelling-pain-stress-oxytocin-hospitalized.html