Storytelling

A lost art?

Storytellers have played a key role in passing on information through the ages. In traditional societies, the elder members were the keepers and tellers of tales and traditions, a highly respected role. In western society, oral transmission began to lose ground with the invention of the printing press in the 1400s. In the last century, the radio and movies and then later, television, slowly replaced the tradition of telling stories. The fate of the storyteller  
seemed bleak. But since the 1970s, there's been a renewed interest in the cultural practice of storytelling, and there are now countless professional storytellers and even storytelling festivals.

"Every life deserves to be told." [Translation] Olivier Fillion

At the same time, the value of storytelling as a means of reconciling with our experiences and validating our life started to make inroads in the fields of psychology and personal development. For seniors, storytelling can provide a means of finding comfort and personal meaning. For younger generations, seniors' stories provide valuable grounding to their origins and family culture.

Life review, autobiography, narratives, reminiscences, oral history are all terms that describe various forms of telling one's personal story. No matter what words are used, the process is one of reflection on the past and sharing it with others.

The unexpected gift

The interpretation we make of any of life's events is based on what concerns and issues we were dealing with at the time. By revisiting the past, we have an opportunity to reinterpret events and in doing so, gain new understanding and insight. Reminiscing may also allow us to relive pleasurable experiences that have been long forgotten. Recounting our story can therefore be seen as a form of therapy, a way to resolve emotional conflict and find new meaning and satisfaction about the life lived.

That is exactly what happened to Richard Stone, author of The Healing Art of Storytelling. While recounting the story of a childhood Christmas, he unexpectedly recalled a rare act of affection from his usually distant father. That small recollection, while not the focus of the story, provided an opportunity for healing and mending his relationship with his father.¹

Storytelling is at once a gift of closure and disclosure. From this perceptive, the telling of one's story can actually promote healthy and successful aging as it exercises the mind and helps to create a feeling of life satisfaction, inner peace and connection.

How people view their lives as they age can also provide important insights into how individuals themselves view the aging process, and opens the way to appreciate the "ordinary wisdom" that everyday life has to offer. According to William Randall and Gary Kenyon, professors of gerontology at St.Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, other disciplines associated with the study of aging (psychology, sociology, biology, etc.) tend to provide an outside view of the aging process whereas a biographical perspective of aging provides an inside view of the life and development of individuals. In the words of Randall and Kenyon, "Memories of our life as a child, of the ups and downs of our career, our marriage, our family; recollections of past achievements and disappointments, of happy times and tragic times; dreams of where our life might lead us still... our story is what we have. In a sense, it is all we have."²