Tales have the facility to maneuver, encourage and join us. Tales in regards to the ocean are notably impactful as a result of they ignite the constructive advantages of storytelling and set off a Blue Thoughts state – the sensation of calm, peace and well-being that comes from being close to the water. By means of ocean storytelling, you possibly can enhance your communications, enhance connections and encourage others to motion.
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It was January of 2023, and I used to be a newcomer to the ocean scene.
I’d simply come off practically eight years of operating a artistic studio that was affected by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I wanted to do one thing rapidly to show my profession round, or it could collapse.
My answer was to attach my lifelong love of oceans with my creativity by getting into the ocean business and proclaiming myself an ocean-focused artistic communicator.
As an oceans beginner, I began making an attempt to construct my digital community and get to know the individuals already ingrained within the business. I’m unsure what compelled me to do it this manner, however after I started scheduling espresso chats, I might sit with individuals on a Google Meet, ask them what their ocean story was, and, in flip, share mine.
Time and again, the identical theme got here up. Practically everybody I talked to had an ocean story that began of their childhood and revolved round necessary individuals and pivotal moments. Whether or not it was recollections of time spent on the seashore with household, holidays to unique locations, and even the reminiscence of an impactful film like Free Willy, the childhood connection was at all times there.
What fascinated me probably the most about these conversations, although, was that every time somebody instructed me their ocean story, or I shared mine, we might visibly change into extra attentive to one another. I observed us each lean in in direction of the digicam, felt our gazes decide on one another, and observed the beginning of a smile.
Then got here the vigorous nodding as we acknowledged bits and items of one another’s ocean tales. Their telling of that one big day they have been gathering shells on the seashore with their mother immediately made me glad as a result of it jogged my memory of an analogous reminiscence from my previous and vice versa. We turned more and more linked as each bit of the opposite’s ocean story was revealed.
What was the tip results of all this story-sharing?
First, sharing ocean tales allowed me to relive my experiences and revisit my recollections, which made me glad. It additionally put me relaxed with the opposite individual as a result of I acknowledged many shared ocean experiences of their tales. Past that, sharing ocean tales made us sit up and listen to one another as a result of we have been discussing one thing we each cared about.
Sharing ocean tales created a sense of connection. Though we had no concept the opposite existed fifteen minutes earlier than, we had put ourselves relaxed and established a bond.
That is the facility of ocean storytelling.
However what precisely makes ocean tales so highly effective? Ocean tales harness each the advantages of storytelling AND the advantages of the Blue Thoughts in a single impactful punch, making them a precious and significant technique of communication.
The Energy of Storytelling
Everyone knows how impactful an excellent story might be. From our favorite films to that novel you simply can’t put down, tales have the facility to captivate us. To attach us to others. To make us really feel one thing.
And it’s been that method for people for a very long time. In truth, storytelling is without doubt one of the oldest types of human communication, used to share academic, cultural, and leisure content material for hundreds of years.
Past the sociocultural facet of storytelling, our brains crave tales. We naturally search to grasp actuality via tales and use narrative to assist us make sense of our lived experiences.
However what’s it about tales that may transfer us to tears or maintain us on the sting of our seats with our eyes glued to the display screen? Is it merely the magic of fine storytellers? No, it’s not magic however a mind-blowing neurological response to storytelling.
As described by Dr. Paul J. Zak in his article, Why Inspiring Tales Make Us React, good tales trigger our brains to launch oxytocin. This hormone makes us really feel belief or connection and is linked on to social bonding behaviour. When oxytocin floods our brains, we really feel linked to the storyteller and the characters within the story and impressed to take motion on their behalf. This oxytocin response isn’t reliant on being near the storyteller both. You’ll be able to watch or hearken to a narrative from anyplace on the earth and expertise an oxytocin response (which explains why sharing ocean tales with my colleagues profoundly affected the standard of our conferences.)
Likewise, Dr. Zak identifies the affect of the hormone ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone for these of you who’re curious), which is related to consideration and focus. As we hearken to the completely different components of a narrative, the quantity of ACTH in our mind modifications, responding to the ups and downs of the narrative.
Sustaining consideration is difficult as a result of our brains are geared towards vitality consumption. Nonetheless, a strong story or second in a story will drive your mind out of the idle mode it likes to hang around in and make it listen. For those who’ve been sitting in a day stuffed with conferences, for instance, however all of the sudden your subsequent assembly begins with, ‘let me inform you an ocean story‘, your mind does a little bit of a double take. It’s pulled out of its energy-conserving state and all of the sudden sits upright and alert. This alert state is potent when sharing data as a result of we’re bombarded with a lot info in our each day lives that we are likely to tune out. A very good story, nonetheless, can tune us again in, making it an unbelievable instrument for transferring precious info.
Because of oxytocin and ACTH, an excellent story can emotionally have interaction you, encourage you to motion, join you to others and assist your mind study.
Ignite a Blue Thoughts State By means of Ocean Tales
As anybody with a childhood reminiscence of the ocean can inform you (a.ok.a. all of you), water has a magical high quality. It has the flexibility to appease, encourage, excite, and delight. The ocean is usually a nice healer and an amazing listener, and there’s a motive that so a lot of our foundational recollections as youngsters might be related to it.
The very best description of the unbelievable energy of water (be it ocean or different) is the analysis completed by Wallace J. Nichols, which served as the inspiration for his ebook The Blue Thoughts. In The Blue Thoughts, Dr. Nichols highlights how proximity to water can soothe the soul, improve well-being, and even increase cognitive capabilities.
Dr. Nichols distinguishes a ‘Blue Thoughts’ state as one the place we really feel relaxed and relaxed versus a crimson thoughts state dominated by stress or rigidity. He means that water can set off a Blue Thoughts state, and scientific proof helps this idea by exhibiting that water will increase the feel-good hormones dopamine and oxytocin, lowers stress, and improves one’s capacity to focus.
The unbelievable Blue Thoughts advantages of water aren’t simply ignited while you’re near it, both—they prolong to the tales we share about water. Narratives that evoke recollections or experiences we’ve had with water (similar to imagining the solar glowing off the water whereas waves crash gently on the shore) can stimulate a Blue Thoughts state, providing each the storyteller and the listener a momentary escape to a spot of calm and connection. Very like tales can illicit a physiological response whatever the distance between the storyteller and the viewers, the ocean additionally has the facility to affect us via story, even once we’re circuitously close to it.
The Influence of Sharing Ocean Tales
Having explored each the advantages of storytelling and of telling tales about water, the facility of ocean storytelling needs to be beginning to come into sight. However how do you harness these advantages and make them give you the results you want and your communications?
At any time when you possibly can, begin your communications with an ocean story.
Even in case you’re making an attempt to encourage donations, train children, or give a lecture, begin with an ocean story. This permits you and your viewers to step right into a Blue Thoughts state for a couple of minutes and loosen up. Whether or not in-person or speaking via digital channels, setting the stage with an ocean story pulls your viewers out of their each day grind and says, ‘Hey, let’s relax collectively for a number of moments and share a significant second.’ It additionally opens the door to connection – conveying the message that you’ve one thing in frequent – making your viewers sit up and listen.
To take it one step additional, sharing an ocean story can elicit an emotional response in your viewers, making them extra receptive to what you say and provoking them to take motion afterward.
By intertwining the artwork of storytelling with the innate human attraction to water, we unlock a potent instrument for communication. Ocean tales invite us into shared connection, foster deep emotion, and remind us of our collective duty to the ocean. When harnessed properly, the advantages of ocean storytelling can go far in boosting your communications, inspiring motion, and finally creating a greater future for the factor all of us care about probably the most – the ocean.
What do you suppose? How can ocean tales be used to create extra impactful and interesting messages on your viewers?
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Abstract of the Advantages of Ocean Storytelling
Emotional engagement
- Inspiration to take motion
- Connection to others
- Elevated capacity to soak up info
- Escape and leisure
- Lowered stress ranges
- Boosted temper
- Improved focus
Concerning the Creator
Natalie Gilson is a artistic communicator, ocean storyteller, and the Head of Ocean Science Communication at Pisces Analysis Mission Administration. She’s obsessed with shaping a greater future for the ocean via her artistic and strategic experience. Natalie’s journey started in archaeology, however she couldn’t resist the pull of her true calling—creativity and the ocean. She switched tracks and based her personal ocean-focused artistic studio, the place she gained over eight years of expertise in visible communication, artistic technique and branding, and mission and staff administration.
What units Natalie aside is her capacity to speak complicated info via inspiring, easy-to-understand visuals and impactful storytelling. She additionally makes use of her skillset to assist those that are targeted on the ocean inform impactful tales about their work. Natalie holds a BFA in Historical past in Artwork, a minor in Anthropology, a diploma in Graphic Design and is a Licensed Model Advisor.
When she’s not at work, Natalie loves to interact with the water via paddle boarding, browsing, scuba diving, tide pool exploring, and seashore cleanups. What’s extra, she’s at all times sharing her ardour together with her two children, inspiring them to change into future ocean heroes.
Sources
1 https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/WPLC/article/view/15309/6820
2 https://thevarsity.ca/2023/03/19/human-evolution-storytelling/
3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2CVIGuRg4E&ab_channel=TEDxTalks
4 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4445577/pdf/cer-02-15.pdf
5 https://apeejay.information/mindfulness-blue-mind-vs-red-mind/
6 The Blue Thoughts by Wallace J. Nichols
7 The Excellent Story by Karen Eber