Stories allow you to be known. There are things about your life that have happened to you, and only to you. By telling these stories others come to know you and to understand your unique experience.

Stories are a way of making sense of life. Life happens as pure experience. Events happen to us. It is through the “storying” of life, that we begin to make sense of our experience and start to make meaning of our lives. Stories are a way of distinguishing what happened from our interpretation of what happened. We cannot help interpreting things as they happen. We often live under the spell of the interpretations rather than remembering that what happened is not necessarily how we have interpreted it.

Telling stories creates intimacy and connection. When a story is told to another person who listens to those stories, that is a way of creating human connection and intimacy. Stories are a way of linking to another, creating shared realities with somebody else. Telling and listening to stories, with a non-judgmental listening are an access to the space between people, the relationship space, as Martin Buber calls it, “the encounter”.

Stories are a way of communicating ideas that are important to you in a clear and impactful way. If you speak your opinion about something, people are sure to have their opinions. If you tell a story that communicates the same thing, nobody can argue.

Stories are a way of communicating who you are and what you do in life. They can be a useful tool for effectively speaking the value that you bring to life, and why others should appreciate that value.

Stories are an access to creativity. It has been said that memory is a creative act. So telling stories, is an opportunity to be creative with what has happened to you, finding a sequence for telling the events of your life, choosing what you wish to include and what you wish to leave out. The story you tell allows you to define yourself in a way you choose.

Stories are a way of re-membering those who have died. By telling stories about people we have lost, we bring them back into the membered club that is our lives. (Barbara Myerhoff). We feel connection and contact with those we have loved and lost.

Stories can help with problem solving. Telling the story of a problem allows one to see some options for dealing with that problem

Stories build self –esteem. Telling stories about a skill or strength, can make that skill or strength more visible, or accessible to you. It is a way of building self-esteem.

Stories are a legacy to leave behind when we die.

Stories are entertaining and fun.

Stories are educational. People are engaged by stories and learn more from listening to a story than from listening to a string of facts.

Stories lead to diversity and learning. People who hear stories of other people and other ways of living are transported to that other way. Listeners have understanding and insight into new and other ways of living, much like they would have had they traveled to a new place.

Stories allow others to see themselves reflected. Think of the power of the theatre.