There was a time when humans gathered together in the dark and told stories, because they needed to survive.
Stories helped them make sense of what was happening around them. They helped them understand danger, trust, relationships and belonging. They helped them decide what something meant and what to do next.
In a world where uncertainty could be costly, story created a sense of orientation.
What’s been striking, as I’ve worked on my latest season of the podcast (Stories In Our DNA dropping 20th April), is how little that fundamental process has changed.
The world we live in now is almost unrecognisable compared to the one we evolved in. It is faster, more connected, more complex, and filled with more information than we can realistically process.
And yet the part of us that makes meaning is the same.
We are still constantly interpreting. Still filling in gaps. Still creating narrative in order to understand what something means and where we stand.
The difference is that the gaps we are now trying to make sense of are often social rather than physical.
A message that isn’t replied to, or a look that we don’t fully understand, or a pause in a conversation.
And so the stories move inward.
“The story I tell myself is…”
It’s a simple phrase, but a powerful one.
Because the moment you say it, you create a distinction between what has happened and what you are making it mean. From there, something becomes possible. You can notice the story, question it, and over time, you can begin to choose something different.
This becomes even more interesting when you consider that not all of the stories we carry began with us. Many of them were shaped long before we had any awareness of them.
Through family, culture and environment, and what was modelled and repeated. They become familiar, and familiarity often feels like truth.
But when you start to see that more clearly, you realise that there is more choice than it might initially seem.
You can ask:
What do I want to keep?
What no longer fits?
What do I want to carry forward?
And this is where the conversation moves beyond self-reflection.The stories we continue to live by don’t just shape our own lives, but what gets passed on. To the people around us, the next generation and the future we are all contributing to.
This is the thread that runs through season 2 of my podcast Words That Change Lives.
From the earliest human stories, through to the ones we live inside now, and into the stories we are still writing.
If you’d like to explore that alongside the episodes, I’ve created a short guide to help you notice and work with your own internal narratives as you listen.
You can access it here:
https://helenpackham.com/podcast-season-2/
If you don’t want to guide you can just listen when it drops 20th April. Don’t forget to follow and subscribe!
https://podfollow.com/words-that-change-lives
Are you ready?
Then let’s begin.
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