Parents and siblings told us our first stories. The stories we heard as children may have been that we were good, bad, smart, slow, friendly, or shy. But no matter what that story was, we had little part in choosing the type of story we were told, we just listened to those around us. As we grew, left the home, and began to interact with others, we found that we liked to listen to certain types of people and certain types of messages. But still young, we hadn’t created criteria for choosing our storyteller. We would pick up books, turn on the television, go to movies, and listen to those around us. Some of the stories we heard were tragic, some were degrading, and others were inspiring. Little by little we gravitated towards those stories that seemed to mimic our desires and wants. As we have grown older, some of us have noted that the stories we allow ourselves to listen to can have a profound affect on our perspective and ultimately can affect the way that we interact with others in the world. See Additional Links

"They say that you’re using only ten percent of your brain. They say the corner office is a position of power. They say you can earn thousands of dollars a week in your spare time. They say that knowing your audience is more important than whatever it is you’re selling. Who exactly, are "they"? And why do we listen to them?" queries Douglas Rushkoff in his book entitled, Coercion. This is a series of tricky questions that begin the discussion of why do we choose to listen to certain storytellers and not others and what effect does that decision have on our lives.

When we change the television channel or make a new friend, in some ways we are choosing to listen to a new storyteller. We may enjoy what our new storyteller tells us, or we may eventually reject the story and the storyteller. However, in many cases, the storyteller is so subtle and so skilled that we cannot help but be subsumed in the story and persuaded to look at life or act in a way that we might not have considered before. Thus storytellers are a two-edged sword, often times having the power to convince us to purchase a shampoo that we didn’t think we needed or a car that we cannot afford. And yet, certain kinds of storytellers may help us improve our standard of life through, perhaps motivating exercise, a better diet, enhanced spirituality, and a better family life. (See Additional Links) We are constantly challenged as storylisteners to make conscious decisions about what stories we are willing to incorporate into our lives and to select those storytellers that will enhance our perspective in positive ways.

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