<ul><li>Imagination, creativity and awareness are natural defence systems in our body and mind against trauma but are largely ignored.</li><li>Writing as a restorative tool is a scientifically recognized way to heal.</li><li>Expressive writing makes sense of our otherwise chaotic thoughts and emotions and can take any form, be it poetry, journaling, memoirs or random notes.</li><li>If we can tell a complete, complex and coherent story, we are no longer a victim, but a narrator or an observer.</li><li>It may be the main reason why therapy works.</li></ul>

Writing Is Therapy

It does not seem obvious, but writing or journaling about one’s negative experiences can have a positive outcome on our mental health.
A theory regarding how this works states that writing or narrating our sob story frees up our mental and cognitive resources. When we put down our emotions on paper, or tell it to someone, our brain may be reencoding the negative experience, reorganizing it in a way that is less traumatic to us.

Writing Heals

<ol><li>Do not hold back, and try to write what is on your mind. Your words are for you only and you can burn the pages later. Do not think, simply write down what bubbles up inside you.</li><li>List the smallest details and specific feelings, bringing out the larger feeling or experience. Feel the weight of the smallest thing and put it on paper.</li><li>Reach out for the lessons, the things you learn and the new meanings you create from your life experiences, for better or worse.</li></ol>

Tips To Heal Ourselves By Writing

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Psychology

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Personal Development

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Reading & Writing

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Problem Solving

Writing Can Help Us Heal from Trauma

The hero of your story can vary, but the moment you figure out who the hero of your story is, writing the story will be easier.Where heroes tell their coming-of-age story or they could end in ways we could have not expected.

The hero of your story

All great stories have a structure: the beginning, middle, and end.The structure of every story keeps us craving for more and knowing the structure will help improve our storytelling.

Well-structured stories

Great stories change the world. Many have opened doors with great new opportunities, fancy technology, and even new jobs. Sometimes, these great stories save lives and give us hope.Every action counts and even if the effects aren't significant, it still makes the world better one way or the other. When telling a story, go back to the original question to yourself on how can your story make the world better?

How stories change the world

Wherever you decide to disseminate your story is never a problem. It doesn't always have to be a press release because it's important to know that there are so many ways to tell your story and connect with your audience, may it be through a blog post, social media, or even through a podcast.Open your imagination and experiment with which works best for you and your audience.

Ways to tell a story

Sometimes we can get fixated on which tools we will be using when telling a story. We get caught up thinking about which social media platform the story will fit best.
The best question to ask ourselves always when telling a story is if it's a strong story or if it has an impact. It's important to keep someone who has good judgment and won't sugarcoat their thoughts to you.

Stories are currency, not tools

Public relations is an industry often obsessed with the press release. Here are our 5 lessons to introduce you to storytelling in PR.

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Marketing & Sales

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Communication

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Entrepreneurship

5 lessons in storytelling for PR people | All Good Tales

Laughter may relate to our own vulnerability or of other people and could be a way to express this feeling vocally.
<ul>
<li>Lifting Laughter: A way of positively signalling someone who made a fool of themselves that everything is okay and we all are susceptible to the same kind of errors and misfortunes.</li>
<li>Self-lifting Laughter: The person who made a fool of himself (or herself) often chuckles with embarrassment. This is self-lifting laughter, signalling that what the person went through is human, and could happen to anyone.</li>
</ul>

Laughter: A Signal For Mutual Vulnerability

Laughing when tickled is not reflexive and is mainly due to cognitive, emotional or social factors. There is often no tickle laughter when there is a scarcity of bonding, feeling or sensitivity.

Tickle Laughter

If our own status or position is increased for some unjustifiable reason, we tend to laugh in a self-mocking manner, acting modestly. This is known as ‘Self-lowering laughter’.

Laughing At Ourselves

When one assumes that the other person’s status, position or respect is not deserving, or is misused, the expression of mutual vulnerability, that is laughter has a corrective effect.
When we laugh at someone, we signal that the person is not better than us or is not deserving of the status/position. This is known as ‘Lowering Laughter’.

Laughing At Someone Else

It is debatable whether laughter is a reflexive response to something, or is a kind of communication.
The responses of certain kinds of humour being extremely diverse suggests that laughter can be:
<ol>
<li>A response to a sudden turn, something that surprises us or is against our expectation, but gets resolved in some manner.</li>
<li>A means to release nervous energy.</li>
<li>A kind of act that announces one’s dominant position, or a desire to increase interpersonal behaviour, or to encourage playfulness.</li>
</ol>

Laughter Is Relative

Ever wonder what message you're actually sending when you giggle or guffaw?

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Entertainment

What You “Say” With Laughter

Most of us are hearing what the other person is talking about, but do not listen actively, as our mind is buzzing with thoughts, and we are waiting to reply and be heard instead. Our smartphones aren’t helping either, with our mind wandering to the next distraction or notification.
Many people also don’t fully hear what is being said, and react according to the basic ‘fight-or-flight’ mechanism inside a fear-based mind. A good, active listener takes time to listen to the other person without showing any impulsive reaction, or being defensive.

Listening On Autopilot

Distractions and triggers do not bother a mindful listener, who is non-judgmental, compassionate and self-aware about any possible reactions.
To practice mindful listening, one needs a partner to practice, and about two minutes. As the partner starts to talk, the listener listens actively and nodes, without uttering a word. After two minutes, the listener can jot down two or three key points, noticing what got them triggered or distracted.
One can switch roles and repeat this roleplay a few times, being aware of the heightened compassion and connection that is formed.

Mindful Listening: A Roleplay

Taking the time to listen to how another person feels creates the space for people to be heard. Try this exercise to strengthen your listening skills.

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Mindfulness

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Health

How to Practice Listening Without Getting Defensive - Mindful

We need to find our purpose before we start to write our speech, deciding if we want to entertain, inform, inspire or persuade the audience. 
Our talk has to be relevant, engaging and purposeful, and we may find that some of the interesting, funny or even meaningful stuff can be discarded without losing out on the main message.

Why Are You Speaking

Before speaking, take into account the following:
<ol>
<li>Age, gender and race of the audience.</li>
<li>The number of people listening to you.</li>
<li>Their reason for coming and their expectations.</li>
<li>The kind of occasion for which the speech is happening.</li>
</ol>
Shifting your focus towards the needs, expectations and issues of the audience, rather than your own, is key to a speech that connects with the listeners.

The Audience Is Everything

<ul>
<li>We normally do not practise before leading a Zoom Meeting or a presentation.</li>
<li>We need to practise in front of the mirror even though it feels awkward, as it will help us sound authentic on the stage.</li>
<li>Memorizing every word is not a great idea as it sounds robotic, but do ensure that we have memorized the introduction and the conclusion.</li>
<li>Time Your speech and tweak it as it is rehearsed, improvising on gestures and intonations.</li>
</ul>

Public Speaking Needs A Lot Of Practice

Most of us feel anxious while speaking publicly due to the fear of seeming like an idiot to so many people. In this case, our focus is on ourselves, not on the audience.
As Aristotle’s masterpiece Art Of Rhetoric proves, the Greeks had their entire focus on the audience, which according to them is the beginning and end of public speaking.

Public Speaking: Think About The Audience

People listen for their own wellbeing, not for others. They are focussed on their own happiness, most of the time. In his celebrated book Art Of Rhetoric, Aristotle lists out a few things that the audience cares about, regardless of what your topic is: their own health, family, happiness, status or wealth.
We need to speak for the audience’s benefit, even if our topic is global warming, tax policies, or rocket science.

Make Your Audience Happy: Focus On Their Interests

The ability to communicate is the most crucial skill we have.
In Ancient Greece, where educators and philosophers invented language theory, public speaking was a teachable and learnable skill. They didn’t diagnose a shy person suffering from ‘speech anxiety’ to be a bad fit for learning public speaking, but simply a student who needs to learn the larger discipline of rhetoric and speech training. The Greeks had a comprehensive, practical and critical approach towards knowledge, psychology and social interaction, which is sadly missing in this modern age.

The Art Of Public Speaking

For most of us, education has been a 15 to a 20-year experience reading, writing and solving problems on paper, due to our society increasingly becoming information and knowledge oriented. 
We are unprepared to speak publicly, something which is a central activity in our lives. We need to re-educate ourselves about how vital speaking clearly and effectively is.

Effective Speech Is Vital

Public speaking can feel like an ordeal, but take a lesson from the ancients: it’s a skill you can develop like any other

Writing Can Help Us Heal from Trauma

5 lessons in storytelling for PR people | All Good Tales

What You “Say” With Laughter

It's time to
Read like a Pro.

How to Practice Listening Without Getting Defensive - Mindful

CURATED BY

Writing Can Help Us Heal from Trauma

5 lessons in storytelling for PR people | All Good Tales

What You “Say” With Laughter

It's time to Read like a Pro.

How to Practice Listening Without Getting Defensive - Mindful

CURATED BY

It's time to
Read like a Pro.