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Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling





Many business people have already discovered the power of storytelling in a practical sense – they have observed how compelling a well-constructed narrative can be. But recent scientific work is putting a much finer point on just how stories change our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

As social creatures, we depend on others for our survival and happiness. A decade ago, my lab discovered that a neurochemical called oxytocin is a key “it’s safe to approach others” signal in the brain. Oxytocin is produced when we are trusted or shown a kindness, and it motivates cooperation with others. It does this by enhancing the sense of empathy, our ability to experience others’ emotions. Empathy is important for social creatures because it allows us to understand how others are likely to react to a situation, including those with whom we work.

More recently my lab wondered if we could “hack” the oxytocin system to motivate people to engage in cooperative behaviors. To do this, we tested if narratives shot on video, rather than face-to-face interactions, would cause the brain to make oxytocin. By taking blood draws before and after the narrative, we found that character-driven stories do consistently cause oxytocin synthesis.

These findings on the neurobiology of storytelling are relevant to business settings. For example, my experiments show that character-driven stories with emotional content result in a better understanding of the key points a speaker wishes to make and enable better recall of these points weeks later. In terms of making impact, this blows the standard PowerPoint presentation to bits. I advise business people to begin every presentation with a compelling, human-scale story. Harvard Business Review, Oct 28http://linkis.com/s.hbr.org/ZQwJM





To understand this news let us go back to the April 29, 2014 solar eclipse chart at Boston, MA from where Harvard Business Review is published. Notice that the eclipse took place in the third house and was in a quincunx aspect to the Mars leg of a Grand Cross containing the Uranus-Pluto square which among other things is about a discovery or a breakthrough in understanding.

Third House
Our ability to express ourselves and communicate to others. Languages, mobility skills and self-expression. Speeches and debates.

On the MC [1sa] of the chart is the centaur 2002 GZ32 [28sc]  square  the asteroid Kassandra [28le] and Pallas [27le]. 

In Greek mythology, Cassandra  also known as Alexandra or Kassandra, was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. A common version of her story is that Apollo gave her the power of prophecy in order to seduce her, but when she refused him, he gave her the curse of never being believed.

Key phrases for the asteroids  Kassandra and Pallas and the delineation for their combination is provided by Martha Wesott [2].

Kassandra: Wasted breath! Advise & consent roles-offering advice or prophecies; questions about whether to believe what others say (whether to follow advice); offering counsel; broadcasting ideas; lecturing; auditory sensitivity; hearing difficulties.

Pallas: Approval-seeking; strategies of relating; perceptual skill.

Kassandra-Pallas: I'll definitely grant you that "ya' catch more bees with honey than  vinegar" so that it often pays to think about how to get your message  across (and say things in a way that a person will actually hear.) 

The centaur 2002 GZ32  has its  perihelion [23sa54] in Sagittarius and Node [17cn15] in  Cancer.  Sagittarius linked to long journeys is also connected with mental explorations and by association with the need to communicate abstract and difficult to understand ideas. On the other hand, the water sign Cancer is about family, home and  sense of belonging or empathy that provides emotional security.  An obvious meaning of this connection is  that good communication requires soothing the soul and providing the listeners with a sense of security so that they can acquire the courage to leave “home”  (Cancer) for adventures in a “distant land” (Sagittarius)  perhaps as in a story where the listener can identify with a hero killing a “dragon” in  some far off land. 





Progressing the eclipse chart to Oct. 28, the date of the news, aligns the Grand Cross with the angles. On the MC is Jupiter [14cn] conjunct omega Geminorum of the Gemini Twins. The following  summary extracts from references [3][4] weave a picture of this area that is relevant here.

Intense word and visual imagery are gifts of these stars; those here are visionaries, conjuring passionate inner images of what the outer world might become and try to manifest them with a quirky originality that is sensually, visually based using stories both personal and mythological.[3]

How do we keep our lives interesting? That's the real Gemini question. We could be like the wind and just blow from one thing to another. Or we could be more  like another Gemini icon, the Storyteller. Applying a storyteller's imagination to life can help us weave Gemini's myriad interests into a series of successful adventures. The secret is all in the plotting. Good storytellers hold our interest with smart pacing and suspense. Through patient and artful unfolding, they keep us interested, curious. And they know where they're going. Likewise, when Gemini has a goal that's seductive enough, it can carry itself through the alternately boring and daunting complications of any project. Gemini can learn from Scheherazade, one of the world's great storytellers. She saved her life and kept her king intrigued for a thousand and one nights-for if he'd ever grown bored with her, she'd have lost her head. Her trick? She wove beautiful stories, but stopped each tale at dawn with a cliff hanger that left the king wanting more. In the evening after that tale was done, she quickly started a new one. [4]


[2] Delineate V2, Martha Wescott Lang
[3] Secrets of the Ancient Skies; Diana K. Rosenberg (v.1, p. 398-401)


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