MIND’S EYE – (The visual memory or the imagination – Collins English Dictionary)
These blogs are going to be a little different to our usual travel blogs.
Our philosophy when we bought Hygge was to ‘enjoy life’s simple pleasures’, a way of life we have realised that has become part of our everyday, not just when we are travelling in our campervan. I suppose you could call it another way of living 'Mindfully', a term we are now probably all familiar with.
This got me thinking; What it is about writing a travel blog that I enjoy so much and find so satisfying? I guess it is the idea that I can share my experiences of the places we visit, so for me it is the act of sharing that gives me pleasure. So now I am asking myself why people like telling and listening to stories, an enjoyment that seems to start from a very young age. So I did a quick bit of research.
Telling stories has been around for almost as long as man. Around 30,000 years ago, as soon as man discovered he could put his handprint on a rock with coloured pigment then progress to drawing the animals and beasts around him, storytelling had begun. Man makes sound and tales are spoken and passed on down the generations.
The ancient Greeks developed an alphabet, the Egyptians, hieroglyphics and the rest of Europe quickly followed suit. And the rest as they say is history.
In England the ‘Father” of English Literature is often thought of as Chaucer and his bawdy tales of the pilgrims travelling together to Canterbury. It pays to remember however, that the bulk of the population could not read or write, so relied totally on word of mouth and the travelling storytellers (bards).
My favourite story is The Story of Robin Hood a tale initially passed down the generations by word of mouth. (Whether it is fact or fiction depends on your point of view, I believe over the generations there have been many Robin Hoods’). He was mentioned in verse in The Vision of Piers Plowman written in the 14th century before The Canterbury Tales. Then came the ballads during the latter medieval period and possibly, first as a written series of tales, during the late 15th century. We are still adding to and adapting this wonderful tale, who doesn’t remember all the Robin Hood films over the years, from Errol Flynn to Taron Egerton. Some good and some perhaps not so, but each a product of their time.
Of course, one of Britain’s greatest story tellers was Shakespeare. I can’t write about story telling without mentioning him! Enough said.
So, I suppose, it is no surprise that Psychologists have now decided that the telling of and listening to an intriguing tale is good for your mental health. If you think about it, we take in stories in many forms these days. Films, theatre, art, radio, TV, books, audio books, magazines, advertisements, cartoons and believe it or not, in many counties of Britain you can still find a place where you can go and listen to a good story, told by a real person! Normally over a pint in the local, I hasten to add.
It goes without saying that there is nothing more rewarding than reading a story to a young child, whose eyes are wide with anticipation, as they sit totally engrossed in your tale. Or relating a funny incident to a friend and watching their reactions and subsequent laughter. Or writing a travel blog about your road trip experiences and reading the comments and reactions to them!
Why is a good tale so beneficial?
Health.org.uk suggests ‘A good story engages our curiosity, emotions and imagination’.
The Empathy Museum’s Clare Patey says, ‘Stories have a transformative power to allow us to see the world in a different way than we do if we just encounter it on our own. Stories are an entry point to understanding a different experience of the world.’
I have been writing for much of my life. Either in the form of diaries, humorous tales, poems, family history and some autobiographical short stories and I have been lucky to be published in magazines and periodicals over the years. My daughter writes stories for children and Garry has now caught the bug and can be found typing away in his spare time. How many of us have stories written down or in our mind, that we would like to share?
Storytelling in whatever form for me, is a way of expressing myself and the way I see the world.
Being on the receiving end of a good story allows me to lose myself in that moment and I am back to ‘enjoying life’s simple pleasures’ in all its forms.
These blogs will include all different types of ‘stories’. I don’t quite know in what direction it is going and I hold my hands up to it not being entirely altruistic, but I hope they are engaging and gives another perspective on a life lived. In your Mind’s Eye.
Caroline
Comments