We’ve all heard about storytellers. There are good storytellers and there are legends. I happen to have the incredible fortune of not only personally knowing a lot of storytelling legends but have the incredible honour of walking with many in my work every day.

Plus, I come from a long line of phenomenal storytellers. Growing up, I was rarely told what to do and what not to do. Instead, I was told stories. Powerful stories of wisdom, courage, success, and change to inspire and influence what I should do, and dark, gruesome, rather dramatic stories of misfortune to have me think of possible consequences of something my elders did not want me to do. I knew a lesson was forthcoming the minute I heard, ‘did I ever tell you about…?’. Persuading with a story is not easy. Some characters real, others fictional. Some characters were mere objects who had found their lives embroidered in with ours.

Those stories guide me, offer wisdom, and much insight every time I revisit them. Over the years, as I continue to find my voice, I have learned to tell my own stories.

A good storyteller then, no surprise, can invite awe, intrigue, evoke empathy, make one wonder about their long-held beliefs. A good storyteller can inspire action. A good storyteller’s story stays with you. It makes you think about your own stories. It makes you silently smile, perhaps even wonder. And here’s the thing. To build cohesion, to build peace, we need more storytellers and story listeners.

But who is a story listener and what does it take to be one?Quite simply, a story listener is someone who actively engages in receiving, and understanding stories told to them. What does it take to be a story listener?

‍Opening our Mind: A story listener approaches stories with an open mind, setting aside prejudices and preconceived notions to truly hear and understand the storyteller's perspective. A story listener accepts that multiple perspectives, values, accounts, understandings, and beliefs may be true.

‍Exercising Empathy: A story listener exercises empathy, working to feel and understand the emotions and experiences being shared by the storyteller. This empathy helps foster compassion between the listener and the storyteller.

‍Listening Deeply: Deep listening involves concentrating, understanding, responding, and then remembering what is being said. A story listener pays attention, so the storyteller feels heard and valued.

‍Exercising Cultural Sensitivity: Understanding and respecting the cultural background of the storyteller is essential for a story listener, as it affects the context of the narrative, the values being communicated, and the deeper meaning behind the storyteller’s choice and manner of expression.

‍Keeping Stories: A key skill is how a listener retains, remembers, ‘keeps’ a story. As someone hailing from a worldview of oral traditions, I consider stories sacred. Often, I find myself finding one tiny part of the story weaving gently with a story of my own so the two can be woven together in my memory.

‍Holding Space: Perhaps most important of all, a story listener holds space. This means fostering cultural, psychological, and emotional safety for the storyteller to allow meaning to be created and nurtured. Often when sitting in a circle listening, I imagine all of us in a circle carrying the story being told together. I imagine us all walking away one story stronger than we came into the circle.

When listened to in earnest, with intention, with humility, storytellers and story listeners can together create a powerful space to create empathy, promote understanding of complex issues, create a shared narrative that goes beyond what is different to what might be similar, promote healing and reconciliation, and create space for new perspectives to take root. Most importantly, when approached with intention, story listeners can inspire change and action.

And I’m sure you saw this last part coming. Yes, story listeners can indeed build peace. One story at a time.

Are you a story listener?