There’s evidence that stories can improve our emotional intelligence. Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience reveal that our brain is hardwired to respond to story. The pleasure we derive from a tale well-told is nature’s way of seducing us into paying attention to it.

The reason that stories work so well on us is that we are susceptible to getting ‘swept up’ in both their message and in the manner of their telling. Philip Pullman once said, ‘After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.’

Engaging in a story causes heightened connectivity in the left temporal cortex. The neurons in this region are associated with tricking the mind into thinking the body is doing something it’s not, a phenomenon known as grounded cognition’.

Once upon a time we communicated stories through drawings on cave walls. Now we find ourselves in the time where the world is a single global village in which technology provides the means to consume and participate in many stories (experiences).