The power of Storytelling

Recent research (Journal of Brain & Language) revealed that brain regions that are responsible for sensing through touch are activated when someone listens to metaphor sentences rather that sentences with the direct meaning.

“The language is full of metaphors, some of which are so familiar (like, “rough day)” In the book Metaphors we live by’ (Lakoff and Johnson) The authors argued that “metaphor comprehension is grounded in our sensory and motor experiences”.

Through this example Scientist (Stephens and Hasson) provide an example of how this works with language:

 “If I say, ‘Do you want a coffee?’ you say, ‘Yes please, two sugars.’ You don’t say, ‘Yes, please put two sugars in the cup of coffee that is between us,’” said Hasson. “You’re sharing the same lexical items, grammatical constructs and contextual framework. And this is happening not just abstractly, but literally in the brain.”

Something that comes to my mind is Steve Jobs telling a story about how many songs you can store on your computer instead of how many GB of memory is built on it. It was engaging…I was engaged and that reinforced my decision of buying my first MacBook.

Why is this important for me? (and for my team Carambola in Activating Frameworks class)

The use of metaphors in storytelling is a way to engage any audience, create empathy and enhance experiences during a workshop. Should we leave these findings into the neuroscience and linguists? I don’t think so; I think we should consider different ways to communicate in a more effective way. Personally as a non-native English speaker I struggle many times with the language but I believe that metaphors and symbolic thinking have helped me a lot to communicate in a better way.

Sources:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/07/mind-meshing/

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/07/27/study-the-brains-of-storytellers-and-their-listeners-actually-sync-up/

Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live by. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1980.

Claudia Ruge.

The fall

It was a cold and rainy day of November 1999. I was a second year student of Industrial Design at the university in my hometown, it was the week of finals and I had to present that morning the model of a toaster for my Constructivism class. I arrived early to class but I realized I had to solve a small detail that the professor told me to do. I ran to the workshop but the floor was wet and I saw myself struggling on a “soap floor” just in the beginning of the downstairs. It was late to do something, I slipped, I stumbled and I fell downstairs. I remember, as it was yesterday…every single rung hurting my head, my back and my butt. I just stopped when I reached the landing step in the middle of the stairway. I don’t remember when but I dropped the model and I saw it flying and bouncing all the way down.

There was me, lying on the stairs when two girls tried to help me, they were asking my name, where I was going, if I was O.K, but I felt that my body was not responding, I felt my breath trapped in my thorax and I felt my body tied with a strong rope. I couldn’t even talk; all I could do was moving my head a little bit. The time was frozen inside of my brain thinking…this is all wrong, I don’t want to feel like that the rest of my life…I prayed, waited and I started to breath and feel better gradually. I remember some funny reactions of my classmates; one of them grabbed the model and took it to the professor, the other one thought I had fainted and brought me food, and the other one was cleaning my jacket. I was thinking in something more important. My life.

I never had a hit like that before and I had pain everywhere, but before going to the nursery (which was far from where I was) I decided to go back to the classroom, talk to the professor and pick my things. When I arrived the professor said: “I have good and bad news for you!, the good news is that the structure of the model resisted the impact and it just broke in the part in which the design was not solved. The bad news is that your structure didn’t work, look at you?” Everybody in the class laughed about it but anyway I was happy to be back.

My dad picked me up and decided to take me to a hospital just to check I was not having hematomas or any other damages.  After the examination the doctor said I was going to be fine and in fact I was lucky to have my body structure because in many cases this type of accidents can cause permanent injuries or even death of kids and elderly.

Since then I started to understand how difficult could be to live in a world that is not designed for you. My university is full of stairways since its built on a mountain, and I just remember a joke of another professor that used to say “This Spartan university…only the hard, only the strong”

Today this fearsome downstairs have non-slip stair treads and some other efforts have been made to help people with special conditions.  What I learned from this experience is an opportunity to help others, creating experiences of prevention and making the world more livable for everyone.

A life changing experience

For: Activating frameworks class. Team Carambola http://teamcarambola.tumblr.com/

3 days after my birthday

I went this morning to Bethesda home to dance with Mazi and I thought about my grandma, my parents and even me. We are all getting old, all we can do is enjoy life while we can and give a fraction of our time to the people who need us, specially if they are strangers.

for Mia

There is a time to laugh and there is a time to cry, every time we take a breath we share a world full of life. Even a person, a plant or an animal have a purpose in this life. Unfortunately we don’t know exactly what it is and how long time do we have. Maybe we can live for a while and be loved forever. Life is not about time or who you are, life is about love and inspiration.

Me

Lonely and thin figure who vibrates with sounds, passions in every task, fantasy and love. Prisoner of silence, night and words, lover of the krafts; better worker under pressure. Dressed apparently by the mood. Sad when its cold and rains. Shy on day, surprising at night; stealthy like a cat looking for a warm place. A born fighter about family matters, professional goals and injustice; weak about love and betrayal. Not a singer but sings, not a dancer but can dance all night. A magnet who attracts inspiration each day, inspiration to say, criticize, create, change. Sometimes using sarcastic humor, sometimes astonished like a child, but always diplomatic and absent-minded as a gentleman, quiet when there is nothing to say. Dreamer till madness. This is me, no less, no more

MagnetiKSoul

Corporate Design Quotes

• Brand: Be just like any individual. They say what they need to say. LOS LOGOS. R.KLANTEN
• Corporate Design is the public face of a brand. SIMON AND GOETZ
• Creation comes between both designer and clients. R. Klanten
• Design follows strategy. LOS LOGOS. R.KLANTEN
• Logo says: “I encounter you, I´ll tell you about myself” DOS LOGOS. R. KLANTEN
• The brand is the soul of an enterprise. R. KLANTEN

La crisis según Albert Einstein

“No pretendamos que las cosas cambien si siempre hacemos lo mismo. La crisis es la mejor bendición que puede sucederle a personas y países, porque la crisis trae progresos. La creatividad nace de la angustia, como el día nace de la noche oscura. Es en la crisis que nace la inventiva, los descubrimientos y las grandes estrategias. Quien supera la crisis se supera a sí mismo sin quedar ‘superado’.

Quien atribuye a la crisis sus fracasos y penurias, violenta su propio talento y respeta más a los problemas que a las soluciones. La verdadera crisis es la crisis de la incompetencia. El inconveniente de las personas y los países es la pereza para encontrar las salidas y las soluciones. Sin crisis no hay desafíos, sin desafíos la vida es una rutina, una lenta agonía. Sin crisis no hay méritos. Es en la crisis donde aflora lo mejor de cada uno, porque sin crisis todo viento es caricia. Hablar de crisis es promoverla, y callar en la crisis es exaltar el conformismo. En vez de esto, trabajemos duro. Acabemos de una vez con la única crisis amenazadora que es la tragedia de no querer luchar por superarla”.

A. Einstein