# data[].attributes.body
Why do stories matter in our life?
Why do stories matter in our life?
Answer by: Muhammad Aiman Shukran Bin Mohamad Najib.
Matrics no: A162691

Lifetime. Our lifetime journey would reflect the stories we keep as part our life.

In this era of technology, I think reading isn't everyone go to hobby or even less to say activity. However, either we realize it or not, everything that we found ourselves stumbled upon on the internet, is a story in and out of itself. Even if it's just and article about a celebrity or a music video of one's favourite song, these are stories in your life. Why? Because these and other things that float on the internet are the things that we tend to bring along with ourselves as we live.

What I meant to say is, these are the things we will talk about to the people in our life and not only that, most of the time when we want to break the ice with a stranger, the stories that we keep and hold within ourselves will be the first step in your effort to befriend someone.

Maybe as you read my answer till this word right now, you figured out that my points above are basic things and nothing much of a game-changer. However, coming back to the phrase "the stories that we keep and hold within ourselves", to me this will be a bigger part to whom you will keep and let go from your life.

Reading this, you might wonder why do I choose to make that point but I truly believe that is how much stories matter in each of our lives. 

The upbringing of yourself and the experiences you had, might be the force that propels you forward or if not, it can be something that holding you back. The latter can be really heavy and cold but irony is by opening up such stories to the right people, the stories that we have been keeping inside ourselves, now feel a little bit lighter and warm when we let it out.

Stories are not just what you read, but are also what you speak of. A true story, no matter how broken it is, is always a poetry that you might not realize you have.

And poetry, how much more beautiful a word can be? Even more, we all carry it with ourselves—through the stories we keep (or read) and the stories we tell.

With that, I end this with one my favourite quotes from Rumi, "Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure."
Why do stories matter in our life?
Why do stories matter in our life?
Hijazida Hamdan (A167545)

Stories matter. May it be stories of your life, or someone else's, or even a fictional character's. To explain why it matters in whole would be difficult so I'll try to do it whole-heartedly. 

My story is important because I believe that is the first step to freedom. In a story, there must be feelings. Even if you think you didn't have any feeling towards the matter, revisiting that memory will help us to figure out and understand our emotions, which is important for our well-being. But just revisiting it and bottling it up sometimes just wouldn't do me much good. I could just revisit the same memory over and over again in my head but when I say it out loud or write it down, it just hits differently. Talking about it out loud and telling my stories with others could finally make me realize the extent of emotions that I'm feeling, to finally process. The harder it is for me to say something out loud, the easier it will get to say it again and slowly accepting the facts. And when we accept the facts, that would to emotional freedom and offer us some kind of closure. 

Stories of others are just as important. When we hear how others are feeling, we could better understand them. Why they act a certain way, what makes them tic, what gives them joy, how they perceive the world and their surroundings. Nobody tells a story without facial expressions. Especially if we show that we are willing and excited to offer them an ear. This could increase our empathy and emotional intelligence. These stories include non-fictions and biographies. Learning about the stories of others will allow us to grow and learn things without having to experience it. And even if we were to experience it in the future, we would at least know what we could do. 

Lastly, my favourite stories would be fictions. Fictions especially those out of this world just gives me thrills. It's a way to experience a world we know is impossible. A world to escape to, a world to dream of, a world to be free. Superpowers, magic, aliens, it could all merge into one whole story and it could all still make sense. It's a world of creativity and reading these would give me awe. How does one mind's work to give such amazing stories and ideas to share to everyone? They basically created a whole new world for others to enjoy and explore and I am forever grateful for these people. 

Stories gives me relief, makes me an understanding person and makes me believe in magic :)
Why do Stories Matter?
Why do Stories Matter?
Amira Zulaikha binti Saidon (A167575)

Storytelling since ancient times has always been an important form of communication, whether to pass down history, culture, skills, lessons and information. That is why stories has a power to not only hold the message it conveys, but the emotions of the writer, the narrator can either add or take away from the story itself. So it is easy to see story as not just something objective but a living, breathing existence that changes form with every breath from it's storytellers.

Some people can be expressive with their facial expressions while explaining the dinner menu, while some people can stoically tell the source of their trauma with a cold, robotic voice and still invoke a huge set of emotions from the listeners. There are many ways to tell a story and each may be different, but the take away is that each one is 'right' and each one matters to the story teller.

Stories have the power to let someone understands the perspective they never knew, experience emotions they are foreign to, and most importantly it has the power to let someone face their own pain, unravel and then organize themselves. Sometimes when traumatic events happen they can not react instantly, some people need more time to process their pain, organize their thoughts and then perhaps arrange their words to form stories that will then help others face their own pain.

That is how stories make their way to everyone's heart and why it matters
be like Tanggang.
be like Tanggang.

Stories also help us to understand other people situations and respect their perspective. It is because, when we are hear someone else's stories our minds immediately opens up to new experience and perceptions of other people about how they feel and think. It is because, basically stories will trigger our imagination and engage our our attentions by placing ourselves in someone else's shoes, we can get to experience their emotions, their perspective, actions as we are the one who facing the problems. This shows that, through the someone's stories we can understand someone's life by listening and feels the stories. For example, I have a friend who come from a broken family and she told me that she is stress and how hurt she feels when her parents does not even care her feelings and the worst part is when she got warded for 2 days her parents did not come to the hospital because they are busy preparing their divorce at the court. From my friend's stories, I learn that how lucky I am since I still have a parent who still love each other and I can feel how hurt her feelings when she being neglected by her own parents when she need someone to rely on when she sick.

As a conclusion, it is true that sometimes we can learn from someone's stories on how to be strong.


Why do stories matter in our life?
Why do stories matter in our life?
SITI FATIMAH BINTI A RAHMAN
(A174048)

Scientifically, stories are the central to human cognition and communication. It is more than just a recitation of facts and events. Storytelling allows us to engage more with others, therefore as a human being we are automatically drawn to stories because we see our reflection in them. 

Starting from our roots, stories form our own mindset of the world and our lives. For instance, a culture can be kept alive through stories than is being passed on from one generation to others. This proves that stories provide a timeless link to ancient traditions, legends and myths. Thus, it can also connect us to universal truths about ourselves and the world around us. Through stories, we share fears, passions, joys, hardships, sadness, all resulting to a common ground with others, allowing us to connect and communicate with them. It is through stories that we experience rich emotions and feelings with or towards others.

We can see that, from stories, we learn about behaviours and consequences. This what connects us in spite of our differences as we come to understand what we have in common with others. For some reason, story is a way we can be real to ourselves, even if it’s not. It helps to create our identity as we were telling what we feel and how we justify our decisions. Through such experiences, we can see how our unique perspective decide our place in the world. We may step out of reality and experience other’s emotions, actions and decisions while engaging through stories. As a result, stories help you learn to emphatize other people while you understand their point of view.

Stories also help us learn how to react. Since there are many great lessons from stories, we understand many aspects of life that help us to decide what is right and what is wrong. We tend to remember and process information better when we hear or read a story because narratives reach deep into our psyche and provide a deeper understanding of concepts, thoughts, and ideas. In education, we often use analogies to understand the information better. This is because stories engage our attention and trigger our imagination, and humans tend to remember the underlying emotions of the story rather than the actual elements in the story. 

All in all, the stories we tell can shape our perception of the world, and the perception of the world shapes the stories we tell.

WHY STORIES MATTER
WHY STORIES MATTER
NURIN JAZLINA BINTI JOEHAN (A176618)

In my opinion, stories matter because it has the power to change the world. A story can save lives. A story can help people to remain calm. A story can affect people's lives.

As human beings, we always have things to tell. We want to be heard. Stories matter because it can bring silent voices together. 

Imagine a person has been bullied for years. He was afraid to talk it out due to his traumatic experience. Then one day, someone who was bullied too, come into the picture and boldly tell his story. Once he tells his story, other people with the same experience will step forward to tell their stories. One after another. Soon, it is going to be an awareness. Stories can be a type of awareness. From their stories, they can confront with their fears. 

That is how stories matter to me. From stories, we could survive and learn. 
Why stories matter
Why stories matter
NIK NOR AINA BALQIS NIK ISMAIL (A178140)

In my opinion, there is a lot of benefits of the stories. Everybody need sometime to reduce their own story matter i think that story can make someone more matured and reliable about their life and story.

Stories matter make someone more careful about their path of life and make simple life to the others because our twist and turns life really hurt  when you take wrong path for healing yourself.
stories can make more confident in ourselves.

This is because stories provide lessons related to he past and present. stories can be us more grateful of real life how we go through with our problems. If we have any problems just go with it because many problems we get the mind will get more reliable to think and our behaviour in overcoming it is also different.

The conclusion is, stories gained experienced to handle it and make knowledge how to create the wonderful story.

Stories are important in our life
Stories are important in our life
NISA IZZATI BINTI MAT ISA (A176546)
why stories are considered
Why do stories matter in our life?
Why do stories matter in our life?
NURNADHIRAH BINTI NORAZMAN (A175540)

In my own opinion and based on experiences, I would say stories give inspiration and motivation for those in need. In social media, there are tons of pages which share a lot of inspiring things that is happening all around the world. From helping our loved ones to the homeless. This inspiring stories will create empathy and compassion to the audience/viewer. The audience would realized there are still goodness, positive, loving and beautiful things and people exist in this whole world. This would give motivation for the audience to do better for their own benefits. 

I would also want to say that stories are important to understand people better, to know exactly what is happening in a situation. It's about listening to both side of stories. From two different perspective. By listening to both side of stories, one could understand the whole situation much better and will eventually know the truth. 

Thus, that is how stories matter in our lives especially mine. Different people have different opinion which is a good thing because we could expand our mindset. 

Thank you,
#staysafe :D
STORIES DO MATTER
STORIES DO MATTER 

# data[].attributes.body
Answer by: Muhammad Aiman Shukran Bin Mohamad Najib.
Matrics no: A162691

Lifetime. Our lifetime journey would reflect the stories we keep as part our life.

In this era of technology, I think reading isn't everyone go to hobby or even less to say activity. However, either we realize it or not, everything that we found ourselves stumbled upon on the internet, is a story in and out of itself. Even if it's just and article about a celebrity or a music video of one's favourite song, these are stories in your life. Why? Because these and other things that float on the internet are the things that we tend to bring along with ourselves as we live.

What I meant to say is, these are the things we will talk about to the people in our life and not only that, most of the time when we want to break the ice with a stranger, the stories that we keep and hold within ourselves will be the first step in your effort to befriend someone.

Maybe as you read my answer till this word right now, you figured out that my points above are basic things and nothing much of a game-changer. However, coming back to the phrase "the stories that we keep and hold within ourselves", to me this will be a bigger part to whom you will keep and let go from your life.

Reading this, you might wonder why do I choose to make that point but I truly believe that is how much stories matter in each of our lives.

The upbringing of yourself and the experiences you had, might be the force that propels you forward or if not, it can be something that holding you back. The latter can be really heavy and cold but irony is by opening up such stories to the right people, the stories that we have been keeping inside ourselves, now feel a little bit lighter and warm when we let it out.

Stories are not just what you read, but are also what you speak of. A true story, no matter how broken it is, is always a poetry that you might not realize you have.

And poetry, how much more beautiful a word can be? Even more, we all carry it with ourselves—through the stories we keep (or read) and the stories we tell.

With that, I end this with one my favourite quotes from Rumi, "Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure."

# data[].attributes.body
PUTERI NUR AISYAH SHAHLIA BINTI MOHD SHAHLAN (A176530)

In our life there is alot stories we have heard like myths, legend, folklore, and fairy tale since we are kids.
Because of it some of us wish to bear as a royal and meet their true love like our Disney princess. Also, some of us wish can be strong and born with power like superheroes in DC and Marvel

Stories can be inspirations for others to  be courage to live. There is a company use SUCESS STORY to boost up their worker spirit and stimulate positive vibe. Like Dhar Mann short story are to change other people life.

"Anthropologists tell us that storytelling is central to human existence. That it's common to every known culture. That it involves a symbiotic exchange between teller and listener -- an exchange we learn to negotiate in infancy."  (Frank Rose,2011)

That is why stories do important.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is it about stories, anyway?

Anthropologists tell us that storytelling is central to human existence. That it's common to every known culture. That it involves a symbiotic exchange between teller and listener -- an exchange we learn to negotiate in infancy.

Just as the brain detects patterns in the visual forms of nature -- a face, a figure, a flower -- and in sound, so too it detects patterns in information. Stories are recognizable patterns, and in those patterns we find meaning. We use stories to make sense of our world and to share that understanding with others. They are the signal within the noise.

So powerful is our impulse to detect story patterns that we see them even when they're not there.

In a landmark 1944 study, 34 humans -- Massachusetts college students actually, though subsequent research suggests they could have been just about anyone -- were shown a short film and asked what was happening in it. The film showed two triangles and a circle moving across a two-dimensional surface. The only other object onscreen was a stationary rectangle, partially open on one side.

Only one of the test subjects saw this scene for what it was: geometric shapes moving across a plane. Everyone else came up with elaborate narratives to explain what the movements were about. Typically, the participants viewed the triangles as two men fighting and the circle as a woman trying to escape the bigger, bullying triangle. Instead of registering inanimate shapes, they imagined humans with vivid inner lives. The circle was "worried." The circle and the little triangle were "innocent young things." The big triangle was "blinded by rage and frustration."

But if stories themselves are universal, the way we tell them changes with the technology at hand. Every new medium has given rise to a new form of narrative. In Europe, the invention of the printing press and movable type around 1450 led to the emergence of periodicals and the novel. The invention of the motion picture camera around 1890 set off an era of feverish experimentation that led to the development of feature films by 1910. Television, invented around 1925, gave rise a quarter-century later to I Love Lucy and the highly stylized form of comedy that became known as the sitcom.

As each of these media achieved production and distribution on an industrial scale, we saw the emergence of 20th-century mass media: newspapers, magazines, movies, music, TV. And with that, there was no role left for the consumer except to consume.

Then, just as we'd gotten used to consuming sequential narratives in a carefully prescribed, point-by-point fashion, came the internet. The internet is the first medium that can act like all media -- it can be text, or audio or video, or all of the above. It's nonlinear, thanks to the world wide web and the revolutionary convention of hyperlinking. It's inherently participatory -- not just interactive, in the sense that it responds to your commands, but an instigator constantly encouraging you to comment, to contribute, to join in.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Art of Immersion: Why Do We Tell Stories?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What is it about stories, anyway? Anthropologists tell us that storytelling is central to human existence. That it's common to every known culture. That it involves a symbiotic exchange between teller and listener - an exchange we learn to negotiate in infancy. Just as the brain detects patterns in the visual forms of nature - [...]

# data[].attributes.body
Hijazida Hamdan (A167545)

Stories matter. May it be stories of your life, or someone else's, or even a fictional character's. To explain why it matters in whole would be difficult so I'll try to do it whole-heartedly.

My story is important because I believe that is the first step to freedom. In a story, there must be feelings. Even if you think you didn't have any feeling towards the matter, revisiting that memory will help us to figure out and understand our emotions, which is important for our well-being. But just revisiting it and bottling it up sometimes just wouldn't do me much good. I could just revisit the same memory over and over again in my head but when I say it out loud or write it down, it just hits differently. Talking about it out loud and telling my stories with others could finally make me realize the extent of emotions that I'm feeling, to finally process. The harder it is for me to say something out loud, the easier it will get to say it again and slowly accepting the facts. And when we accept the facts, that would to emotional freedom and offer us some kind of closure.

Stories of others are just as important. When we hear how others are feeling, we could better understand them. Why they act a certain way, what makes them tic, what gives them joy, how they perceive the world and their surroundings. Nobody tells a story without facial expressions. Especially if we show that we are willing and excited to offer them an ear. This could increase our empathy and emotional intelligence. These stories include non-fictions and biographies. Learning about the stories of others will allow us to grow and learn things without having to experience it. And even if we were to experience it in the future, we would at least know what we could do.

Lastly, my favourite stories would be fictions. Fictions especially those out of this world just gives me thrills. It's a way to experience a world we know is impossible. A world to escape to, a world to dream of, a world to be free. Superpowers, magic, aliens, it could all merge into one whole story and it could all still make sense. It's a world of creativity and reading these would give me awe. How does one mind's work to give such amazing stories and ideas to share to everyone? They basically created a whole new world for others to enjoy and explore and I am forever grateful for these people.

Stories gives me relief, makes me an understanding person and makes me believe in magic :)

# data[].attributes.body
Amira Zulaikha binti Saidon (A167575)

Storytelling since ancient times has always been an important form of communication, whether to pass down history, culture, skills, lessons and information. That is why stories has a power to not only hold the message it conveys, but the emotions of the writer, the narrator can either add or take away from the story itself. So it is easy to see story as not just something objective but a living, breathing existence that changes form with every breath from it's storytellers.

Some people can be expressive with their facial expressions while explaining the dinner menu, while some people can stoically tell the source of their trauma with a cold, robotic voice and still invoke a huge set of emotions from the listeners. There are many ways to tell a story and each may be different, but the take away is that each one is 'right' and each one matters to the story teller.

Stories have the power to let someone understands the perspective they never knew, experience emotions they are foreign to, and most importantly it has the power to let someone face their own pain, unravel and then organize themselves. Sometimes when traumatic events happen they can not react instantly, some people need more time to process their pain, organize their thoughts and then perhaps arrange their words to form stories that will then help others face their own pain.

That is how stories make their way to everyone's heart and why it matters

# data[].attributes.body
NURNADHIRAH BINTI NORAZMAN (A175540)

In my own opinion and based on experiences, I would say stories give inspiration and motivation for those in need. In social media, there are tons of pages which share a lot of inspiring things that is happening all around the world. From helping our loved ones to the homeless. This inspiring stories will create empathy and compassion to the audience/viewer. The audience would realized there are still goodness, positive, loving and beautiful things and people exist in this whole world. This would give motivation for the audience to do better for their own benefits.

I would also want to say that stories are important to understand people better, to know exactly what is happening in a situation. It's about listening to both side of stories. From two different perspective. By listening to both side of stories, one could understand the whole situation much better and will eventually know the truth.

Thus, that is how stories matter in our lives especially mine. Different people have different opinion which is a good thing because we could expand our mindset.

Thank you,
#staysafe :D

# data[].attributes.body
SITI KAMARIAH SUJENO
(A179385)

In my opinion, stories matter play an important role in our lives. "Stories make us becomes human" and also many great lessons to be learned from stories whether it is fiction or  not. First, stories will help us learn on how to act wisely when we are in the critical situations. Basically, when someone tell us their stories, we are tend to remember and process the information when we heard the stories because the point of the stories will reach deep into our brain and this can provide  a deeper understanding about someone's life. To make it short, from the stories that we heard, we are actually understand many aspects of life and that is how we learn and know what is right and what is wrong through the experienced from the  stories. For example, when I was a kid, my sister will always read me a book 'Si Tanggang' and told me to always respect our parents if I don't want to end up like si Tanggang who turned into rock because he is disobey and rude to his mom. This clearly shows that stories really teach us good from bad and actually teach us how to act wisely with families, friends, teachers and society about the consequences of not doing something improper to them. Eventhough sometimes when I disagree to my parents decisions, I will just keep silent and follow the orders because I don't want to be like Tanggang.

Stories also help us to understand other people situations and respect their perspective. It is because, when we are hear someone else's stories our minds immediately opens up to new experience and perceptions of other people about how they feel and think. It is because, basically stories will trigger our imagination and engage our our attentions by placing ourselves in someone else's shoes, we can get to experience their emotions, their perspective, actions as we are the one who facing the problems. This shows that, through the someone's stories we can understand someone's life by listening and feels the stories. For example, I have a friend who come from a broken family and she told me that she is stress and how hurt she feels when her parents does not even care her feelings and the worst part is when she got warded for 2 days her parents did not come to the hospital because they are busy preparing their divorce at the court. From my friend's stories, I learn that how lucky I am since I still have a parent who still love each other and I can feel how hurt her feelings when she being neglected by her own parents when she need someone to rely on when she sick.

As a conclusion, it is true that sometimes we can learn from someone's stories on how to be strong.

# data[].attributes.body
be like Tanggang.

Stories also help us to understand other people situations and respect their perspective. It is because, when we are hear someone else's stories our minds immediately opens up to new experience and perceptions of other people about how they feel and think. It is because, basically stories will trigger our imagination and engage our our attentions by placing ourselves in someone else's shoes, we can get to experience their emotions, their perspective, actions as we are the one who facing the problems. This shows that, through the someone's stories we can understand someone's life by listening and feels the stories. For example, I have a friend who come from a broken family and she told me that she is stress and how hurt she feels when her parents does not even care her feelings and the worst part is when she got warded for 2 days her parents did not come to the hospital because they are busy preparing their divorce at the court. From my friend's stories, I learn that how lucky I am since I still have a parent who still love each other and I can feel how hurt her feelings when she being neglected by her own parents when she need someone to rely on when she sick.

As a conclusion, it is true that sometimes we can learn from someone's stories on how to be strong.

Why do stories matter in our life?
Why do stories matter in our life?
SITI FATIMAH BINTI A RAHMAN
(A174048)

Scientifically, stories are the central to human cognition and communication. It is more than just a recitation of facts and events. Storytelling allows us to engage more with others, therefore as a human being we are automatically drawn to stories because we see our reflection in them.

Starting from our roots, stories form our own mindset of the world and our lives. For instance, a culture can be kept alive through stories than is being passed on from one generation to others. This proves that stories provide a timeless link to ancient traditions, legends and myths. Thus, it can also connect us to universal truths about ourselves and the world around us. Through stories, we share fears, passions, joys, hardships, sadness, all resulting to a common ground with others, allowing us to connect and communicate with them. It is through stories that we experience rich emotions and feelings with or towards others.

We can see that, from stories, we learn about behaviours and consequences. This what connects us in spite of our differences as we come to understand what we have in common with others. For some reason, story is a way we can be real to ourselves, even if it’s not. It helps to create our identity as we were telling what we feel and how we justify our decisions. Through such experiences, we can see how our unique perspective decide our place in the world. We may step out of reality and experience other’s emotions, actions and decisions while engaging through stories. As a result, stories help you learn to emphatize other people while you understand their point of view.

Stories also help us learn how to react. Since there are many great lessons from stories, we understand many aspects of life that help us to decide what is right and what is wrong. We tend to remember and process information better when we hear or read a story because narratives reach deep into our psyche and provide a deeper understanding of concepts, thoughts, and ideas. In education, we often use analogies to understand the information better. This is because stories engage our attention and trigger our imagination, and humans tend to remember the underlying emotions of the story rather than the actual elements in the story.

All in all, the stories we tell can shape our perception of the world, and the perception of the world shapes the stories we tell.

WHY STORIES MATTER
WHY STORIES MATTER
NURIN JAZLINA BINTI JOEHAN (A176618)

In my opinion, stories matter because it has the power to change the world. A story can save lives. A story can help people to remain calm. A story can affect people's lives.

As human beings, we always have things to tell. We want to be heard. Stories matter because it can bring silent voices together.

Imagine a person has been bullied for years. He was afraid to talk it out due to his traumatic experience. Then one day, someone who was bullied too, come into the picture and boldly tell his story. Once he tells his story, other people with the same experience will step forward to tell their stories. One after another. Soon, it is going to be an awareness. Stories can be a type of awareness. From their stories, they can confront with their fears.

That is how stories matter to me. From stories, we could survive and learn.
Why stories matter
Why stories matter
NIK NOR AINA BALQIS NIK ISMAIL (A178140)

In my opinion, there is a lot of benefits of the stories. Everybody need sometime to reduce their own story matter i think that story can make someone more matured and reliable about their life and story.

Stories matter make someone more careful about their path of life and make simple life to the others because our twist and turns life really hurt  when you take wrong path for healing yourself.
stories can make more confident in ourselves.

This is because stories provide lessons related to he past and present. stories can be us more grateful of real life how we go through with our problems. If we have any problems just go with it because many problems we get the mind will get more reliable to think and our behaviour in overcoming it is also different.

The conclusion is, stories gained experienced to handle it and make knowledge how to create the wonderful story.

Stories are important in our life
Stories are important in our life
NISA IZZATI BINTI MAT ISA (A176546)
why stories are considered

# data[].attributes.body
SITI FATIMAH BINTI A RAHMAN
(A174048)

Scientifically, stories are the central to human cognition and communication. It is more than just a recitation of facts and events. Storytelling allows us to engage more with others, therefore as a human being we are automatically drawn to stories because we see our reflection in them.

Starting from our roots, stories form our own mindset of the world and our lives. For instance, a culture can be kept alive through stories than is being passed on from one generation to others. This proves that stories provide a timeless link to ancient traditions, legends and myths. Thus, it can also connect us to universal truths about ourselves and the world around us. Through stories, we share fears, passions, joys, hardships, sadness, all resulting to a common ground with others, allowing us to connect and communicate with them. It is through stories that we experience rich emotions and feelings with or towards others.

We can see that, from stories, we learn about behaviours and consequences. This what connects us in spite of our differences as we come to understand what we have in common with others. For some reason, story is a way we can be real to ourselves, even if it’s not. It helps to create our identity as we were telling what we feel and how we justify our decisions. Through such experiences, we can see how our unique perspective decide our place in the world. We may step out of reality and experience other’s emotions, actions and decisions while engaging through stories. As a result, stories help you learn to emphatize other people while you understand their point of view.

Stories also help us learn how to react. Since there are many great lessons from stories, we understand many aspects of life that help us to decide what is right and what is wrong. We tend to remember and process information better when we hear or read a story because narratives reach deep into our psyche and provide a deeper understanding of concepts, thoughts, and ideas. In education, we often use analogies to understand the information better. This is because stories engage our attention and trigger our imagination, and humans tend to remember the underlying emotions of the story rather than the actual elements in the story.

All in all, the stories we tell can shape our perception of the world, and the perception of the world shapes the stories we tell.

# data[].attributes.body
NURIN JAZLINA BINTI JOEHAN (A176618)

In my opinion, stories matter because it has the power to change the world. A story can save lives. A story can help people to remain calm. A story can affect people's lives.

As human beings, we always have things to tell. We want to be heard. Stories matter because it can bring silent voices together.

Imagine a person has been bullied for years. He was afraid to talk it out due to his traumatic experience. Then one day, someone who was bullied too, come into the picture and boldly tell his story. Once he tells his story, other people with the same experience will step forward to tell their stories. One after another. Soon, it is going to be an awareness. Stories can be a type of awareness. From their stories, they can confront with their fears.

That is how stories matter to me. From stories, we could survive and learn.

# data[].attributes.body
NIK NOR AINA BALQIS NIK ISMAIL (A178140)

In my opinion, there is a lot of benefits of the stories. Everybody need sometime to reduce their own story matter i think that story can make someone more matured and reliable about their life and story.

Stories matter make someone more careful about their path of life and make simple life to the others because our twist and turns life really hurt  when you take wrong path for healing yourself.
stories can make more confident in ourselves.

This is because stories provide lessons related to he past and present. stories can be us more grateful of real life how we go through with our problems. If we have any problems just go with it because many problems we get the mind will get more reliable to think and our behaviour in overcoming it is also different.

The conclusion is, stories gained experienced to handle it and make knowledge how to create the wonderful story.

# data[].attributes.body
NISA IZZATI BINTI MAT ISA (A176546)
why stories are considered important in our lives. this is because the story for me is part of the story of life. this story will not be complete if there is no love and sorrow in navigating his ark. The story has three important stages. among them the story of how we exist in this world. maybe we don't know the story behind it. for example, our existence is full of twists and turns to live. the second stage, childhood stories. in this age full of joy without any problem to think about. the third stage is the stage where the story begins to be hit by various challenges and obstacles of life i.e. adolescent and adult stages.

here can show why the story is important because of the three stages it goes through it can help in further developing one's maturity in making any decision. with the story passed will guide from making decisions. this is because it is based on the experience of the story. second, this story is important because it is able to be shared with others. in fact sometimes the shared story can be an example not only to yourself it is also used as an example and example for the people around.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Telling stories is as basic to human beings as eating. More so, in fact, for while food makes us live, stories are what make our lives worth living. - On Stories, Richard Kearney

To be a person is to have a story to tell. - Isak Dinesen

Once the necessities for survival are taken care of, we humans spend more of our free time immersed in story than doing anything else. Stories about things that aren't true and people that don't exist, for the most part. Think about it. We watch movies and television; play video games; read books, comics and cartoons; listen to songs; look at art; see performances of plays, dance and operas; and tell each other stories around the dinner table or the campfire. And we have always done this, since we learned to communicate with one another and figured out how to scratch drawings on a cave wall.

Stories are such a huge part of our lives that we must be hard-wired not only to love them, but to absolutely need them. One of the most meaningful and enjoyable aspects of my life is the time I spend with stories, primarily in novel form, reading about events and people that someone else has simply made up. And I can't really imagine a life worth living without them.

But why are stories so important to us? I don't think there is any one reason. It seems to me that stories are so necessary because they serve so many critical functions that enable us to survive and thrive as humans, all at once.

First of all, what is a story exactly? It's as simple as the anecdote you tell your spouse at dinner about the jerk at work and what he did, or the lurid events relayed on the local news. There's a reason we refer to both of these as "stories." A story is essentially a series of events on a particular subject related by a person to an audience.

The first function of stories, I think, is to escape the humdrum, routine nature of life. Life, we hope, is long, and often quite a lot of time passes between significant events happening. During that time, we do the dishes, brush our teeth, go to work - all of which is not that interesting. A story collapses these events, leaving out the boring bits. Through story, we can pretend to be somebody else or go somewhere else, without taking on the risks or expense ourselves. We can even do the impossible, like travel through time or explore the universe. Kids play pretend from a very young age, and through various kinds of stories, we never really stop.

This escape factor makes stories highly entertaining. They pass the time. They're fun. The fun factor enables stories to fulfill their other functions. One of the most basic functions of the story is to teach. We use stories to quickly and easily learn facts; research shows that we retain facts more readily if they are related in narrative form. But stories also teach us how to be.

Human cultures have always reinforced societal norms via storytelling. Through stories we communicate to our children (and to outsiders) how to act toward one another, what we value and what is possible. Stories preserve our own history and culture, passing it along in a form that's easy to remember to the next generation.

We use stories not only to learn but also to speculative, to pose questions and then find solutions. What would happen if we made contact with an alien race? Stories help us explore all the possibilities. What would be the consequences of cheating on your spouse? Stories help us understand that hypothetical situation as well. When we tell stories about ourselves, we are imagining all our possible futures and, we hope, helping ourselves choose the best ones.

Beyond just speculation about what might happen, we use stories to answer the great unanswerable questions. Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life? What does it mean to be human? Stories bring order and meaning to the chaos and randomness of life. A story always has a beginning, middle and end, which is very satisfying to us, since we don't know how our own personal story will end. And our lives are really a search for our own story, aren't they?

Finally, stories connect us to one another. Even though we know they are fiction, stories elicit powerful emotional responses in us. While we are immersed in a story, we can see the world through someone else's eyes. We can know what it's like to be a poor boy in Delhi or a slave girl in 1700s Virginia or the Queen of England. Sharing our subjective experiences through stories enable us to connect and empathize with one another. By sharing through stories, we are better able to live together.

Because stories can elicit powerful emotional responses, they are powerful tools. They can be used to persuade people and change societies, and they have - with good and bad results. That's why criticism of stories is essential as well. Our endless discussion of stories - on the Internet, around the water cooler, in other stories - is really an intrinsic part of the storytelling process, as essential as the stories themselves. We should always distrust those who try to suppress our stories - any of them - or our discussion of those stories.

What would happen if we encountered an alien race that did not tell stories, that didn't even understand what stories were? Would we be able to communicate with them, or relate to them? Hmm, perhaps someone should write a story about that (if they haven't already).

For more:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Telling stories is as basic to human beings as eating. More so, in fact, for while food makes us live, stories are what make our lives worth living. -- On Stories, Richard Kearney To be a person is to have a story to tell. -- Isak Dinesen Once the necessities for survival are taken care...

# data[].attributes.body
MUHAMMAD ZARUL  NIZAM BIN RAHIM (A181945)

In my opinion, there is a lot of benefits of the stories. Everybody need sometime on their own for they think about their life. All the events that we go through will become a history which the we will remember it forever. Human being are indeed deceitful simply if they have never known they sad or happy stories.

Stories will make us more confident in ourselves. This is because story can provide lessons related to the past or present. Stories can help us understand others. This is because we can hear a variety of stories from other people of all kinds of story forms. Stories can make us the best speakers. This is because we have a lot of stories which same as another or some people been through. So we more understand about their conditions.

The conclusion is if we know more stories then more knowledge and experience is gained. Thank you for reading my opinion.

# data[].attributes.body
Emir Zaqwan (A177882)

They say that stories give you hope, belief, and a reason to keep on fighting. A story is what many would see as just a long winded explanation of an individual or a group of peoples expereince but it's much more than that. Experience is not just an after story to tell. It's about struggles, survival and downfalls which are all a part of what keeps me believing that yes, stories do matter and are the source of our abilities and how we carry ourselves out in life. It acts as a drive to ensure we keep going the extra mile and exceeding more than what we expect from ourselves.

I guess the person who inspires me most would be my father. Through his hardships and downfalls in certain areas, he'd always find ways to make ends meet and be the very soul reason why I am here still breathing and living my best life. His stories of his struggles and never ending efforts in always trying to make the best out of every situation no matter how hard life hits him has never ceased to inspire me and take every challenge and opportunity that come my way. His stories act as a tool of boosting confidence and improving my self esteem. There were times where I've been the worst possible version of myself and he never failed to pick me up with one of his stories during his teenage years and how some things won't ever go your way, so, you make them go your way. His experience as a university student like me would be one of the greatest stories I can't wait to tell when I have children of my own.

By listening to his motivating and soul searching stories and advices, I've always kept his words of affirmation and reassurances close to my heart and since then I've always been achieving more than what I thought was possible. It's amazing that we're always quick to judge and doubt ourselves but never quick enough to try and see the outcome. My dad taught me that lesson. His stories have helped me become the best version of myself. I feel so inspired and motivated to go out there and prove to life that I have so much in me that I can offer. In conclusion, his stories will always be the source of my strength and perseverance. Everyone is fighting their own battle that we do not know of. It's always best to believe that every cloud has a silver lining. That's why, stories matter to my life, especially my dads.

Thank you for your time and attention

# data[].attributes.headline
You get to escape reality through stories, even if its for a short while.

# data[].attributes.subject
You get to escape reality through stories, even if its for a short while.

# data[].attributes.body
Some say stories are lessons to be learned. Some explain that stories help us to grow spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Some even argued on how stories are able to provide knowledge and open one's eyes to the things unknown.

Personally to me, stories are portals to another world. Another alternate universe. I can become someone else for the day. I can put myself in the protagonists' shoes, or I can see things from the side characters' point of view.

I always imagine myself standing in front of a huge portal ( like the ones Doctor Strange uses ), and seeing myself transform as soon as I step through the portal. From there, all moral values, strengths, and visions follow.

And how is this important in our lives? How is becoming someone else, fiction characters no less, help us in our lives?

Well, one thing for certain is:
We are able to escape reality. Even if it's only a day or a few hours. We are so caught up with reality, to the point we look back and ask ourselves, "Huh, when was the last time I spend curling up to a good book?"

It helps us unwind, and explore the creative side of our brain. Once we got back from the alternate universe, we get to start fresh on our works -- or better, we feel like we can do anything!

Vilianty Bulan Jerome (A169577)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This guest post is by Brenton Weyi. Brenton is the creator of Orastories, a website that hosts oral storytelling by lesser known writers to bring them exposure to a wider audience. If you're wanting to share your stories with more people, this could be a great opportunity for you. To submit your own story to Orastories, go to their submission page. You can also follow Brenton on Twitter (@bweyi). Now, to the post!

"Once Upon a Time."

These words are as familiar as "Hello." As soon as we hear them, we know we are about to be transported to a different world.

But why is that? Why have these words been so ingrained into our very being?

The Uniqueness of Stories

I've always believed one of the most important intrinsic qualities that separate humans from any other living being is our ability to tell stories; to share the mundane, the painful, and the beautiful, in a structured, yet artistically varied manner.

Stories have been passed down from fathers to sons; from mothers to daughters. They inform us of how things used to be-about what our ancestors believed and how they acted.

But stories also do something else. They remind us, that no matter how the landscapes may change, we are all faced with the same issues in the struggle for personhood: issues of love, jealousy, power, and greed, of self-actualization, morality, dignity, doubt, and everything else that makes us so unimportantly significant.

And though we may never answer any of these questions, it's just as important that they be asked, so that we can continually try to answer them-in writing, in oral tradition, in art-in togetherness. Stories are the threads that connect disparate individuals and make them friends, families, communities and so much more. Moments shared translate into bonds strengthened; both on pages and passed on through words that sow the seeds for new beautiful connections and wondrous possibilities.

There is a reason why in the ancient world, storytellers and orators were regarded as some of the most important people in society. They held the secrets. They shared the knowledge. Between their lips resided legacies and treasons. In their words we found ourselves.

A New Chapter

We have entered a new era of storytelling. Now stories can be shared through virtually any medium.

You can have thousands of powerful digital storytellers in your back pocket waiting to be called upon. You can go on a drive and be captivated by a new thrilling tale seeping through our speakers. And for the more traditional, we can still gather together around the fire and hear stories in their purest form.

But regardless of what technologies will arise, stories are all around us-as they always have been. This fact has compelled me to do what I do now: to be a writer and a story gatherer.

Your Story Matters

I've found that so many people in this world are under the impression that their stories don't matter. That they don't matter.

I'm looking to change that through a site dedicated to the impact of stories and to fostering positive life inspiration. In doing this, I've also started a podcast to showcase the best, most enlivening stories from lesser-known writers. If I am to succeed: I need your stories.

Being a storyteller means walking an unconventional path. But the people who walk it are able to empathize with nearly anyone, anywhere, any-when, who seeks solace in stories. That is power of storytelling. That is the immortality of the writer.

What truths will you weave? What lies will you spin? What story will you write today?
How about you? What do you love about stories?
PRACTICE

Think of a really powerful memory (finding your patronus not guaranteed). Got it? Now, imagine that this memory inspired the best story that would ever be told. Where would the focus be? Would you tell it exactly as it happened? What emotions would drive it? Think about these aspects are you craft your epic tale.

Write for fifteen minutes. When you're time is up read your story aloud. You can read it to yourself or a friend-whatever you're comfortable with. After reading it aloud, what would you have changed.

Then, share your practice in the comments section. And don't forget to support your fellow writers; your support is what makes such a wonderful community possible.
Thank you for being the amazing writers you are. If you'd like to submit a great story, I'd love to share it on my podcast "Original Retellings." Simply go to orastories.com for more information and to listen to the first episode.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This guest post is by Brenton Weyi. Brenton is the creator of Orastories, a website that hosts oral storytelling by lesser known writers to bring them exposure to a wider audience. If you're wanting to share your stories with more people, this could be a great opportunity for you.

# data[].attributes.body
Every life is a story. Everyday we learn from other's story. We share passions, fears, truths, difficulties and joys through fiction and we find common ground with others so that we can interact and connect with them.

Stories explain what we share in common with others and through our differences, we learn to connect with others and we understand who they are and where we stand in our world. Moreover, we know that some of the most excellent teachers and great thinkers from various cultures have spread knowledge all along and mostly in narration this is because stories guide us transfer knowledge and morality across thousands of generations.

Stories are capable of transporting our minds to another place, and in this place, we can accept things that we would possibly scoff at in reality. This phenomenon can be seen that being used everyday on platforms as big as TED talks to speeches by world leaders. Last but not least, stories have a way of transporting us away from our realities and our mind opens up to new experiences and perceptions of other people and how they think and feel.

In a nutshell, stories will always matter, now and in the future.

Thank you for reading.

Revathy Suresh (A166169).

# data[].attributes.body
Stories matter, because they are part of life experiences that have led us at this point. Our stories speak directly from the heart, gained a better understanding of this life we’re living. The stories we tell shape our perceptions, and our perceptions of the world shape the stories we tell.

Stories are more than just a collection of dates and facts. They are experiences consists of trials and errors, and through stories we reflected and reminisces. Be it just a simple anecdote or vivid events, we learned as we go and to help us cope with challenges, big or small.

https://www.echostories.com/your-life-story-matters/

https://www.tckpublishing.com/stories-matter/

Wan Norafifah Alia (A170721)

# data[].attributes.body
Nurhazirah binti Dzulkarnain
(A177602)

In my opinion, there is a lot of morals or good advice that we can learn from other people experience or our own experience. Sometimes we never know that we are experiencing same thing that other people through in their life until they tell us about their story. Realizing it can help us to fell less alone in that situation and getting advice on how to cope with that situation. Our story may seem ordinary to ourselves but it can be extraordinary to other people in coping with their life.

Stories also can encourage people to be better in their life by looking example with people that are great in their area. For example, by listening to stories from people in medical area such as a doctor on how they struggle to achieve their dream to be a doctor will tell other that life is hard but it never be impossible. Nowadays, there are many people that give up with their life and one of the reason can be that they do not have motivation and think that everything is impossible when they cannot do it. Stories with a great example will really help them in coping their life with other people motivation.

In conclusion, stories give many benefits to people and it should be practice to be our daily activity.

Source : https://au.reachout.com/articles/the-importance-of-sharing-your-story

# data[].attributes.body
A STORY CAN TEACH US MANY THINGS

Ahmad Asraf Bin Nasaruddin (A176772)

A story is not just a story. Sometimes, it is valuable experience. It is an inspiration for us. A story can tell us many things. A story can explain the hardships of life, obstacles in life and more. By reading the stories, we will understand what kind situation was happening in story, the main problem and how it can be solved. For example, a motivational story can gave us inspiration to reach our goals.

Life is not easy. And we can't run from hardships of life, but we need to overcome it. That's how stories teach us in life.

# data[].attributes.body
As human beings, we are automatically drawn to stories because we see ourselves reflected in them. Through stories we share passions, sadness, hardships and joy. But most definitely, stories gives us hope. When we are reading fiction books, we might inspired to be as tough and admirable as the main character, we might even try to put ourselves in their shoes and start to think what is the most rational things that the main character do if she/he encounters these problems, how they will solves these issues? Without knowing we tried to see in someone else perspectives and hoping that we could actually overcome or embrace our own difficulties.

Stories are the major reasons on how we become ourselves today. Believe it or not stories have become one things that matters in our life. Stories doesn't only come in a book, stories also comes through experiences and journey. As a child we listen to our parents and grandparents stories, as they live longer than us they have more experiences, and along the way we inspired to be at least half admirable as them. We are young and juvenile but we started to have vision, dream and inspiration by listening to their stories. So when we grow up, we unconsciously share our stories to others hoping that maybe our words reach them. Maybe they take our stories as inspiration or a lesson. It can go either both ways but it's shows how impactful one story can be helpful to one or another.

Farah Nursyairah Binti Syaiful Azmil
A173468

# data[].attributes.body
Athirah Hanin binti Misbahudin
(A177632)

There are many type of stories. A real stories from real people or fiction stories. These both stories have their own value and morals that we can always get from. In my opinion, stories do matter in our life as it can help in giving ourselves some idea and hope to survive challenges. This is especially when we read a real life stories from other people that are struggling way much more things than us. That can at least give us hope and inspirations to do and be better. If they are able to face what ever they are facing, we surely can too. A glimpse of hope is all that we need.

Stories can also help us in learning something new based on others' experiences. We all have our own fears, struggles and things that we are anxious about. Stories from others can definitely help us in having less anxious about certain things that we are experiencing by reading other people's experiences which can also ease our mind a little bit. This also leads to us becoming more relax and positive in our daily life. Based on others' stories sharing, it can also help us in getting motivation to face our own struggles and difficulties.  We can also learn from other people's perspectives in facing their own struggles which can help us to see the world as a whole.

We are all struggling with different things every single day. We just have to have hope and know that the people around us are struggling as well. We might not face the same struggles, but we are struggling together. Have a little hope that what ever that we are going through shall pass. Reading stories can help us in many ways including giving us more hope in facing our struggles and difficulties in life. Life can also be a lot more positive knowing that we are getting through together.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The poet Pablo Neruda wrote, "You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming."

Even under the most challenging circumstances, we humans remain hopeful - hopeful that hard times will pass, hopeful that better times are in our future, and hopeful that our children and grandchildren will flourish in a renewed world. Hope is an elusive concept, meaning different things to different people, but, essentially, it comes down to having a sense that the future will bring better things.

Richard Miller, a professor at The Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University, has been studying hope for four decades. In an October 6th article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he argues that hope can be taught, that it is a skill that we can nurture in ourselves and in our children. And, most interesting to me, he says we can do this through recalling past events that help us understand what works and what doesn't as we plan for the future. That is, we can nurture hope through stories.

Research from The Family Narratives Lab at Emory Univerity has underscored the importance of stories, stories of self, and stories of family, in building resilience and self-esteem, and cultivating a sense of meaning and purpose in life. Essentially, nurturing hope. A new study with my colleagues, Jordan Booker and Julie Dunsmore, shows that college students who show higher levels of hope tell stories about their future challenges that are more agentic; in agentic stories, the narrator plays a proactive role in creating their own future, they are agents of change in their own lives.

For example, one young woman narrating about her disappointment about not getting into her first-choice college ended the narrative by saying, "I had to tell myself that I would be happy wherever I would end up. Life is what you make it." In turn, college students who narrate with more agency about their future challenges also show higher levels of well-being, especially of meaning and purpose in their lives. So having a sense of personal hope and telling more agentic stories is good for us. But how might we learn to tell such hopeful, agentic stories?

Wednesday morning, October 14th, I had a conversation with Karen Murphy, who works with an organization called Facing History. Their mission is to help students and educators around the world understand the complexity of our histories, to confront difficult histories, and to use this as a springboard to make choices about facing the future. We talked about the power of stories to help us do this. We talked about stories of history, stories of transformative leaders, and inspiring mentors, but also stories of those closer to home, our parents and grandparents, the people with whom we most closely identify.

When we hear stories of everyday people, people we know and love, engaging in small acts of heroism, we begin to understand that this is something we can do too. Maybe we can't change the world in one fell swoop, but we can change our own behaviors in small ways that will ripple into larger change.

During this conversation, I was reminded of stories that adolescents across many studies from The Family Narratives Lab have told me over the years; stories their parents had told them about their own childhoods. For example, 14-year-old Dave (pseudonym) told a story about his mother stepping in when one child was bullying another at the school bus stop. Dave's mother confronted the bully at some real personal risk (she got her nose broken!), but Dave understood that the story was about not letting this kind of behavior stand, and ends his story by saying how courageous his mother is as a person and how he hoped he can be like her. A similar hopeful message is told by 14-year-old Mary (also a pseudonym) who tells how her grandfather took her father to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. give a speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church when the father was quite young, and how that moment transformed her father, and he became a lifelong civil rights activist.

These are stories in which the parent made a difference, however small - they stood up to a bully, fought for civil rights, they did the moral thing - and how meaningful these stories were to the adolescent. If my mom was this brave, if my dad could do this, I can too. It is these small stories that connect adolescents to not just their family history, but a larger history, a history in which individuals make a difference and create change. These are the stories of hope that we pass down to our children, and from which they themselves learn to become hopeful.

How do we remain hopeful in the face of our current challenges? We remind ourselves of our own stories of hope, and we tell these stories to our children and grandchildren. We nurture hope, we cultivate it, and we help our children learn from our stories that they, too, have hope. When our children learn these small stories from their family they can connect to larger stories. And, then, with hope, they can change the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The poet Pablo Neruda wrote, "You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming." Even under the most challenging circumstances, we humans remain hopeful - hopeful that hard times will pass, hopeful that better times are in our future, and hopeful that our children and grandchildren will flourish in a renewed world.

# data[].attributes.body
Muhammad Huzaifah bin Shamsul Bahrain (A169973)

Stories are everywhere in our lives. Whether it being an old folks tale told by our grandparents or the fairy tales that we were always reading and amazed by when we were little, stories are told in various different forms and ways. But why do humans tell stories?

In my opinion, these stories serve a purpose in helping us shape our mindset and ultimately, our lives. A majority of the stories we heard or read when we were little contain some form of moral or lesson to be taken away from it. It could be respecting other people, cheaters never prosper and a myriad of other good values. These are the things that we could have learnt directly or even indirectly from these stories. Being exposed to these sort of stories may help us in shaping ourselves into being more considerate, more empathic and a nicer person in general.

Apart from that, there are also stories that are based on real life events and even traumatic experiences. These type of stories are also important in helping people to cope in a similar situation or to aid in the process of healing one's self. We always hear people saying that it is "good to talk about it". When we are feeling a little down, upset, anxious or depressed, sometimes it is good to sit down and just let it all out. Tell your story to a friend, a family member, someone you trust. The story of the things that make you feel the way you feel. Or you can look for a support group, go online and listen to stories of other people who had a similar experience with you. By listening to these stories, you might be able to see and understand how other people cope with their problems, which in turn could help you fight your own demons.

In conclusion, different types of stories can help us in different ways. Fiction can help us learn and be more imaginative while non-fiction can help us understand ourselves better and work on improving our lives. Whichever it is, there is bound to be something to be taken from a good story. And that is why stories matter.

Thank you.

# data[].attributes.headline
Stories have a major impact on our lives

# data[].attributes.subject
Stories have a major impact on our lives

# data[].attributes.body
From my perspective, stories teach us about life, about ourselves and about others. Storytelling is a unique way for students to develop an understanding, respect and appreciation for other cultures, and can promote a positive attitude to people from different lands, races and religions.

Why do stories matter to me? Because every voice matters. And every voice deserves to be heard. Stories have the power of exposing commonalities and connections between two complete strangers. The art of storytelling also means active listening, being fully engaged in the moment and developing curiosity in others.

Stories help me understand the world through the lens of another —a friend, a family, someone who don’t like me. Stories help us understand other people and their perspectives Stories have a way of transporting us away from our realities, and our mind opens up to new experiences and perceptions of other people and how they think and feel. They let me experience situations and emotions I wouldn’t otherwise understand. As a president of school prefect in my previous high school has taught me the power of story to unite communities of people around a common goal or mission. I remember stories so much better than rote information—stories speak to something deeper.

Through stories, we share passions, fears, sadness, hardships, and joys, and we find common ground with other people so that we can connect and communicate with them. Stories are universal, conveying meaning and purpose that help us understand ourselves better and find commonality with others.

There are so many reason why stories important to us. Stories are universal, every culture has stories to tell. These stories form the basis for how we think about the world and live our lives.  Stories also help us understand our place in the world. They create connections with others. It is through stories that we experience rich emotions and feelings of joy, sorrow, hardships, and failures. We learn about behaviors and consequences. Stories help us learn how to act wisely. Stories make us human because there are a great many lessons to be learned from stories

When we tell stories about ourselves, they also serve another important (arguably higher) function: They help us to believe our lives are meaningful. “The storytelling mind”—the human mind, in other words—”is allergic to uncertainty, randomness, and coincidence,” Gottschall writes.

Mohd Nor Amirul bin Amran (A180981)

# data[].attributes.body
Story is all about our lives. Without life itself, there are no story that we can create because the story is exists based on our life. From my exploration about this issue, stories help us to understand more about ourselves. Through stories, we can learn about behaviors and consequences beside become myself to experience rich emotions and feelings of joy, sorrow, hardship and failures. Therefore, it helps to create our own identities as we tell stories of how we think, how we feel and how we justify our decisions. Through such rich experiences, we will become mature on how to react to certain situation based on our own experiences.

Plus, stories help us to act wisely. We can understand many aspects of life through stories as it is an effective method to learn. We tend to remember and process information better when we hear or read a story because the narrator provide a deeper understanding of concepts, thoughts and ideas. Hence, we learn what is right and what is wrong, through lived experiences and stories. Stories also help us to understand other people and their perspective. When we hear a story, we step out of our reality and put ourselves in someone's else shoes, we get to experience their perspective and engage in their emotions. Therefore, we can understand their point of view as we are already living in their story for a brief moment.

To conclude, even as technology presents so many dynamic opportunities to create a new content, humans still need stories so we can make sense of the world.

Muhammad Syazwan Syazwie Bin Shamsuddin (A183912)

# data[].attributes.body
History is story, religion is story, our own inner dialogues are stories. Ultimately, stories matter because human experience is story. As human beings, we are automatically drawn to stories because we see ourselves reflected in them.

Stories engage our attention and trigger our imagination. When we hear a story, we will put ourself in someone else's shoes to undrstand from their point of view and engage in their emotions. We can't judge someone else's story just because we didn't went through it. We need to engage in their emotions, actions and decisions, it's important to learn their experience. We are a sensitive human being so we need to becareful by understanding other people perspectives.

Apart from that, stories help us understand other people and their perspectives. Whether fiction or nonfiction, reading offers a unique experience to become engrossed in the stories and life experiences of the characters in the book. Providing readers with the opportunity to connect with other worldviews.

Simply put, stories help us learn to empathize with other people as we come to understand their point of view.

Thank you.

NUR ASHIKIN BINTI NOR AZLI
(A180322)

# data[].attributes.headline
Stories can make us more empathetic and also makes us more inclusive.

# data[].attributes.subject
Stories can make us more empathetic and also makes us more inclusive.

# data[].attributes.body
In every story I have ever read, it usually starts lovely and then suddenly something bad happens. For example, a person dies, somebody just knew that they had cancer and only going to live 2 months, he/she got raped as a child and many more. Something bad will always happen in a story, what makes it interesting is that almost all of us will have the same kind of response. We'll feel sorry, we'll also feel sad, if you hadn't notice, we as the readers will have empathy towards the character. Sometimes we'll feel so empathetic, we start putting ourselves in their shoes. Some even cry after reading a book. I know I have.

Other than that, reading stories also helps us be more inclusive. According to the article Ive read, an experiment was done on students and they had to read a passage about discrimination. Almost immediately after reading, their views from immigrant to gay students changed.

Ultimately, reading stories does more good than harm and I think we all should practice reading more stories in our free time.

Source: https://buffer.com/resources/reading-fiction/

Nurul Izzah Bt Jalal (A164878)

# data[].attributes.body
Sabrina Adia binti Mohd Sharizal (A174208)

In my opinion, stories play a vital role in everyone's life. Even though different people prefer different types of genres for their preferred stories, it still instils experience and imagination in our lives. Some may claim that those elements are just an addition to our lives, some might say those elements are a waste of time, but they are utterly wrong. These elements are the spice of our lives, making us more aware of the surroundings, opening our eyes and put ourselves in other people's shoes.

Stories also helps us to train ourselves to be more empathy, I am not sure about other people but I grew up reading story books and novels and since I do not go out that much, I spent my time reading, digesting the knowledge, practicing the emotions and learn how to convey meaning in emotions and replies.

To me, stories do help us emotionally and physically.

# data[].attributes.body
Nurnadhirah binti Norazman (A175540)

In my opinion, stories play a very important role in my life. I love to read. Fiction especially. Any genre or theme of the book tells different stories.

Everyone has their own stories to tell. This makes stories universal based on what TCK Publishing mentioned. What makes a story universal is when a person from the West is telling a person from the East his story, they could share fears, joys, passion and even sadness. They even can may found something in common even they had never meet before. Interesting fact about stories it is.

Stories helps us learn how to act wisely. Everyone would have to agree on this. Human communication to understand each other better. in fact communication is key in every relationship. Most us will eventually share stories on their side of story. Some will share their journey about their ups and downs. The other side will listen attentively and will learn about it. We can learn and shape our own perspective what shall we do if we face the same hardship in the future. Later on, we'll be able to share the stories to other people for them to use the story as their inspirations.

Thank you :D

# data[].attributes.body
In my opinion, stories matter because it helps us connect with each other. It can connect people from two different lives and lifestyle. Stories tells us a lot of value and teaches us new things everytime. It tells us about what is happening aroud us whether we realized it or not. It widens our perspective towards life as we are able to read what happens in other's life aside from our own.

Stories convey a lot of important information. For example, histiry, culture, values. It is also one of the things that can unite people from all over the world, by telling stories. Usually, we are always inspired to do something new after reading a story. Stories also somethimes help others to cope with their life.
Nurain Shavika Binti Ahmad Shauffi  (A174631)

# data[].attributes.body
Muhammad Farid Amirul bin Mohd Miswan (A178400)

Based on the reading that I did, I found that story is not only used as a way of expressing feelings or act as an entertainment source but it has a more powerful impact as a medium for connection.

In the article How Family Stories Help Us Cope, a story can be implemented as a family activity to strengthen the bond and create a connection between the family members. Story sharing about the history of the family itself, highlighting the big event that includes the joyous and sorrow moments in the family timeline. This will help the children to know more about their roots and at the same time make them want to tell and express their feelings and stories as well. At this point, parents need to listen to them as they will be honest and parents should take this chance to have a better understanding of their children. The best part about this activity is it can assist the child in developing resilience and strength.

Apart from being the connector in a family institution, a story can also be effective in a community environment. In Listening to Stories: The Power of Story Circles, I am amused with an activity known as Story Circle. In this particular activity, people will be gathered in groups and given time to tell their personal stories as well as listening and responding to others. I believe that this activity will eventually nurture the concept of meaningful sharing and listening experience. By listening to stories of others that may tell about their difficulties or challenges, it can be transformed into motivation as we will admire or learn from them on how to deal with it. On the other hand, I strongly believe that experiences can be a good teacher for someone to improve themselves.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-stories-our-lives/202008/listening-stories-the-power-story-circles

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-stories-our-lives/202003/how-family-stories-help-us-cope

# data[].attributes.body
We watch movies, we share our secrets with friends, we draw, we take pictures and we do many more wonderful things. Behind all these, there must be a story. It us undeniable that everyone was born with a different story. I would say life would be much more meaningful with it. However, one must agree that not everything in life is interesting. Right? But these boring bits made us who we are today. Through stories we learn.

Besides that, I strongly believe that stories connect us. For me, stories come in many forms. Be it fiction or be it us living our life, that simply is a story too! Now, stories elicit powerful emotional responses in us. When we are immersed in stories, we are actually seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. Through this, we share our experience and from that we are able to feel. A powerful emotion which is very important in life. For example, if we read history books, we are able to understand what people at that time go through.

Next, stories also help me to cope with the challenges in life. Personally, I like reading fiction more than non – fiction. I read Asian literatures to be exact. I find it as interesting and fun when I am able to imagine myself as the main character. It helps me to tone down after a long hectic day.

Dayang Nur Anissa bt Abang Feizal
A173493

# data[].attributes.headline
Stories Is Something That Can Be Learn From.

# data[].attributes.subject
Stories Is Something That Can Be Learn From.

# data[].attributes.body
Experience is the best form of education. When we experience something good or bad, it will leave a mark in our minds especially the bad ones. When one started to tell their stories, we must take note of their experience. They are willing to tell others about their own doings and their consequences. Their stories may change our lives. Learn from their stories even for a bit may lead us to a better life.
HAZIM NAZMI BIN HISHAMUDDIN (A182098)

# data[].attributes.headline
The sequence of events in them, whether real or not, makes them relatable to us. 

# data[].attributes.subject
The sequence of events in them, whether real or not, makes them relatable to us. 

# data[].attributes.body
Unlike facts and news, stories always continue. Each word and paragraph is a journey that keep us engaged to enjoy every bit of the narrative. Stories provide us with a mixture of emotions, values and wonders. This is so that we, as the audience of the stories, can be deeply connected when the tale flows from one part to another.

We can associate this with our ever-continuing life. From a little girl to an old woman with her grandchildren, the sequence of events that happened in our life journey let us relate ourselves with the story. The different characters with varying backgrounds and challenges in every narrative will at least make us emotionally affected and looking forward in the impending future. After finishing a story, we will have a sense of completion as the story comes to its conclusion and we began to feel a combined wave of fulfilled excitement and the post-book blues, knowing that the story has ended, leaving us with imagination.

And we will sit there, either smiling or crying, unsatisfied or confused, on our bed, and wonder.

Luqman Hakim Bin Murad
A177565

# data[].attributes.body
There are many types of stories in this world. There are stories of life, stories of love, stories of family and friends, and including the story about our difficulties. Everyone had experience and will experience the trouble and obstacles of life, either an adult, adolescents, or children.
One of the saddest stories that happened in our is the loss of loved ones. There are a few of us that refuse to talk about the story and memories about them because of afraid to feel pain. Even though it can be painful, do not avoid talking about them. We need to let the stories recreate the joy, amid the loss and despair. In conclusion, do remember all of the stories, either it is a sad or a happy one. They help us to entertain ourselves and indirectly help us to reduce our pain sometimes.
FATIN FARHAH BINTI AKHMAL (A181886)

# data[].attributes.body
Ho Su Mei (A172264)

The effect of a story goes beyond the covers which hold it together. It stretches both wide and deep, transforming us both individually and as a society, emotionally, mentally, physically and even spiritually.

According to the authors, stories matter and bring about a positive influence on our ability to cope with challenges in life for a few main reasons. The first is that stories make us feel good. According to research, stories increase our levels of oxytocin – our ‘feel good’ hormone. It boosts feelings such as trust and empathy, and helps us to connect to one another, which in turn motivates our social behavior positively.

Stories also have the ability to satisfy our yearning to escape when coping with the challenge of a mundane life, through our imagination. In life, significant events often only occur after a mundane and routine period of time, unlike in stories where the uninteresting parts are left out. Through stories, we get to do or be something interesting without the risk or expense. Scientific studies have found that when listening to a well-told story, your brain reacts as if the listener is experiencing it for themselves.

Finally, stories help us to learn, speculate and discover solutions. Stories help us explore possibilities through hypothetical situations, open up new perspectives and help us choose the best solutions for those possible futures.

https://medium.com/swlh/the-science-of-storytelling-why-we-love-stories-fceb3464d4c3

https://medium.com/swlh/the-significance-and-value-of-stories-to-human-survival-53a3c7ddc819

https://shannonturlington.com/2010/06/03/why-are-stories-so-important/

# data[].attributes.headline
Why stories matter in our lives and how stories can have a positive impact on our ability to cope with challenges in life

# data[].attributes.subject
Why stories matter in our lives and how stories can have a positive impact on our ability to cope with challenges in life

# data[].attributes.body
Everyone was born with different stories. Stories that we have ever read or watch maybe related to someone's life or was adapted from someone's story. Stories are categorized by two category which are fiction and nonfiction. For me, fiction stories can keep us away from worrying something in real life. When I read something fictional, I felt like I lived in a fictional story and I able to forget all the problems that I faced at that time unconsciously. I imagined myself as a hero that can save the world. When I realize that was my fictional dream that cannot be a reality, I decided to become someone useful for others even though it may not as huge as my fiction dream, I work hard to be someone useful for society, help a lot of people and spread positivity around me and even  around the world. When I read nonfictional story, I can get a lot of  lesson from the stories. Stories can help us knowing and living our life better.  When I read or heard someone's story, I can get inspired by their stories and sometimes it became my stepping stone to reach something that I want to achieve in my life.

NUR SABRINA BINTI MOHAMAD (A179406)

# data[].attributes.headline
Sharing Stories Can Really Help Our Self To Become Positive And Release Negativity.

# data[].attributes.subject
Sharing Stories Can Really Help Our Self To Become Positive And Release Negativity.

# data[].attributes.body
Every single of human have their own story. Through stories, we can share our hardship, scared, sad and sorrow with other people that common with them. By sharing our story, we can help each other by advising through what we had experience. It also can encourage those people to become more daring and open minded to share their problem with people. Sharing stories also can remove the burden that those people who need to caring in their mind and heart. They can become more relieved that those burden has gone by sharing their problems. You will start to believe that every though moment had a happy ending. Those story can become an example to people so that they can take a positive attribute and use it in their daily life. Everyone had experience the happy and sad moment in their life. By sharing those story, it really can help people to gain some positive moment in their life that they had been through and clear their negative thought in their life.
MUHAMMAD RAZWAN FADLI BIN ROSDI (A180043)

# data[].attributes.headline
How the stories can have a positive impact on our ability to cope with the challenges in life .

# data[].attributes.subject
How the stories can have a positive impact on our ability to cope with the challenges in life .

# data[].attributes.body
The story teach that we are all learning which is that's mean we have to accept the success and failure as a part of our life's journey. We learn through experience that we can succeed and also recover from the failure at the same time.For example, when parent told their children about how they managed handle the obstacles during their teenagers life their children can learn the process of growing. It shows that, not matter how succesful we become,we have felt the failure. We must give ourselves a time to recover because being in a hurry, a lot of mistakes that we will do. Have you even heard the saying 'slowly but surely'?
SITI KAMARIAH SUJENO
A179385

# data[].attributes.headline
Why stories matter in our lives and how stories can have a positive impact on our ability to cope with challenges in life

# data[].attributes.subject
Why stories matter in our lives and how stories can have a positive impact on our ability to cope with challenges in life

# data[].attributes.body
In my opinion, Stories play the part to build our own resilience and self-esteem. Thus, leading us to know what role should we play to make the world a better place. As a human being, we always be so hopeful especially when we're facing life obstacles. Hope is an elusive thing and each of us describe it differently but still play the same concept that at the end everyone want to live happily!
Through stories, everyone can nurturing hope. Hope that convinces other to cope with their life problem and never give up. Where is a will, there is a way. Its true that life can be so cruel towards us but we can play the part to plant everyone with hope to facing it. Together...we can change the world!

Muhammad Nor Amirzudin (A181904)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The poet Pablo Neruda wrote, "You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming."

Even under the most challenging circumstances, we humans remain hopeful - hopeful that hard times will pass, hopeful that better times are in our future, and hopeful that our children and grandchildren will flourish in a renewed world. Hope is an elusive concept, meaning different things to different people, but, essentially, it comes down to having a sense that the future will bring better things.

Richard Miller, a professor at The Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University, has been studying hope for four decades. In an October 6th article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he argues that hope can be taught, that it is a skill that we can nurture in ourselves and in our children. And, most interesting to me, he says we can do this through recalling past events that help us understand what works and what doesn't as we plan for the future. That is, we can nurture hope through stories.

Research from The Family Narratives Lab at Emory Univerity has underscored the importance of stories, stories of self, and stories of family, in building resilience and self-esteem, and cultivating a sense of meaning and purpose in life. Essentially, nurturing hope. A new study with my colleagues, Jordan Booker and Julie Dunsmore, shows that college students who show higher levels of hope tell stories about their future challenges that are more agentic; in agentic stories, the narrator plays a proactive role in creating their own future, they are agents of change in their own lives.

For example, one young woman narrating about her disappointment about not getting into her first-choice college ended the narrative by saying, "I had to tell myself that I would be happy wherever I would end up. Life is what you make it." In turn, college students who narrate with more agency about their future challenges also show higher levels of well-being, especially of meaning and purpose in their lives. So having a sense of personal hope and telling more agentic stories is good for us. But how might we learn to tell such hopeful, agentic stories?

Wednesday morning, October 14th, I had a conversation with Karen Murphy, who works with an organization called Facing History. Their mission is to help students and educators around the world understand the complexity of our histories, to confront difficult histories, and to use this as a springboard to make choices about facing the future. We talked about the power of stories to help us do this. We talked about stories of history, stories of transformative leaders, and inspiring mentors, but also stories of those closer to home, our parents and grandparents, the people with whom we most closely identify.

When we hear stories of everyday people, people we know and love, engaging in small acts of heroism, we begin to understand that this is something we can do too. Maybe we can't change the world in one fell swoop, but we can change our own behaviors in small ways that will ripple into larger change.

During this conversation, I was reminded of stories that adolescents across many studies from The Family Narratives Lab have told me over the years; stories their parents had told them about their own childhoods. For example, 14-year-old Dave (pseudonym) told a story about his mother stepping in when one child was bullying another at the school bus stop. Dave's mother confronted the bully at some real personal risk (she got her nose broken!), but Dave understood that the story was about not letting this kind of behavior stand, and ends his story by saying how courageous his mother is as a person and how he hoped he can be like her. A similar hopeful message is told by 14-year-old Mary (also a pseudonym) who tells how her grandfather took her father to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. give a speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church when the father was quite young, and how that moment transformed her father, and he became a lifelong civil rights activist.

These are stories in which the parent made a difference, however small - they stood up to a bully, fought for civil rights, they did the moral thing - and how meaningful these stories were to the adolescent. If my mom was this brave, if my dad could do this, I can too. It is these small stories that connect adolescents to not just their family history, but a larger history, a history in which individuals make a difference and create change. These are the stories of hope that we pass down to our children, and from which they themselves learn to become hopeful.

How do we remain hopeful in the face of our current challenges? We remind ourselves of our own stories of hope, and we tell these stories to our children and grandchildren. We nurture hope, we cultivate it, and we help our children learn from our stories that they, too, have hope. When our children learn these small stories from their family they can connect to larger stories. And, then, with hope, they can change the world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The poet Pablo Neruda wrote, "You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming." Even under the most challenging circumstances, we humans remain hopeful - hopeful that hard times will pass, hopeful that better times are in our future, and hopeful that our children and grandchildren will flourish in a renewed world.

# data[].attributes.headline
Stories help us with personal realities.

# data[].attributes.subject
Stories help us with personal realities.

# data[].attributes.body
Based on American Museum Writers blog ( https://americanwritersmuseum.org/why-do-stories-matter/ ) , stories is more than just an escapism, from reality. It is also deeper than things we do in our leisure times. If we go through to a life context, stories help us on our personal realities. The writer told that if we reread the same stories over and over again, we will came to realize that the story certainly change us. And that is why it is important for us to go back to the same story because it somehow, change our perspective in life. As we grow older, we will face various of challenges and obstacles but the stories we have read or heard surely make us better on handling things. Because those stories we read came with values and morals for us to practice.                                                                      Warda binti Faisal (A170763)

# data[].attributes.body
“Stories make us human. There are a great many lessons to be learned from stories.”

The author stated that the human brain is hard-wired to communicate through stories in which it helps us to understand the various aspects of life - including social norms. Our perspectives on morality are shaped not only through lived experiences but through stories as well.

The author further explained that humans remember and process information better through a story because narratives have the ability to reach deep into our psyche. This leads to a deeper understanding of concepts, thoughts, and ideas. Therefore, stories have been used to pass on knowledge for centuries because we tend to remember the underlying emotions in a story rather than the actual elements of that story. Stories teach us good from bad through the cause and effect of an action. It helps us to choose a wiser decision in social situations and also on a personal level.

Shamita A/P Chantherasarathy Naido (A158237)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When you tell a story, you spark a connection.

That is how humans have communicated since the beginning of time -by telling stories.

Stories have been told since even before humans learned to read and write.

Everyday events became stories to tell children, scribes and priests told stories of religious affairs, and leaders told heroic tales of their adventures.

These stories have passed on through generations: some of them fill up history books, some are integral to culture, and some are embedded in family values.

Why Are Stories Important?

Stories are central to human cognition and communication. We engage with others through stories, and storytelling is a lot more than just a recitation of facts and events.

As human beings, we are automatically drawn to stories because we see ourselves reflected in them.

We inevitably interpret the meaning in stories and understand ourselves better.

But we now live in the fast-paced information age, where information, concepts, and ideas continuously bombard us from every direction. Do stories really matter to us anymore?

Here are six reasons why stories have mattered and will continue to be essential to human existence.

Stories are universal

Every culture has stories to tell. These stories form the basis for how we think about the world and live our lives.

Stories preserve culture and pass on cultural knowledge from one generation to another. In essence, stories keep cultures alive.

Stories provide a timeless link to ancient traditions, legends, myths, and archetypes.

But they also connect us to universal truths about ourselves and our world.

Through stories, we share passions, fears, sadness, hardships, and joys, and we find common ground with other people so that we can connect and communicate with them.

Stories are universal, conveying meaning and purpose that help us understand ourselves better and find commonality with others.

Stories help us understand our place in the world

Stories transcend generations. They create connections with others. It is through stories that we experience rich emotions and feelings of joy, sorrow, hardships, and failures. We learn about behaviors and consequences.

Stories show us what we have in common with others, and we learn to engage with others in spite of our differences as we come to understand who they are and where we stand in this world.

Stories give us the opportunity to experience narratives in our imagination as if they were real, and feel raw emotion even though the reality of our experience is only in listening to the story.

Your brain experiences imagined narratives as if they were real. There is little difference between how our brain processes information when we read or hear stories and when we experience reality. To our brain, it's all the same.

Stories help us create our identities as we tell stories of how we think, what we feel, and how we justify our decisions.

Through such rich experiences, we come to understand our unique perspective and our place in the world.

Stories help us learn how to act wisely

Stories make us human. There are a great many lessons to be learned from stories.

The human brain is hard-wired to communicate through stories. And through stories, we understand many aspects of life including social norms-that's how we learn what is right and what is wrong, through lived experiences and stories.

Stories make learning effective, and that is why children engage so well with storytelling. Kids can't wait to hear a good story because they're naturally curious and want to learn more about the world.

We tend to remember and process information better when we hear or read a story because narratives reach deep into our psyche and provide a deeper understanding of concepts, thoughts, and ideas.

For centuries, stories have been used to pass on knowledge, and when important teachings are embedded in a story, we embrace that information uniquely because we tend to remember the underlying emotions in a story rather than the actual elements of that story.

When a story moves us, we are motivated to take action. And persuasion becomes unnecessary.

In its purest form, stories teach us good from bad, and how to act wisely with others in social situations and on a personal level, while we also learn about the consequences of not doing so.

Stories help shape our perspective of the world

Everyone has a story to tell. You have yours, and if you pay close attention to your story, you will realize that your stories are collections of your experiences.

It is your perspective that shapes the meaning of your stories.

In the same way, when you hear stories, you come to realize that you share the same fundamental experiences as others, and yet your experiences differ from each other because everyone has a different perspective.

Stories help us explain everything in our experience from science to relationships, from feelings to memories, and from questions to objections.

And with every story we hear, read, or listen, our mind makes cognitive and emotional connections that shape our perspective of the world.

The stories you tell shape your perception of the world, and your perception of the world shapes the stories you tell.

Stories help us understand other people and their perspectives

Have you noticed how you are drawn to someone when they tell their story? Or how people around you are attentive when you share a story about your own life?

Stories have a way of transporting us away from our realities, and our mind opens up to new experiences and perceptions of other people and how they think and feel. You'll bore most people with a presentation about financial numbers, but just about any room of people will be captivated by a decent story told well.

Stories engage our attention and trigger our imagination. When you hear a story, you step out of your reality and place yourself in someone else's shoes, and you get to experience their perspective and engage in their emotions, actions, and decisions. When you listen to a story of someone else's life, it's as if you're living their story for those brief moments, and that experience allows you to learn from other people's experiences.

Simply put, stories help you learn to empathize with other people as you come to understand their point of view.

In fact, research shows that reading makes you more empathetic.

Stories pass down knowledge and morals

We know that some of the most exceptional teachers and luminaries from different cultures have passed on wisdom throughout time, and they have done so primarily through stories. If you look at some of the most influential religious books or manuscripts of all time, you'll notice they're mostly "just" filled with stories. That's because stories help us transfer knowledge and morals across thousands of generations. You might not recognize the words in the original writings of the bible, but you'll certainly be able to empathize with characters like Joseph or Sarah if you read their stories.

If you want to transfer knowledge across many generations, the way to do so before the internet was to tell stories. And, even today, stories tend to win more attention than simple presentations.

Parables contain morals, which are basically patterns of behavior that work well in society and are passed on from one generation to another. This is incredibly valuable information, because if you don't behave appropriately, you'll become a social outcast, and that means you'll lead a much less fulfilling and successful life.

If you're already reasonably successful in life, then you have stories to thank for it, because that's how you learned much of what you know, and that's how your parents and ancestors learned too.

And because stories play such a foundational role in our culture and behavior, we will continue to pass on this knowledge to future generations through stories-whether new or old ones.

Why Stories Matter

Even as technology presents so many dynamic opportunities to create new content, humans will still crave stories so we can make sense of the world. The more information we create, the more valuable stories become, because without them we lose perspective on what matters. And in a world with more information than ever, it's harder and harder to discern which information truly matters.

Stories help us solve that problem.

If you want to know how to solve a specific problem, you'll need information, and you can get it from many sources and in many ways.

But if you want to know how to live well, you'll need stories. And there's no substitute for that other than living your own story, making mistakes, and learning as you go.

Stories will always matter, now and in the future.
So let us know, how have stories impacted your life? What's your favorite story?
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Stories Matter: Why Stories Are Important to Our Lives and Culture - TCK Publishing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When you tell a story, you spark a connection. That is how humans have communicated since the beginning of time -by telling stories. Stories have been told since even before humans learned to read and write. Everyday events became stories to tell children, scribes and priests told stories of religious affairs, and leaders told heroic tales of their adventures.

# data[].attributes.headline
Sharing stories can help motivate others. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Sharing stories can help motivate others. 

# data[].attributes.body
Stories can be very healing and many people benefit from getting the opportunity to pass on their wisdom to others. I find inspiration in reading other people’s stories and find them motivating to face challenges that I might have at that particular time. I can recall the pain I felt in particular stages of my life. I have gone over and over the “why did it happen to me?”. I have felt I would never get over the negative words spoken over my life. But when I read blog posts, books or stories, I realized that there are many out there just like me. There was a person out there who likely has a similar diagnosis or a similar life situation with me. The way they woke up from the challenges really inspired me a lot.  So from that, I know that if they can do this surely I can go ahead as well.

Nurul Najwa Binti Yusri (A175528)

# data[].attributes.headline
Stories help us understand other people and their perspectives. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Stories help us understand other people and their perspectives. 

# data[].attributes.body
Stories engage our attention and trigger our imagination. When we hear a story, we step out of our reality and place ourselves in someone else’s shoes, and we get to experience their perspective and engage in their emotions, actions, and decisions. When we listen to a story of someone else’s life, it’s as if we’re living their story for those brief moments, and that experience allows us to learn from other people’s experiences. In conclusion, stories help us learn to empathize with other people as we come to understand their point of view.
Stories help us to overcome life challenges.There are a great many lessons to be learned from stories.  If we read stories about the hardships experienced by others, we can indirectly learn new things. If we are faced with the same problem as the story, we can follow the writer’s way of overcoming their problem. In a purest way, stories help us to make a wise decision to overcome our lives challenges.
Nur Nayli Batrisyia (A182053)

# data[].attributes.body
Apart from keeping us entertained, stories also teach us to survive in life. The research from the Family Narratives Lab at Emory University highlighted that stories are crucial in building resilience and self-esteem, and cultivate a sense of meaning and purpose in life. That's why stories are matter in our life. It is a lie if we said that we never go through challenges in our lives because everyone has their struggles to achieve their goals. Believe it or not, stories may help us to go through challenges and obstacles in our life. It is because, from stories that we read or listen from someone else, we can get to know what their struggles and how they overcome it. Then, we can take it as an example and apply it in our daily life. It may be not giving us the total solution but it definitely gives us the strength to face our problems and encourage us to overcome it. Like how Robyn Fivush highlighted in her article "Why we need stories more than ever?", stories are powerful reminders that we will persevere.  It is because no matter what stories we read or heard, all of them are powerful. Stories help us make sense of our lives, give us confidence that we can survive and resolve our lives, and also help us to design a better future. In a nutshell, let's keep sharing stories with others.

SITI NURSYASYA AINA BINTI MOHAMED YUSOF (A182967)