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‘what we are born with is what worked best for the last 50,000 human generations’ (Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence , p5)   In Emotional Intelligence Goleman discusses what happens when ‘passions overwhelm reason.’ Our reactions to the world around us have evolved over time. These ‘automatic reactions’ are extremely important in dangerous situations. Reactions that don’t always make logical sense, such as the two parents that gave up their lives to rescue their daughter in a train crash; but it could be argued biological and emotional sense. They saved her to protect their genes, as Dawkins might say, and the way this decision was reached was through love. Goleman called emotions ‘impulses to act’, determined by biological and cultural acts: unconsciously when you feel tenderness or love towards a person the body undergoes a relaxation response ‘a general state of calm and contentment’; and how we display this emotion is also determined by our culture. In this...

Here is a link to my ebook:- Temptation and Mozarella published by Thistleinthekiss (Edinburgh).

‘We carry with us every story we have ever heard and every story we have ever lived, filed away at some deep place in our memory. We carry most of those stories unread, as it were, until we have grown the capacity or the readiness to read them. When that happens they may come back to us filled with unexpected meaning.’ (Rachel Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom , xli) Remen’s words touch on the idea of an ‘inner library’ which is expressed in Arthur W. Frank’s book, Letting Stories Breathe a Socio-narratology . They articulate a similar notion, that we may carry the kernel of a story with us for a long time until something triggers its memory and in doing so uncovers new meaning. When the right conditions prevent themselves old ideas we have carried with us but never really understood, acknowledged, or accepted, take root; blossoming into a new series of neural networks that can forever altar the idea of who we are. Story and the human brain have grown together over a long time. In our ...

I am already lucky to be doing research in such an interesting subject area bringing a variety of disciplines together. The real bonus are the nice folk you come across who are equally passionate about storytelling too.   I am extremely grateful to the Society for Storytelling for providing me with a letter of support to aid my fundraising (see copy below). Youngminds for expressing an interest in my work. And the Adam Smith Institute for donating £250 towards my PhD. I had a meeting today with Professor Mike Wilson , University College Falmouth. His current research focuses on digital storytelling. He did some previous work on oral narrative and adolescents. More information to follow in a future blog! That's all for now. If you would like to support my work, or have any questions, please get in touch.   Society for Storytelling The Morgan Library Aston Street Wem SY4 5AU   09 Au...

‘It is a false question whether to repress or not to repress aggression. Since aggression is an indispensable ingredient of human makeup, we have to use it, to develop it into a valuable instrument for the management of our lives.’ (Laura Perls, Living at the Boundary , p43) Although the quote above focuses on aggression another emotion could be substituted in its place. Our current frame of mind works on the forces of motivation behind our actions (suppressed or not). Perls’ chapter on ‘How to Educate Children for Peace’ raises some interesting ideas. I don’t agree with all of them. For example Perls discusses how the suppression of aggression could lead to intellectual inhibition with negative effects on critical thinking. She argues that by supressing children we are teaching them to surrender their insight and will to others. Her arguement is centered on extreme situations. I believe that there is a danger of suppression in an environment where home, school, society all act ...

‘We may ask what is truth in the face of centuries of retelling? The answer lies with experience: as long as a tale is told, it has meaning (truth), will evoke response and can be understood.’ (Alida Gersie and Nancy King. Storymakingin Education and Therapy , p29) I’ve had to change methods a few times this week as NVivo is not as user friendly, or flexible, as I’d hoped. Coding is complicated. And have you ever noticed how highly complicated emotions are? I have become emersed in lines of text, gone in the wrong direction, realised things weren’t working, and reined myself in to ask, what am I looking for exactly? How can I make this project more specific and manageable? I’ve also been reading up on emotional intelligence (EI). EI has been defined by D. Goleman as ‘Being able to motivate one-self and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one’s moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empath...

I can now confirm my guest blog for Youngminds is active via the following link: http://www.youngminds.org.uk/news/blog/979_mental_health_and_story_telling They asked me to write about the inspiration that got me interested in a PhD linked to mental health.