The Story of the Story Teller

“A lie gets halfway around the world before truth has a chance to get its pants on” —Winston Churchill

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a story teller. Give me a subject and within seconds, my brain sorts through my memory banks and comes up with a story about it. I’ve always attributed that ability with the creativity of the right side of my brain.

So imagine my surprise when I recently read that a primary function of the left side of the brain is to be the “interpreter” of memories, experiences, and actions. The left brain “interpreter” tries to explain things by linking new information with what was known before.

As it turns out, the left brain is a very chatty “story teller,” taking whatever details it has (that car just cut me off in traffic), filling in the blanks with memories/beliefs (that guy is a jerk and thinks he’s entitled to be in front of me), and weaving everything together in a believable “explanation” (people are terrible, rude drivers who don’t care whether they cause accidents, blah, blah, blah).

Granted, the left brain’s purpose is to help me make sense of the world around me, but because it’s only concerned with cohesion, not accuracy, it can be very misleading in the story line it creates. In fact, Michael Gazzaniga, a cognitive neuroscientist, says the left brain will do anything to hold the story together, including adding things that didn’t actually happen.

Today, using the DBT skills of “observe” and “describe,” I noticed some of the “stories” my left brain was telling me. I quickly realized that most of these “stories” had a judgmental theme, a worrying plot line, and a lot of “what if” scenarios.  And, in many cases, not very much of the story my left brain was telling me was really happening.

The left brain was just doing its job, of course. And I do love a good story as much as the next person. But I’ve decided many of my left brain’s stories are a lot like the yarns my late Aunt Millie could spin: full of cliff-hangers, wild adventures, and, as I eventually came to realize, an awful lot of hooey. From here on in, I’ll make a greater effort to stick to the facts, except when I’m intentionally telling a tall tale, that is.