Episode Details

In this week’s episode, Amrit interviews Josh Gryniewicz, a storyteller, storytelling consultant and writer. He is founder of Odd Duck LLC., a boutique storytelling for social change communication firm, that works with nonprofits, NGOs, social impact start-ups, and issue-based documentaries to help them shape their narrative.

Josh Gryniewicz is co-host of the beautiful Story Matters podcast. This podcast is about why story actually does matter. It focuses on the use of story for social change and the power of narrative to shape culture, especially during times of crisis. 

We are going through climate change and social challenges that are threatening our democracy and safety. We are also in the middle of a global pandemic. But Josh and Story Matters give hope. This podcast uses the power of imagination conveyed by narrative to overcome all the adversity and sad things that we are facing in this world. 

“We need to think more broadly and that means a call for radical imagination and changing the narrative of everything that brought us to this point”

“Narrative gives us the structure to reimagine what's possible and see solutions”

Story Matters brings the storytelling campfire experience right to you! If you would like to listen to it, please go to: https://www.storymatters.site/

Josh and Amrit dive deep into the heart of “story”. 

They share an entertaining and fascinating conversation about the depths and history of “story”, and what it means to be living your story. Josh is a storyteller above all and covers more than 45000 years of evolutionary storytelling history. Amrit is wisdom hungry and completely fascinated about storytelling ever since he can talk. They both turn this episode into a moment of bliss.

Amrit makes reference to experts in psychology, mythology, unified physics, religion, literature, philosophy, neuroscience and human cultural evolution amongst others to explore his point. 

He believes that wisdom, especially in his country, was passed on to later generations through the ability of storytelling, and we have lost some of that art because of the need of writing and not being able to transmit stories verbally. He sees clearly how much story informs us as human beings and our story and narrative. We are connected to our story and our story informs our presence; the way we live is through our character and the character is in our story. 

Josh believes a lot of storytelling is a learning tool but going back to the aboriginal origins, he remarks that it was used for a cooperative purpose. In regards to written word as opposed to the oral traditions, he affirms that when you start recording a series of events in a factual and detailed way all it does is reinforce the protagonist models making us follow somebody through a narrative from beginning to end.This isolates us and takes us away from the collective model where we are all together getting bits of that story and sharing that space.

When Josh is training, he talks a lot about Joseph Campbell’s “Hero Myth”, a common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed. And also refers to his favourite and beautiful concept of “Sonder”, the realization that each random passer-by is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. Josh embodies and strongly believes that every single one of us has an informed rich inner life, we all have our own experiences, and we are all protagonists in our own stories. Everybody is in a story with their own story and collectively trying to bring all those stories together.

Sharing story can heal you. Josh has witnessed it at first hand and states that healing is about looking at your trauma through your lense and taki