If this was your last moment, what story will you leave behind?

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Have you ever stopped to consider what story you would want to share if you knew that this was your last moment?

We most often think about this from the concept of dying, “If I knew I would never see them again, I would have done this or said that”. But there are actually so many lasts and endings in our lives, and they happen daily.

Imagine if we actually knew each of our daily “lasts” — a last kiss, the last time at a family cottage, or even the last time you were going to ride a bus.

If you knew that something was ending and it was “your last”, what would you do it differently??

Would you savour it more? Would you be more present? How much more would you notice about every detail around you? Would you take more note of every smell, sound, and sight around you?

Every day we have endings that go by without notice, but what can continue long after the experience however is the story of it.?

We might mourn the last summer at a family cottage, but the wistful memories on the dock will stay strong in your heart years after. That is what makes stories so special, they help us connect with each other’s hearts and even with their brains.

What you're really doing when you tell stories is handing them off. You're setting them free in the world, letting them fly and do something else, become something else. Stories are vessels that hold ideas and emotions, and they are meant to be passed along, shared, and continued.

So, let’s say I've chosen a specific story that I am going to share in a talk, a presentation, a conversation, that story, as I finish, still continues - because as soon as I've given it to you. The idea now lives in your mind and you're now continuing that story. It may have been my story, but you're going to take it and do something with it.

We connect to stories because the emotional language in stories stimulates the sensory cortexes of the brain. When you are telling a story, the listener follows along with you, they feel everything you are feeling - this is called neural coupling, which essentially means the two hemispheres of the brain begin activating each other across hemispheres, creating associations for the brain.

Even though you are the one telling them your own story, the feelings and ideas in stories tend to be universal. They may not have lived your story, but they’ve lived something similar, and suddenly, as they listen their brain begins remembering a time when they felt that way. Your audience begins to mirror their emotions to yours, so when you feel it, they do too.

When humans share an experience, even through the story, there is a dopamine release in the brain. Dopamine is the pleasure hormone in our brain, we feel good about having this experience in our brain, and all this cortical activity creates the associations within the brain that retain the information you just received.

Sharing stories is one of the things that I really love about this work. Whether it’s speaking on a stage, working with my clients, or even talking to you now.

I’m going to tell you the story that has meaning in it for me, and you're going to tell me what it meant for you. We're going to have this conversation and in that conversation, we're going to get a new understanding. Then you're going to go away and maybe you'll tell somebody else about that story and I'll do the same. Together, we've created a new understanding, a new dynamic. What we're doing is we're starting to create a network of understanding through that story.

What story will you share next that could live forever??

Are you ready to take make a bigger impact and share your ideas with the world?

If you're ready to learn how to use your unique voice and perspective to share your message and make a meaningful impact on the world, consider joining the movement for diverse thought leadership today.?Sign up for The Thought Leader Academy program ?and start unlocking your potential as a thought leader who can make a real impact.