Mariella Gattini

After a hectic day in the mean streets of the big city, I go back home, wash my hands, prepare something to eat, and after being satiated, I pour some sparkling water in a glass and I take it with me to my favorite chair. I sit back and read or watch something inspiring that reminds me of the good in us, which always prevails, despite all the obstacles, bad-intentions, and even bad-manners received. That piece of storytelling calms me down, invites me to focus on what matters the most, and makes me want to do the same for others. Once I calm down, I close my eyes, and not only think, I can also feel the warmth that those thoughts coming from other artists cause in me. My imagination flies high and takes me with it, toward the most unreachable places in my brain, where something worn and withered is reborn by the magic touch of someone else’s mind.

There was once a little girl with big dreams, bigger than her eyes, bigger than her heart, who found in books, films, and plays everything she needed to have a joyful life, because in storytelling we can find who we truly are, not the way we look or the way we are perceived, but who we really are deep down in all our goodness and fearlessness, since we are protected by our own connection with others, those open to showing their true selves.

For this to work, we need stories that can redeem us somehow, that can make us realize that there is a mean-spirited world out there of blind, hostile ambitions that seem unlimited and overpowering at times. Nevertheless, they can be offset by retreating from that world, only to find out that we’re not the only ones having to face such world, and that there are a myriad of ways to deal with its hostility, because there are others, in other worlds, who know how it is done and who, somehow, leave in us important emotional lessons to enjoy and to put into practice.

You can learn how to deal with your emotions through a storytelling that is witty and rich in its different levels of depth. The stories that help the most are the honest ones, where every scene is sincere, recognizes the evil in this world, and does something about it. The ending is not necessarily a bed of light-pink, aromatic rose petals, but it always leaves us wanting more of that piece of humanity that we just witnessed; a perfectly possible one.

Storytelling is not the writing of words, one after the other, storytelling is reality, even the most fictionalized one. It shows us who we are, and most important, who we can be. And because it is easy to allow the harsh reality that surrounds us to take over, and even make us succumb to its heartless nature, it’s that we invented storytelling, since the beginning of our time, since we discovered we had a past, a present, and a future.

Storytelling helps us realize that there are higher points to look at in ourselves and in others, that not everything has been said yet, that there is so much more out there and in here between us right now, something that reveals itself by the minute and is capable of developing our potential to finally even satiate that thirst for more.

This is not the telling of lies and it is not a way to evade the world. Good storytelling helps us deal with reality, even the most brutal one. It acknowledges it, calms us down, and shows us that everything is surmountable and possible, because we can count on us, as a community, to deal with the worst of humanity. Where do we find this extraordinary storytelling, you might be asking yourself. Look, it’s all around. Get rid of the garbage in your feed that only is making you sick, and connect with stories that help you, inspire you, and make you want to reach your higher level of development. You’ll be better prepared emotionally to go back to those mean streets of yours tomorrow.

This little girl made her dreams come true, and became a woman, who has her eyes, ears, and mind open to the world as harsh and detestable as it can be, because she knows she will find allies out there, who think for a living and always are up to something, something really good. They inspire her to the point of feeling happy to be alive and enjoy the life she has, as limited as it can be. Storytelling pushes her to be on the alert for more artists to discover, for other worlds to enter her life, and to create her own stories that then go back to where they came from, because storytelling is unifying and rich in depth and humanity, where joy lives.

That little girl would be happy to know that she made it, as she so very much dreamt. She is on the other side now, safe and sound, and the grownup she so very much was looking forward to become. That little girl is not longer among us, but she left behind this resilient, stubborn, joyful woman, who inherited a love for storytelling from her ancestors, not longer among us, but very much alive in her.

Sometimes, I eat something sweet while watching a good story, then I sit back, rest my head on a pillow, and connect with others at the most intimate level, where our common goodness resides, and where we are mutually protected by this community that thinks for a living, creates something new every single day, and is able to allow comfort and happiness to sneak in.

In complete calm, I close my eyes again, and feel the warmth that others’ thoughts left in me. I can still feel them in the depths of my consciousness. Those hard to reach places in my mind are blooming again to make everything fall into place once more.