How Stories Shape Belonging
The Science of Happiness
PRX and Greater Good Science Center
4.5 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2026
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Learn how the stories we tell and hear shape our relationships, values, and sense of belonging.
Summary: Storytelling is more than entertainment. It shapes how we think, feel, and relate to others. In this episode of The Science of Happiness, we dive into how immersive narratives calm stress, inspire reflection, and foster compassion across differences. We also explore how stories of resilience, joy, and tradition leave lasting impressions that influence our relationships and sense of self.
How To Do This Practice:
- Choose a meaningful story: Bring to mind a personal memory, family tradition, or moment that carries emotion, care, or learning.
- Settle the body first: Take a few slow breaths and notice your posture, helping your nervous system feel steady and present.
- Recall sensory details: Gently remember what you saw, heard, smelled, or felt in the moment, letting the story come alive without forcing it.
- Notice what matters: As the story unfolds, pay attention to themes of connection, care, resilience, or joy that stand out to you.
- Reflect on its meaning: Ask yourself what this story has shaped in you—how it influences your values, relationships, or sense of belonging.
- Share or carry it forward: If it feels right, share the story with someone you trust, write it down, or hold it quietly as a reminder of connection and continuity.
Scroll down for a transcription of this episode.
Today’s Guests:
SAFA SULEIMAN is an elementary school teacher and author of the new children’s book Hilwa’s Gifts.
Learn more about Safa here: https://www.safasuleiman.com/
MELANIE GREEN is a social psychologist at the University at Buffalo who has published widely on narrative persuasion and the power of storytelling.
See more on Melanie’s work here: https://tinyurl.com/e5fd8bu5
Related The Science of Happiness episodes:
How Thinking About Your Ancestors Can Help You Thrive: https://tinyurl.com/4u6vzs2w
Are You Following Your Inner Compass: https://tinyurl.com/y2bh8vvj
How To Show Up For Yourself: https://tinyurl.com/56ktb9xc
Related Happiness Breaks:
A Meditation on Love and Interconnectedness: https://tinyurl.com/ye6baxv3
Our Deep Interconnectedness: https://tinyurl.com/jthxkpjd
Pause to Look at the Sky: https://tinyurl.com/4jttkbw3
Tell us about your experience with this practice. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or follow on Instagram @HappinessPod.
Help us share The Science of Happiness! Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap
Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/2tkvdyr8
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In 2002, I attended my brother's wedding. |
| 0:05.0 | It was a beautiful event full of love, wonderful food, |
| 0:10.0 | loss of dancing, and the olive harvest coincided with my brother's wedding. |
| 0:16.0 | And I had never experienced the olive harvest before ever. |
| 0:21.6 | After the wedding, my grandmother and my cousins and my siblings, |
| 0:27.6 | we all gathered around and harvested the trees in front of our family's home. |
| 0:33.6 | And so we were fishing out the leaves, we were sitting around chatting, we were dragging |
| 0:39.1 | tarps full of olives that were plopping down. |
| 0:42.8 | My grandmother, she would sing songs, we would share our stories, we would talk about our |
| 0:48.5 | lives sitting around these large tarps of olives that are for the olive press. |
| 0:55.0 | She taught us what it means to be a good steward to the land. |
| 1:00.0 | She's the one who showed us how to make sure that they don't get crushed on the way, |
| 1:05.0 | you know, as we put them in buckets to be delicate and gentle and tender |
| 1:10.0 | with all the olives that we were preparing for the olive press. |
| 1:13.6 | And I can remember just having this communal collectivist experience |
| 1:20.6 | that left such an indelible mark on me |
| 1:24.6 | because we don't hear much about the love and the joy that comes through something |
| 1:29.1 | so sacred as the olive artist in Palestine. |
| 1:33.3 | It wasn't until I had children of my own that I started writing the story, Heloise Gifts. |
| 1:40.3 | So the idea for it was deep inside of me for over 20 years. |
| 1:45.0 | Welcome to the Science of Happiness. I'm Shuka Kalantari. |
| 1:56.0 | Today we're talking about storytelling, how it affects our minds and our relationships. |
... |
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