Like Water is for Fish

Garth Japhet

Description

‘An inspiring read that shows how stories and storytelling can change lives.’ – LILLIAN DUBE

The Soul City and Soul Buddyz series are memorable for the way in which they integrated health topics into compelling storylines on TV, radio and in print, creating stories so popular that they entertained and informed millions of people. And the Heartlines’ ‘What’s Your Story?’ programme and films such as Beyond the River, continue to provide witness to the transformative power of story.

As a young boy, Garth Japhet found his life radically shaped by the Jungle Doctor series of books. The stories so enthralled him that, against all advice, he set his heart on medicine. He could see his future – with a backdrop of savannas, golden sunsets, adventure and accolades – as a romantic figure, a healer, a hero.

This fantasy sustained Garth through the challenges of medical training, but finally he arrived. He was Dr Japhet, living the dream. Except the dream was a nightmare. The reality of medicine was not the life he had hoped for. There were times when he cursed the power of the story that had so completely messed up his life. Having struggled with anxiety most of his life, he was catapulted into a deep depression.

And then it happened. Garth stumbled upon the healing power of story – fictional, factual and his own. What magic was at work here? If stories had changed him, could he use story to change others? This question set him on the journey described in Like Water is for Fish; a journey that led to Garth co-founding Soul City and Heartlines, and to an understanding that story, in its multiple forms, is as essential for our lives as water is for fish.

When you share your story with others and they share theirs with you, barriers break down, hardened attitudes shift, and healing begins.

Sujets

• Personal Memoirs
• Philosophie et théologie
• Memoir

Informations

• Publié par: Pan Macmillan South Africa
• Date de parution: 19 janvier 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781770106451
• Langue: English

Extrait

PRAISE FOR LIKE WATER IS FOR FISH
‘It has been a real privilege to be associated with this book. Especially because very few people see the need to honour and celebrate stories. Many will tell you they do not have a story to tell. But without stories it would be like travelling naked through life. Indeed, we need our stories like fish need water. Thank you, Garth, for this reawakening. We will happily travel with you to the magic story island.’
– GCINA MHLOPHE
‘Garth Japhet has a story worth listening to – as we all do.’
– ZAPIRO
‘Garth Japhet believes in the power of story to change the world. His story shows you why, and invites us all to join his vision of a society transformed and living out its values. This book will inspire you to be a part of making this dream a reality. Highly recommended.’
– GRAEME CODRINGTON
‘This beautifully and sensitively written book, exhibiting marvellous powers of description, will help you discover the power and significance of your own story and show you how to help others find theirs.’
– MICHAEL CASSIDY

‘This book is Garth Japhet’s invitation to dismantle some of your assumptions and to set down burdens of prejudice because his story looks more like yours and mine than you realise, and that’s the point really.’
– UFRIEDA HO
‘This is a beautiful, powerful book. It showed me how little I really know a friend I thought I knew. From now on, no more assumptions or judgements, just grace and understanding towards every person who crosses my path.’
– MICHAEL MOL
‘This book is a powerful, poignant and ultimately humble call to courage – courage to ask and then to listen to the stories of those around us. With a golden thread of empathy, Garth weaves vulnerable and brave storytelling together with a challenge to each one of us to harness the incredible power of story to affect change in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.’
– DEBORAH KIRSTEN


Like Water is FOR Fish


‘Story is for a human as water is for a fish – all encompassing and not quite palpable.’
– JONATHAN GOTTSCHALL, author of The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human


Like Water is FOR Fish
The Power of Story in our Lives
Garth Japhet
MACMILLAN


First published in 2021
by Pan Macmillan South Africa
Private Bag X19
Northlands
Johannesburg
2116
South Africa
www.panmacmillan.co.za
ISBN 978-1-77010-644-4
E-ISBN 978-1-77010-645-1
© Garth Japhet 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Editing by Alison Lowry
Proofreading by Sally Hines
Design and typesetting by Nyx Design
Cover design by publicide


To my wife Jayne – my love story.
To my children Rebecca and Leigh – whose stories are just beginning …
To my dad – I wish I had asked you for your story while I had a chance.
To my mum – I’m glad I got to hear your story.
To my siblings Dee, Miles and Xan, whose lives and families are part of my story.
To my Soul City, Heartlines and forgood colleagues, without whom there wouldn’t be much of a story to tell.
To all the people I have interviewed – thank you for sharing your stories with me.
To Alison – the unsung hero of this story, without whose encouragement and writing brilliance this story would never have seen the light of day.
To the Author of my story.


Contents
Introduction
PART 1: SHAPING – THE GIFT OF KNOWING YOUR OWN STORY
1. Some Children
2. George and Other Friends
3. My Country has a Story
4. Beth Shalom
In Others’ Words …
PART 2: FRAMING – THE RICHES OF IMAGINATION, THE POVERTY OF ASSUMPTION
5. Emerald Isle
6. Jungle Doctor
7. Dark City, Soul City
In Others’ Words …
PART 3: BELIEVING – HOLDING THE FAITH
8. Busker with a Vision
9. The Greatest Story
10. Stuffed Head Syndrome
11. Tao Time-Out
In Others’ Words …
PART 4: INFLUENCING – THE POWER OF STORY TO CHALLENGE THINKING AND CHANGE BEHAVIOUR
12. Story as Diagnosis, Story as Treatment
13. Pitch and Persuasion
14. Beyond the River
15. Heartlines
In Others’ Words …
Epilogue
References and Source Material
Contributors
Acknowledgements


Introduction
The epigraph which you may have noticed at the beginning of this book is worth repeating here:
‘Story is for a human as water is for a fish – all encompassing and not quite palpable.’
They are the words of academic Jonathan Gottschall, whose book The Storytelling Animal is a fascinating blend of science and the humanities, demonstrating how story in its multiple and many-faceted forms affects our lives without us even noticing it. In an interview with Maria Konnikova of Scientific American in 2012, Gottschall said: ‘… the idea for this specific book came to me not from research but from a song. I was driving down the highway and happened to hear the country music artist Chuck Wicks singing “Stealing Cinderella” – a song about a little girl growing up to leave her father behind. Before I knew it, I was blind from tears, and I had to veer off on the road to get control of myself and to mourn the time – still more than a decade off – when my own little girls would fly the nest. I sat there on the side of the road feeling sheepish and wondering, “What just happened?”’
In putting this book together, the ‘What just happened?’ but also the ‘What now?’ have resonated continuously in my head.
In a 2am epiphany, I was struck by how stories, like some kind of hidden power, had shaped my choices, beliefs and sense of purpose. As a young boy the Jungle Doctor series of books had so captured me that against all advice and despite neither scientific interest nor aptitude, I had set my heart on becoming a doctor. Then as a doctor who was more interested in health than in disease, I stumbled upon the healing power of story – fictional, factual and my own. Having been inspired by story, I had begun to tell stories to inspire. What magic was at work here?
It was this question that set me on the journey that would become this book. It is my hope that as you accompany me on this journey, you will become more aware of this hidden power that permeates and influences every aspect of our lives.
This book is not an autobiography; nor is it a memoir in the conventional sense. Rather I have chosen to tell stories from my own life that illustrate how story has influenced me and how I have used it to influence others. It has also been my privilege to interview a wide range of amazing people, specifically for this project and to hear from them the impact of story on their lives. (Strangely, it was easier to ask for an interview to talk about story than to raise funding …) Some are well known for their high profile as performers, business people, speakers who make their living on stages or by strategic thinking and consultation in a broad variety of arenas. Some of their names may be familiar, others not. There are singers, artists, academics and activists. Many are associates of mine, colleagues or friends, while others are people I met for the first time. All of these people have one thing in common – the recognition of what we all know instinctively, namely, the transformative power of story. And all of them have something that is unique to them: they have their individual stories to own and to share. They have done so generously here.
As I began to write, I discovered that the book had its own ideas, which it would reveal to me in its own good time. But like a good thriller, the unveiling happened in fits and starts and was littered with heartbreaking dead ends and unexpected revelations. Finally, it coalesced into the four distinct but overlapping themes that make up the book.
Each section sets out to explore a core theme but the stories, anecdotes and life-turning moments or events often interweave, one with another. Such as how understanding our own story helps us and others. How being curious about the stories of others is a simple way to bring healing and empathy to a fractured world. And how story is the most effective way to persuade and influence people, whether to change behaviour, sell a product or lead a team. There is also a smattering of neuroscience showing how science has proved what humanity intuitively already knew, namely, that our brains are wired for story.
The themes are illustrated by parts of my own narrative and, at the end of each section under the sub-heading ‘In Others’ Words’, by the voices of those people I interviewed.
The thematic structure is deliberate, the underlying intention being to demonstrate a progression, and the book is divided into four parts. Part 1: Shaping – The Gift of Knowing Your Own Story speaks to the importance of understanding our foundations, the things and people who shape and impact our lives at foundational moments. Part 2: Framing – The Riches of Imagination, the Poverty of Assumption explores the multiple ways in which stories may be framed, constructed, recounted and received. It pulls into focus the assumptions we make about others, how quick we are to judge and devalue, and how much the poorer we are for moving to hasty conclusions before taking the time to listen and try to understand. Part 3: Believing – Holding the Faith is about dreams imagined, shattered, rebuilt or reconfigured. It is about keeping a vision alive when hard evidence paints a dismal