Life happens. We’re just the storytellers.

Welcome to Narratively Speaking, the podcast that explores the power of story in all its forms, it’s role in society and how it helps to shape the ideas we think we believe in.

Hosted by Harv, the podcast explores the thesis that the stories we hear and tell are what shapes our beliefs about the world we live in — whether they are presented as fiction, history or the daily news.

Story is important.

We spend a lot of our lives sharing, consuming and otherwise engaging in story.

But if you tell your school teacher you want to write stories when you grow up, she’ll most likely sneer and tell you to pick a real job.

Narratively speaking aims to elevate the status of story in our culture by highlighting the important part it plays in the structure of society.

A love affair with story.

I’m Harv, and I have been a growing advocate of story’s power for many years.

From my interest in writing at a very young age, to my YouTube channel “Popcorn Lobotomy”, story has always played a powerful role in my life.

I started Narratively Speaking as an outlet to explore the idea that story is not only an important part of our lives, but THE MOST important. And it should be valued as such.

Lets Discuss

Check out our podcast episodes:

Date Title Duration
September 12, 2022 6:00 am 9/11 and the Value of Story
We must value story, because they do.
0:28:01
August 11, 2022 12:51 am Interview: Andrew Roberts
Melbourne won the war... or did we?
0:43:24
July 10, 2022 8:00 am COVID-19 was just a story
Back after a long hiatus, Harv has one last crack at making sense of the pandemic
0:30:08
September 29, 2020 7:30 am Stories we tell to control one another
Keith "Legion" Snyder joins Harv to discuss the new cultural phenomenon of social shaming
1:13:14
April 19, 2020 5:00 pm A Few Final Stories from the Apocalypse
Harv talks about a few positive stories from the COVID-19 lockdown... kind of.
0:27:52
March 16, 2020 6:30 am Stories That Create Panic
Harv examines some of the strangeness going on in the world recently and tries to make sense of it all.
0:30:35
January 20, 2020 6:30 am Alter Egos as a Tool for Success
Can you use alter-egos to achieve states of high performance?
1:18:19
December 2, 2019 6:30 am Story Reveals Truth
How's your bullshit detector?
0:28:25
October 29, 2019 6:30 am The Louis CK Story
What happened to Louis CK?
1:01:04
October 21, 2019 6:30 am Stories we're told about the Music Industry
Would you sell your soul for success?
0:29:36
September 23, 2019 6:30 am Consciousness Without Matter
Can you live as a brain in a jar?
1:24:17
September 2, 2019 6:30 am Is Character-based Therapy a Thing?
Can character be used to improve mental health?
0:47:52
August 19, 2019 6:30 am The "New Age" Religion Story
Ever wondered what's the deal with the whole New Age movement?
0:59:39
August 12, 2019 6:30 am Selfishness, Fairness & the Jeffrey Epstein Story
Facebook group member Anja Bache-Wiig Solberg asks: What about "fairness"?
0:29:30
May 20, 2019 6:30 am Narrativising the Big Bang
How can there be meaning in life if there's no free will?
0:30:08
May 13, 2019 6:30 am The Story Russel Brand Tells
Starting out as a stand-up comedian and Hollywood actor, Russel Brand has become a divisive public figure for the past 15 years.
0:29:39
May 6, 2019 6:30 am How To Re-Write Your Story
We never truly know how much the stories we tell influence those around us.
1:14:03
April 29, 2019 6:30 am A Story of Synchronicity (and Ayahuasca)
Do you believe in synchronicity?
1:20:04
April 15, 2019 6:30 am What's the Story with Mindfulness?
It seems everyone I respect and listen to meditates. Is there anything to this ancient practice?
0:28:10
April 8, 2019 6:30 am Trauma is just a Story
We tend to diminish the effects of purely emotional trauma in favour of physical trauma. But aren't these the issues that we need the most help with?
0:30:08
March 4, 2019 6:30 am Stories They Tell Us About Aliens
Do you believe in aliens? I don't know your answer, but I bet you have one ready!
0:30:39
February 25, 2019 6:30 am Our Bodies Express Our Stories
We all know about body language, but are there other ways our bodies betray our private internal world?
0:30:05
February 18, 2019 6:30 am Stories the Media Tell Us
Angus McAlpine recently had his local government campaign viciously derailed by the new media. We sit down with Angus to find out what happened.
1:08:15
February 11, 2019 6:30 am Telling Stories Through Character
In this episode, I speak to Adem Koci about why we tell stories as characters, how they can function as shields against criticism, and whether it's possible to create so many characters, you lose track of yourself in the process.
1:00:07
February 4, 2019 6:30 am Why We Must Share Our Stories
Today we welcome Doug Wilson - marathon runner, Kundalini Yoga practitioner, brain tumour survivor, and now author - to the podcast to share his incredible story.
1:18:13
January 28, 2019 6:30 am Stories We Tell Through Music
Jay Ridley joins Harv in the studio to discuss music -- why it attracts us, why we create it, how it affects the brain, and how it might just be linked to the collective consciousness.
0:40:53
December 24, 2018 6:30 am Christmas is just a story
Christmas can be a difficult time for some. In this bonus episode we reflect on the stories that make it so.
0:35:13
November 26, 2018 6:30 am Story is the Meaning of Life
No clips, no research, no plan. Are you up for a story?
0:29:11
November 19, 2018 6:30 am The Story Jim Carrey is Telling Us
Jim Carrey has been in the media in the past few years seemingly wavering between depressed, confused and completely insane. But is he crazy, or is he undergoing a spiritual transformation that we just don't yet understand?
0:30:48
November 12, 2018 6:30 am The Stories They Tell Us About Big Brother
Years ago conspiracy theorists told us we were being watched, monitored and spied on, but how does this story of the Orwellian "Surveillance State" function to modify our behaviour as a society?
0:29:52
November 5, 2018 6:30 am Stories That Sustain The Empire
Western civilisation exhibits many characteristics of your average, garden variety evil empire. But how did we get here?
0:29:50
October 29, 2018 6:30 am The Stories We're Told As Children
The younger we are, the more the stories we are told affect us. So the stories we are told as children are the ones we'll repeat and propagate in later life.
0:29:38
October 8, 2018 6:30 am The Stories They Tell Us About Food
Diet and nutrition are important to everybody, but when you make an earnest attempt to improve your knowledge in this area, it's often confusing, contradictory and ultimately discouraging. How can we determine what diet is truly healthy for a human?
0:31:09
September 17, 2018 6:30 am Stories We Tell About Reality
Elon Musk looks like he's never toked on a doobie before, and yet he's telling us, completely sober, that we're probably living within multiple nested computer simulations, like Russian nesting dolls.
0:31:47
September 10, 2018 6:30 am The Stories They Tell Us About Mind Control
Oooh, Mind Control! It's one of those stories that is pretty hard to believe, so much so that most don't give it much consideration. But is there any truth behind the myth? Let's look at it more closely...
0:29:54
September 3, 2018 6:30 am The Stories We Tell About Our Jobs (Part 2)
The only thing worse than having a job is not having one. But what happens when robots and AI take all our jobs?
0:30:01
August 27, 2018 6:30 am The Stories We Tell About Our Jobs
The only thing worse than having a job is not having one. Why does it seem such a rarity that people are employed doing something they enjoy? Why do we feel compelled to work a job at all?
0:29:58
August 20, 2018 6:30 am The Stories We Tell About The Illuminati
The Illuminati, an all powerful, mysterious group of anonymous shadowy figures with designs on full spectrum dominance of the entire planet. But are they real, or is this just another story told by conspiracy theorists with nothing better to do?
0:29:09
August 13, 2018 6:30 am The Stories We Tell About Fame
Fame seems to be an almost irresistible attraction for many people. But why do we place value on the attention and adoration of large numbers of people, when almost every story we're ever told about fame is a negative one?
0:31:53
July 23, 2018 6:30 am The Stories We Tell About Death
Death is one of the fundamental things any self-aware sentient human has to come to grips with. But how do we do that, when all evidence seems to indicate that death is final, and there is nothing beyond? Of course, that's where story comes in...
0:28:44
July 16, 2018 6:30 am Stories We Hold Onto
Sometimes we protect our stories against all reason and evidence. But do we really need the stories that originally inspired positive ideas to be validated?
0:30:54
July 9, 2018 6:30 am We Are The Stories We Tell Ourselves
We've talked about the stories we consume, the stories we tell others, and how that contributes to the collective consciousness. But what about the stories you tell yourself?
0:28:57
July 2, 2018 6:30 am Exploring Narrative Responsibility
Should a storyteller take responsibility for their effect on the collective consciousness?
0:29:46
June 24, 2018 7:00 am The Dark Side of Story
If positive thinking can be used to improve focus and performance, what about negative thinking?
0:31:40
June 16, 2018 1:39 pm The Stories We Tell To Get Laid
Putin and Russian hacking, Roseanne cancelled and storytelling as sexual signalling.
0:31:14

Contact

The Narratively Speaking Podcast broadcasts from Footscray, Melbourne, Australia, putting out episodes every Monday at 6:30am in a cycle of 6-weeks-on-2-weeks-off. If you’d like to get in touch, hit us up on social media! We’d love to hear from you!