Finding Rich Stories in my Garden and Personal Milestones

Ever wondered how a Viking garden might surprise you? In this episode, join me as I return from a refreshing break filled with travel and new adventures to discuss the unexpected herb knowledge of Vikings and debunk the myth of their all-meat-and-beer diet. That is one of 5 stories I talk about in based on the herbs in my garden. Wait for the rest!

I celebrate over 6,000 downloads with a heartfelt thank you to my listeners, especially in the United States, and share the inspiration I found in stylist Yolanda Taylor. We'll explore how everyday experiences, like the humble use of herbs, can be transformed into rich narratives and foundational stories that connect us all.

Take a nostalgic trip back to the summer of 1998 when Titanic changed my view of Leonardo DiCaprio and discover how mastering the pronunciation of the English R became my personal triumph at 43. Embrace the beauty of small victories and the storytelling adventures ahead, from the lighthearted to the profound. Don’t miss the chance to join my Patreon community, where we can share and discuss our own storytelling challenges and triumphs. Ready to turn your daily life into compelling narratives? Let's embark on this journey together.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:45

Hello, I'm back again podcasting. It's been a while since last time and I really needed a break from all this, because it took a lot of time and it was hard being creative after a while to find subjects and topics to talk about. But now, after resting a while and after traveling, working with different projects, well, suddenly there's a lot of things to talk about. You know, to be a podcaster is like being alone for several days without seeing people, and then you see all the people and you have to tell them all about your feelings, opinions and experiences. That time you were alone. So that is actually the feeling I have now. I have a lot of ideas for podcast episodes and I just can't wait to talk to you again. And I just can't wait to tell you how grateful I am, because at some point I actually read 5,000 downloads at my podcast, and that is my first goal as a podcaster. I wanted to focus on content, mainly pure content focus, and not so much social media focus and not so much commercial and so on. I just wanted to focus mainly on the content, and then, when I reached the point of 5,000 listeners, I would use more social media to share it, because then I know that people actually follow me because of the content on the podcast and I'm really proud of it and I'm really grateful for all you listeners and at this point I actually had 6,396 downloads listeners and most of you actually come from the United States.

Speaker 1: 2:52

If I see the statistics, actually 5,081 of you are from the United States and 853 from Asia and from Europe 435 and Oceania 23. Africa 3, and South America 1. And that one person is from Brazil. So thank you. One person in South America listening to me. That is great. You know, yeah, and you know my listeners, I really love you guys. You know, I've always laughed about artists who are standing on the scene and saying I love you, I love you, you know, to the audience, and how can you love people you have never met? You know, but I really like talking to you. You know, I don't know who you are. I don't know, but I know you listen to me and I know some of you are. I don't know, but I know you listen to me and I know some of you are returning listeners. So thank you so much for that. I wish I could hug you all, but you just hug yourself, yeah, so in this episode, I will give you some more storytelling tips, but before I give the storytelling tips, I just want to thank a very special lady today.

Speaker 1: 4:14

Her name is Yolanda Taylor and she is a stylist and she is doing an Instagram account and Facebook page that is called the At the style table and she also give women advices for how to get dressed in a fancy and nice way and I really admire her for doing this work because she is so inspirational as a person. She it's the first stylist I have followed when I feel I am not too fat and my wallet is not too skinny. So you know, this is a stylist you can follow, not just with a skinny body and a huge fat wallet, you can also have like a big body and a skinny wallet, you know. So she is there for every woman and she gives good, practical advices and it's easy to follow. You know Some of the fashion magazines. I think it's easy to follow. You know some of the fashion magazines. I think it's oh yeah, I should have been Taylor Swift or someone to actually afford those clothes and to have a wardrobe like that. But she just give easy tips that everyone can follow and it's clothes you can get everywhere and some of them, yeah, you can pay a lot of money for them or you can pay less money, because she's just showing some tips that are adjustable for every prices and every clothes. So, and every monday she has something called my style mondays and it's like advices for clothing and she talks about specific subjects and so on, and one time she actually interviewed me. So I really want to say thank you, yolanda, because you were actually the person that told me I should start podcasting. So you are the reason I am podcasting, and I never thought I would do that because I thought, well, you have to know all about podcasting before you start, and I knew nothing about podcasting and then started and it all began with a comment from you. So, thank you, yolanda, sister, sweet sister in the United States, I really appreciate our friendship and I really appreciate the things you do for women all over the world and talking about yeah, all the things you talk about. So, yeah, so just follow her. You guys Follow her. Well, let's move on Storytelling tips. Yeah, let's do it like a rehearsal now.

Speaker 1: 7:33

I'm actually very interested in herbs and useful plants and every year at this time in the summertime I go out in my garden and I also go out in the forest next to my house and I pick a lot of plants that I know we can eat and some of the plants I make pestos and sauces. With. Some of them I dry and make like a powder I can put in in the cooking later on, and some of them I dry and make salt herb salts out of it. I do different things with these plants and herbs and a lot of those plants are actually just growing in the garden and people are looking at them as not useful at all and they just remove it, you know, because they don't like them. But I just think that we have forgotten how important nature actually is and I wanted to use this example, this storytelling example of me in my everyday life, to learn you one of my greatest tips in storytelling, because when you're, I am actually having some webinars about this and I'm talking to a lot of coaches, because I'm in a group of Norwegian coaches and some people just ask me but what story should I tell from my life?

Speaker 1: 9:19

I don't know. I don't think I have an interesting story. Maybe I don't have a huge childhood trauma, or maybe I didn't accomplish something that are interesting for other people to listen. I don't know what to say, and then I just want to say that, well, you all have something to say, but you don't have to dig for gold every time you tell your story. You can tell stories from your everyday life, and that is what I like with Jo's Instagram account, because she's just every day talking about clothing. It's not like this, it's not about the catwalk and the fancy movie stars or so on, it's just regular talk about clothing in everyday life. So it's just adjustable to all of us regular, normal women that just need to look good in everyday life. So that is my number one advice for you Just find the story in everyday life and practice every day. Just find out what to talk about.

Speaker 1: 10:40

So now I've just been out in the garden and I have picked a lot of herbs and I made it. This time, I just put it in my table and I made it all over the table and I will try it and yeah, so. So this is the foundation story I'm telling now, and then you can make matching stories, and I will now give you four matching stories so you can learn about this technique, so you can understand what I'm talking about, you know. So you know the foundation story, like I told you, was me picking herbs from my garden and the reason why I do it. That is the foundation story, and what I do to the herbs I make food of it, you know. And then we have the matching story number one Environment.

Speaker 1: 11:39

Modern people have forgotten what the nature gives us and we need to respect the nature and be grateful, and by doing this we can minimize waste because we use what's already in the nature. You know, I do like rucola salad and I heard that in Norway when they sell rucola salad they actually import it from Spain and in Spain you pick, pick the salad, you put it in plastic and then the airplane takes it to Norway. What an environmental disaster that is. You know, when it tastes actually the same, like the useful plants just out in your garden. You know, and I and I just don't like that human beings have been so little aware of these things you know we can just go the entire summer to pick out some useful plants that actually taste a lot of pretty much the same what you find in the local grocery store you know.

Speaker 1: 12:51

So that brings me on to the next matching story that it's about consumer advising, because you can also use the herbs, the, the herb picking story, the plant picking story, for making a point about consumer advising and finances, everyday finances, because you know, a lot of people are stressful about the economy these days, even Norwegians, you know. Even Norway, we have financial problems. You know, we, who used to be like the oil rich nation that always have money, even we have to save money these days. So the world is really in bad shape financially these days, and then we need good financial advice, you know. So want to save money? Don't go to the grocery store. Pick the plants in your garden and eat them. Yummy, you can make a lot of delightful, tasteful dishes with this free food and you can just go out and pick them and you save money because you don't have to drive your car, and then you save a lot of money for not paying all the costs of this car. And you also, if you take the bus, you save the money for the bus tickets. So just go out in the garden and pick the plants and you will get free food.

Speaker 1: 14:18

Just do it, yeah, and then you have the third matching story, and I am a bit afraid you will find me crazy about talking about this, but I'm actually talking about the Mid-Jewish era in Europe and the witch processes. Yeah, you heard me right the burning of witches, the burning of the woman and some of the men too, and I will make a full podcast episode about this because I will tell a story from Sweden that actually killed almost an entire community during the mid-age. It's crazy, but we will get back to that. But what I think? What on earth are you like using that story when you are talking about the plants you are picking in your garden? Well, that's because the woman who was burned, they actually had that knowledge, you know, because the woman who was burned, they were not witches, you know, but they were just wise, some of them not all, but some of them were wise women living alone and had a lot of knowledge about the nature, and they had a lot of knowledge about the plants and how the plants could give us a good life, you know. And then the rumors just began and they were yeah, oh, boy, boy, were they good storytellers those days. You know, people told that they were communicating with Satan and if they saw like a black bird on the roof of their house, it was like, oh, that was a sign she was a witch and yeah, so people really were good storytellers those days and yeah so, but okay, the point is that I'm using the situation of me picking herbs in my garden, picking useful plants in my garden and in the forest, to show you how, yeah, women in the mid-dutch era actually was punished for that same matter.

Speaker 1: 16:38

And then you have the fourth story, and maybe the fourth story can be connected to mental health, because mental health awareness yeah, because to have a good mental health, it also means that you need to get out in the sun to get fresh air and to breathe fresh air in your lungs, and you also have need to have a healthy nutrition. You know nutritious food and you need to have a healthy nutrition. You know nutritious food and you need to make a lot of food that have a lot of vitamins, and these plants have so much vitamins in it and it's the healthiest plant food you can eat, because they are not processed in any matter and no one has put them in plastic and no one has done anything about them, so they are really healthy and nutritious food and for your mental health that is really good. And I can do this forever. You know, I could make 10 stories about it. I can talk about weight issues. I can talk about colors, you know. I can talk about the summer in Norway. I can talk about the winter in Norway. Yeah, I don't know what I can't talk about.

Speaker 1: 18:01

When it comes to the herbs in my garden, you know, and because, yeah, you know, and also theings knew about this, the vikings, they used a lot of herbs, so there was a lot of knowledge about this. I usually thought that vikings were like eating meat and drinking beer and that's all, but then I read about the food the Vikings ate and they just had so much knowledge about these things actually, and it's really interesting. Maybe that is also a podcast episode, I don't know. The point is you can write a total, a whole novel about this, maybe more, you can write a whole series about this, you know, and make 13 podcast episodes based on this story alone. So I hope you really understood the point I was actually going to tell you. The point is that one story, one foundation story, can have so many matching stories and just it's up to you to find the matching story.

Speaker 1: 19:18

And since we have talked about environmental issues, I'm going to recycle an old episode actually, and the old episode I'm recycling is about the Norwegian R. You know the Norwegian R, one of my first episodes actually, and where I was going to explain, yeah, why I struggle to say the English R. And then I used, like, the movie Titanic as a metaphor, because I'm Generation X and a lot of people from my generation they remember the movie Titanic and a lot of women in my age did sometimes have a crush on Leonardo DiCaprio and, yeah, that was before Leonardo DiCaprio was at our age now and still fell in love with a woman that was the same age as Kate Winslet when she played Rose in the story. But that's a totally other story and a lot of other podcast episodes, so we don't have any time for that. Other podcast episodes, so we don't have any time for that. But, yeah, just listen to this story one more time if you haven't, if you have listened to it before or if it's the first time, and just listen to it for the first time and just listen and try to figure out what is the foundation story and what are all the matching stories in this. Enjoy and once again, thank you, and let's continue to tell stories together. I, the Norwegian Storytelling, the Norwegian Storyteller. I'm back and I'm ready to storytell. Yes, thank you. The so Outro Music.

Speaker 1: 22:51

Sometimes we experience hard times in life. Just getting out of bed in the morning can feel like a monumental effort. Our souls may be heavy with sorrow and despair. Life itself is difficult, but what truly constitutes our everyday existence are the small bumps along the road, those challenges that lie there waiting to be addressed. Our everyday existence are the small bumps along the road, those challenges that lie there waiting to be addressed. If too many bumps accumulate, it can become problematic.

Speaker 1: 23:27

In this episode, the topic isn't quite as serious. I'm only talking about a small bump in my own life's journey. As I'm about to expand my storytelling beyond Norway's borders, I had to overcome a rather significant hurdle. I'll come back to this and eventually you'll understand what it's all about. First let's discuss something entirely different, but you'll see the connection soon the characters Rose and Jack from Titanic. What do they have to do with my personal bump in the road? Well, you'll find out. Just listen Afterward. I encourage you to join the discussion on my Patreon. What bumps do you have in your life? How did you work your way out of those situations? Life is filled with big problems, but sometimes it's worth celebrating the small ones, as they don't drain as much energy to resolve.

Speaker 1: 24:39

So let's begin with a story from the lightness in my life. It was the summer of 1998, and I was madly in love. Titanic had been rolling on film reels for several months. When I did some background research, I was surprised to discover that the film's first screening was in Tokyo November 1st 1997. Later it was shown in the USA on December 19th 1997. However, it would be a couple of months before us Nordic people had the opportunity to witness the wondrous love story captured amidst a tragic event.

Speaker 1: 25:19

Sweden and Denmark were ahead of us. Of course, at that time we Norwegians were still accustomed to being slightly less continental than our big sisters and brothers in Sweden and Denmark. Sweden was the land of entrepreneurs, producing cars and furniture and dominating the global market in ways we could only dream of. Additionally, they had all the celebrities and rap artists the world had forgotten about, the Norwegian rock band A-ha. During this period, the Danes, being closer to the rest of Europe, were more continental than us mountain-dwelling northerners. Little Norway had to patiently wait a whole month before finally witnessing the beautiful yet tragic moments between a young, love-struck couple from a bygone era and a sunken ship. January 16, 1998 was a day when both the Swedes and Danes could settle into their cinema seats and hold their breath as the iceberg struck the unsinkable ship. February 13 was a day when we, the northern hillbillies, could finally watch the film.

Speaker 1: 26:42

The first time I saw the movie I was 17 years old. Together with my girlfriends, we went to the cinema to find out if this film was truly fantastic or just overhyped. This film was truly fantastic or just overhyped. I don't really like Leonardo DiCaprio. I don't think he's that handsome, I said. My friend just rolled her eyes. However, my opinion changed as the film unfolded. Every glance Jack sent to Rose, the way he spoke to her, held her and fell in love with her everything a girl could dream of. When Jack and Rose played Flying on the Edge of the Deck, I was sold. Okay, I admit it, he's incredibly handsome, absolutely fantastic, I said to my friend. She smiled and returned and nodded. The gripping drama centering around the ill-fated RMS Titanic would go on to become one of the highest grossing movies of all time. It also catapulted Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet to international stardom.

Speaker 1: 27:56

The film, directed, written, produced and co-edited by James Cameron, incorporated both historical and fictionalized aspects, based on accounts of the sinking of Titanic in 1912. It revolves around the lives of two passengers from different social classes Jack Dawson, a poor artist in third class, and Rose Duvett Bucheter, a first-class teenager who is engaged to a wealthy but abusive man. As the ship sails towards its tragic collision with an iceberg, jack and Rose meet and fall in love with an iceberg. Jack and Rose meet and fall in love. Their romance unfolds against the backdrop of the luxurious yet doomed Titanic. The film beautifully captures their relationship, the ship's grandeur and the heart-wrecking events that follows. Ultimately, the Titanic sinks and Rose's memories intervene in the fate of the heart of the ocean diamond.

Speaker 1: 29:01

So why am I telling you all this? Didn't I start by saying this was about the summer of 1998? Okay, I admit it, I'm a master of digressions, jumping in and out of stories. This personality quirk hasn't diminished, especially since I worked as a storyteller throughout my career. Back to the story. Since my birthday is in March, I had already turned 18 by that time. It was the summer I met Anders and we're still married today, lucky for me, as I'm about to launch myself as a Norwegian storyteller in the rest of the world that I'm married to a man with such a typical Norwegian name as Anders right, anyway, our love blossomed around the same time as the film Titanic reached its peak in Norway, people were flocking to theatres to watch the film for the second or third time. Anders and I were, no exception, newly in love. We immersed ourselves in the roles of Jack and Rose. We immersed ourselves in the roles of Jack and Rose. We even reenacted the scene with a flying machine at the end of the deck over and over. Thank goodness we didn't have Instagram back then.

Speaker 1: 30:30

So why am I sharing this? Well, because I've chosen a very special scene from the movie. In this scene, jack dresses in his first class attire and goes up to the deck where the upper class people are. He eventually finds Rose and takes her into the room where no one can see her. Rose is clearly affected by the situation. The two lovers know they can't be together, but Jack doesn't seem willing to give up anytime soon. With these marvelous words, he declares his love for Rose. Rose, you're no picnic, all right, you're a spoiled little brat even, but under that you're the most amazingly astounding, wonderful girl woman that I've ever known.

Speaker 1: 31:25

Translated into Norwegian it would sound like this Rose du er ingen søndagstur eller vad Du er, en bortskjemt liten drittunge men under det. Before I get to the point, I just want to warn all of our female listeners If you're even remotely interested in the musing of a 40-year-old, you'll never get a man like Jack. Jack is portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, who's now known to date girls around the same age as Kate Winslet was when she played Rose in Titanic. So he might not be quite the same heartthrob as in the movie, you see, but anyway, romantic films exist for our dreams, don't they? And right now, jack's line reminds me of something very essential as a Norwegian storyteller trying to reach the heart of people elsewhere in the world.

Speaker 1: 32:33

You see, up until last fall I couldn't pronounce the English R. Yes, you heard that correctly. I spoke a lot of English, especially in professional contexts, but that English R, it deluded me. It was as if my tongue twisted every time I attempted it. It was as if my tongue twisted every time I attempted it. Words like rural were a nightmare to say until last year. So in this podcast episode I had to find an R-word that sounds the same in both Norwegian and English. To emphasis a point. Rose was the word. I broke the R code in October last year In my job as a storyteller for a Norwegian organization.

Speaker 1: 33:24

I travel to Nepal once a year. During a conversation with a Nepali entrepreneur, I stumble over my own words repeatedly. Suddenly the lady said oh, the Norwegian R. And for the first time I understood why I could never pronounce the English R. You see, I come from the eastern part of Norway.

Speaker 1: 33:50

The dialect we speak involves rolling R's, which means we use the tip of our tongue when saying R. Listen to me now. In the southern and western parts of Norway they speak quite differently. There they're gatorally pronounced the R using the innermost part of the tongue. Listen to me now. R, the innermost part of the tongue. Listen to me now.

Speaker 1: 34:21

The fact is that several children growing up in eastern Norway struggling with saying the R. Some need to see a speech therapist and practice something called tongue gymnastics. Eventually most of them learn to pronounce R gymnastics. Eventually most of them learn to pronounce R, but not all. In such cases, the speech therapist often teaches them to say the southern and western R. Compared to the English R, the Norwegian R in the south and west is much more similar to the eastern R. Also, the English R is pronounced using the innermost part of the tongue.

Speaker 1: 35:03

So let's just listen to me when I say rose Now I say rose in English, and I use the innermost part. Rose, and I say it in Western European, I say it in Western European. Rose, you see, I also use the innermost part, and now I want to see it in the Eastern Rose, I use the tip of the tongue. Okay, that's a fun fact, let's move on. So in the fall of 2023, I became my own speech therapist and for the first time, I managed to pronounce the English R. It took me a whole 43 years old to understand this connection. Now, after months of intense training and tongue gymnastics, I can proudly say the English are drumroll, please. This comes in handy now as I venture out into the world to try my hand at storytelling beyond Norway's border for the first time.

Speaker 1: 36:18

Hand at storytelling beyond Norway's border for the first time. You see, I'm a Norwegian storyteller who has shared stories from various places around the world, but always with a Norwegian audience. I've always used my own language to tell stories. Now I'm sharing this story with you, no matter where in the world you live, and in English. Thank goodness, I finally conquered the R. I'm also very interested in hearing about your bump in the road. Therefore, I have created my own profile on Patreon and you're more than welcome to become a part of my community there. We will talk about the bumps in the road and how to solve them, because the world needs these stories. This was a story from the lightness of my life. I will be switching to the darkness sometimes. Follow me and guide me on my personal storytelling journey.