National Day of Listening

Were there ever people in your life that you wanted to know about but never got the chance to? National Day of Listening is all about giving the time for other people to share stories about themselves. Part of our humanity is about stories and being able to understand one another, and this day allows people to do just that.

History of National Day of Listening

This unofficial holiday was started back in 2008 by StoryCorps, a non-profit organization whose mission is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans. National Day of Listening is focused on family members, where people are prompted to interview their family members and listen to their stories.

Founder Dave Isay, when he was a kid, would love spending time with his great-grandparents. One day he decided to record them all, and they all loved it, but a few years later they passed away and he lost the tape. Since then, he founded StoryCorps in 2003 to allow people to have the chance to be listened to.

According to him, people love to be listened to because it makes them feel important in their lives. By sharing these stories with others, the aim of this holiday and the organization connected to it is to share the stories of all kinds of people in hopes of connecting people with their humanity.

According to their webpage, data from the StoryCorps Online Listener Surveys were collected from nearly 600 listeners between May 2014 and November 2015.

It revealed that listeners gained more understanding of people of different races, ethnicities and religious backgrounds and many had started to think about how important people are and how people can help one another.

How to celebrate National Day of Listening

The easiest way to start is by getting a recording device and listening to either one of your relatives or a close friend and ask them questions. One of the easiest ways to frame interviews like these is to start off with basic questions and then go from there.

As you move along through the interview, find what sticks to you and continue to ask questions about that topic from there. You can also listen to stories they have on their website or through their mobile app.

If you wish, you can also implement this day in your workforce, where co-workers can interview one another and possibly help better work relations. Just remember that there’s nothing like a willing ear to help people through their concerns and resolve conflicts.