Lessons of wisdom have the most power over us when they capture the heart through the groundwork of a story, which engages the passions.

Advice stated flatly tends to slide off. A truth arrives differently when it comes wrapped in someone’s situation, because you feel your way through it before you agree with it, and feeling is what makes a lesson stick. Argument convinces the part of you that debates; a story reaches the part that acts. That is why the counsel you actually follow usually came attached to a person and a predicament.

When you want something to land, tell what happened instead of stating the rule. And when a story moves you, pause afterwards to name what it was actually teaching, so the feeling turns into something you can use.