Stories. We read them, we tell them, we share them. We write them, we co-create and create them. We observe them or we are in them. We live them. Sometimes we live them over and over again. Stories make up our journey called life.
Every person we meet has a story to share, whether they are family, friends, lovers, clients or strangers. Stories have been around since the beginning of time as we know it and possibly before.
Stories change and develop quite often each time they are told and depends on who is telling the story. Some are embellished to impress; some are toned down to avoid distress. They are all open to interpretation by the story teller and the reader or listener.
Some stories are real and some are not. How easy is it to tell the difference? How easy is it to determine absolute truth within a true story?
Imagine a detached building on fire. Outside at each corner of the building is a reporter, each interviewing a survivor of this inferno. Four stories emerge each saying how many are trapped inside and how the fire started. The stories differ albeit slightly. Which one is the absolute truth?
In the worlds of politics and religion there are many stories and versions of stories……again how do we determine the absolute truth? Can we ever? Is truth the same for everyone? Or is it down to perception, evaluation and beliefs? We all interpret things differently and have differing beliefs and values. This is what is fascinating about human beings. How different would the world be if everyone saw the world through the same eyes, perceived everything with the same thoughts, beliefs and values? Maybe it would be OK if everyone was seeing things in the same loving, caring and positive way………. What if they were not? We will never know for we are all different, and we do see and perceive things differently. This is when making judgements can often be wrong. How do we know the full story behind the observed behaviour or acted out story we are judging?
I am reminded of a story I read many years ago and have read several times since……
A man boards a subway train with his two children. He looks unkempt – he is unshaven, slovenly and looks as though he has slept in his clothes. He has large dark circles under his eyes and his hands are trembling. He sits with his head in his hands.
The children have unruly uncombed hair, dirty crumpled clothes and are running up and down the carriageway, making copious amounts of noise arguing and fighting with each other.
Their father does nothing. He just sits there with his head in his hands. Oblivious.
The well-dressed business man sitting opposite him is getting agitated. The children are getting on his nerves…………. Increasingly so. Eventually he shouts across to the dishevelled man……….
“Oi! Can’t you do something about controlling your kids? What’s the matter with you? Their behaviour is appalling!!!”
The dishevelled man looks up with red eyes piercing the dark circles and silent tears rolling down his cheeks. He looks into the business man’s eyes and says….
“I’m sorry. We have been at the hospital for the last 48 hours, we haven’t eaten and we haven’t slept. You see, their mother died just a few hours ago. It was all very sudden and tragic. We have never experienced anything like this before and this is their way of dealing with it. This is mine. So I guess no I cannot control then or do anything right now. I don’t know how to stop their hurt.”
The business man did not know what to say or where to look.
One thing is for sure, what he witnessed and how he reacted, impacted upon him in some way that day……
Stories are powerful, especially our life stories. And because they are our stories we can re-run them in our minds in full technicolour. The good ones………..and the bad ones.
Constantly replaying the bad stories resulting in the same ending causes distress and keep us stuck. Stuck in a mental quagmire – sinking into the quicksand of despair. The only way forward is to end that chapter in our book of life.
This year, 2016, is a year 9 in the world of numerology. Nine years are all about endings.
Many people underwent a lot of change last year on a personal or business level or even both. This year is the year to put an end to certain chapters of our lives so we can turn the page in our book of life and begin a new chapter, or even a new story. We get to choose.
What are you going to choose to do? Do you need to finish a chapter in your life? Do you need to stop re-reading or re-living the stories/movies of your past? Remember, our life’s stories are exactly that…….ours. Because of that we get to edit them, change them or even re-write them.
One thing for sure is that we have yet to write or script our future life. The power to do so is within.
If we do not like the story we have thus far created and have been living – we get to change it, the way it develops and the way it ends.
You were born an awesome being. You have awesomeness within you regardless of your story so far. Step into that awesomeness, re-claim your personal power and change or write a new story. The future and the type of future you create is up to you. It is your life……..your story.