The Stories We Tell Ourselves
There are four things that are true: We love to tell stories. We love to find explanations for things. We love to make things up. We love to judge others.
Without our stories, we’d have nothing but what is. Without our stories we would see nothing but the truth. But our stories keep us from seeing the truth. Our stories keep us from seeing what is.
A tree falls over and crushes our car. That’s what is. But we don’t accept what is, we accept all the chatter that goes through our mind and formulates a story.
“The tree shouldn’t have fallen. My car shouldn’t be ruined. This is going to cost too much. I don’t have time to deal with this. My life is ruined.” The chatter goes on and on. The story of how unfair this is grows. And the suffering grows along with it.
A neighbor asks “how’s it going to day?”
The mind of the story-teller has one answer. It is filled with stress, worry, anxiety, pain, and fear. The clear mind that accepts what is has a more realistic answer. It is filled with peace and acceptence.
The story-teller will take pictures, call his insurance company, get the car towed away, and rent another car in the meanwhile.
The clear mind will do the same, but they’ll do it without the internal drama.
That’s clarity. That’s freedom.
Who would you be without your stories?
