Thursday, October 24, 2013

You Become Your Story

All my life I've been a seeker. And for much of my life I was a struggler. I thought the two went together. You know, trials and tribulations! Once you conquer all those dreadful obstacles life puts in your way, you can finally approach your true potential, right?

At some point it dawned on my that I had identified myself as a struggler. That was my story: I'm a person who has to struggle along and hope for breakthroughs.

Even though all the greatest teachers—spiritual and otherwise—try like hell to make us understand that all obstacles are self-imposed, it took me some time to start to believe it.

And then I understood that we become the stories we tell about ourselves.

These days I choose struggle only when I'm out of synch. As soon as I come to my senses,


I quit struggling and remember the peace and zest that are always within.

In You've Got a Book in You, I wrote this sentence:
If it's not fun, make it fun.

But to take it a step further:
If you can't make it fun, decide that it's fun.

Now that's radical. If you've been telling yourself writing is hard and life is unfair, try another way. Take these sentences from my current story and make them your own:

I'm a confident, poised person. Nothing bothers me. I'm a highly talented writer, and I have fun producing beautiful, zestful work every day.

Writing your own story is a wonderful thing to do. If you don't like your current story, write a new one. The story of who you want to be! Write it now!

I was talking about these things with a doctor who's a real healer: a guy who healed himself first, then broke all the rules for running a practice so he could be more effective. We agreed that one's story will fulfill itself, and we talked about how each of us changed our stories to change ourselves.

He said, "And if you don't keep changing your story, you'll stop growing!"

How wise. How wonderful! How zestful!

[photo note: Seaside flower photographed by ES.]

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2 comments:

  1. It's interesting that you view yourself as a struggler. You must work hard to mask it. Ignore the toll that whispers in your ear. You can't imagine how inspired I am by the words you write. Your words are uplifting and insightful. --Tabitha


    --Tabitha

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    Replies
    1. Well, I used to see myself as a struggler, which became its own problem. Now that I'm conscious of the power of my self-labels, I generally go in a better direction. Thanks for posting, Tabitha!

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