The Story We Tell

If you’ve ever seen the movies Courage Under Fire or Snake Eyes, you know that a circumstance or event can look very definitive from one vantage point, causing us to come to a conclusion about which we feel very confident. But, viewing it from another angle can cause us to draw a completely different conclusion and, therefore, experience a new reality.

A movie is nothing more than a story on film. And we play our own movie creations all day long—those stories in our mind. We tell the story of our finances, our body’s state of wellness, flexibility, size, shape, our work environment, our perceived treatment from others, our love life, our friendships… and they form our current reality. If we’re lucky, we like it, and it serves our dreams and our true desires. If not, we often feel like a victim, disappointed and disempowered.

All events are neutral—all of them. We give them meaning by telling ourselves our version of the story inspired by our current vantage point. But how many times, from a vantage point farther down the road, years later, do we now tell a different story about the same event? We now see it from this different place and experience it much differently in our memories. Why couldn’t we have told that later story on the first go-round? We could have. But we must remember that in any moment, with any event or current reality, we have a choice about the meaning we assign and the story we tell. And that, then, creates our experience.

Do you want a different experience of life? I ask the question honestly because I’ve met some people who I truly believe really enjoy being miserable. Their identity is tied to it. It almost feels like they wouldn’t know what to talk about if things got better.

But if you do wish to be happy, joyful, and satisfied more of the time, then you must find a way to tell a different story. Want a different, better experience of work or people or politics? Of money, or love, or what’s in your kitchen pantry?  It’s all within your control and personal choice. It’s your canvas, your masterpiece, your movie. Indeed, the very happiness of our entire life experience is all happening because of the story we tell.

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

~ Wayne Dyer