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One Simple Way To Give Your Life Meaning
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"I would ask you to remember only this one thing’, said Badger. ‘ The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.’"
-Barry Lopez
Story telling is a healing tool. Human beings are hard wired to give their lives meaning and story telling is the tool that we use to create this meaning.
Story telling has been present in diverse cultures at least as long as recorded history and is the most basic method of giving meaning to our experiences.
So why not use story telling to consciously create meaning in your life?
We tell stories around the water cooler at work, at the dinning room table. We tell stories about our encounters with traffic and uplifting experiences. When something significant happens in our life – like getting married, having a baby, getting a promotion- we are almost driven to tell our story to anyone who will listen.
Stories are powerful. They have the ability to shape and guide your life. Because they give meaning to your experiences not only do they reflect you - they also shape you as a character in your own life.
You are the author of your own life story. You create the theme, the chapters, and the events as you move through life. When you create a story of an experience, you become intimately involved with it as the author - both of the story and of your experience. The story you create about your experience will enliven and enrich your experience. It gives your life meaning.
Creating a story about your life demands that you place the story within the context of your life. You can look to see:
- How does the experience come into your life?
- Is it like or unlike other things that have happened in your life?
- What really is the experience?
- How has the experience affected you?
- What is the meaning of the experience for you?
- How does that meaning shape your life?
Story telling acts as an avenue for making sense of your life. The story is a vehicle to help you understand what your life and your experiences mean to you. There are many chapters in your life and each story will make the most sense to you if you place it within the flow of the rest of your life. Some experiences are like blips in your ongoing life journey. Others will be major life events that alter the flow of your life journey.
Some stories will leave you the same person you were and others will have transformed you to another state of being – a different person leading a different life.
For the story to yield its healing powers, it must be a story that is truly yours. You may be tempted to write others stories of your experience or to write the story the way you think that it ought to be written. There will be many views of your story and you will be free to pick and choose the views to include in your story.
The power of the story is located in what you experience and what makes sense to you at the time.
Unfolding the power in your story is all about deeply engaging with your stories. Asking yourself the hard questions like:
"Is this really the meaning I want my life to have?"
You can use such questions to get to know yourself better, to look for alternatives, to investigate your character from different viewpoints, to look for strengths and resources that you may have overlooked and see how you can leverage them.
You live your life by the stories you tell about it. Some of our stories are written by forces that might seem out of our control but we always have the power to develop new characters, change locations, introduce new story lines, and write the happy ending. The changes in story line need to be something that we truly generate not something that we just cut and paste onto our story.
At the end of each story, as the author, you get to decide if the story you are telling is the story you want of your life. You get to decide if the story is right for you. Instead of devising a single predetermined ending, you have the opportunity to look around for what you really want. As the author you have the power, the privilege and the right to write and rewrite your life story until it tells the story you want.
Are you writing the story you really want to write?
- Have you taken the time to notice the story you are telling about you life?
- Do you like the story you are living now? Is it really the story you want to tell of your life?
- As the main character - how is it all working out for you?
- Would you like to put another spin on your story? Rewrite some chapters? Bring in new characters? Change the plot? Create a new ending?
- If you could write yourself any story, what would it be?
"...to make sense of our experience by creating a story is an essential human characteristic, and whatever story we tell at a given time reflects our level of consciousness. At one point, we may tell a story of victimhood or revenge, and later one of compassion and empowerment. It is the exercise, moment to moment, of free will, of doggedly looking for beauty, joy, and possibility, that offers us the greatest hope for generating stories that will contain the creativity and inspiration we need to solve otherwise insurmountable challenges."
-Nina Utne
If you need help writing your life story, figuring out the story you are in, or deciding what new story to write, contact me and let’s see what is happening for you and how I can help Call 434-263-4669 or e-mail,
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© Copyright 1997 - 2008 by Mary Ann Copson and Evenstar. All rights reserved.
About the Author:
Mary Ann Copson is the founder of the Evenstar Mood & Energy Wellness Center for Women. With Master's Degrees in Human Development and Psychology and Counseling, Mary Ann is a Certified Licensed Nutritionist; Certified Holistic Health Practitioner; Brain Chemistry Profile Clinician; and a Health, Wellness and Lifestyle Coach. Reconnect to your physical, emotional, mental, psychological and spiritual natural rhythms at
http://evenstaronline.com
