What's Your Story?

​Oprah Winfrey said “everyone can use their life as a class.”  Our best-selling life story is filled with lessons.  We use these stories to empathize with friends going through a tough time. We teach values to our children through our stories.  Our stories are important, but they can hinder our progression.
 
Think about your life story. What obstacles did you have to overcome to arrive where you are today?  Staying up late to study for a college exam, working extra hours for a promotion, leaving an unhealthy relationship or waking up to discover you have a deeper purpose in life are just a few examples.  These are some of the most important chapters in our life.
 
Each time we tell our story it sheds more insight and knowledge.  When my daughter complains that a friend doesn’t want to play with her, I recall a similar moment between a childhood friend and me.  She and I argued over what we wanted to play.  Because we both thought we were right, we ended up mad, and walking home alone sulking in our separate bedrooms.  In my youth, this incident made me both angry and sad. Then, as I told the story in my 20’s, I saw how immature and selfish I was to her feelings.  Now, as I tell this story as a parent, I notice I did feel compassion and love for my friend even in that moment, but I lacked the skills to access the emotions.  This tale unfolded into a teachable moment.
 
Retelling our stories is healing, but living in past stories is not.  Do you find it’s hard to close one chapter and move to another?  Many of us want to completely erase or forget a portion of our story.  That again, is unhealthy.  Ripping pages out of our book tears away a piece of us.  Learning to allow this story to remain in our past not our present is part of our foundation.  It is how we got to the amazing place we are today.  And yes, being here today is amazing.
 
Like a good summer read, feel free to thumb through previous chapters and awaken to a new perspective. Use this new light to lift and support the story we are writing today.