Well, that’s it. Nothing more needs to be said.
Okay, maybe not. Because the habit of telling stories that defeat us and our purposes is so strong that we need to be reminded constantly.
Two stories from the checkout line
Standing in line at the grocery store for a few short minutes, I heard these two stories:
“It’s going to be cold. My old bones can’t take it.”
“I hate turning the clocks back. It takes me at least a week to recover.”
If I’d stayed longer, I know I would have heard stories about health, heredity, money, other people’s behavior. You’ve heard them too.
The question is: do you tell them back, or accept them as true?
This is not a lighthearted question, because if you tell them and accept them as true, you get to live them.
Really? Is that what you want?
Your perception is your reality
Not mine. Not theirs. Yours.
So what reality do you want to live in?
We all do it. “I ate too much.” “Now that I’m this age I can’t ______.” (Fill in the blank. You know yours.) “People are so mean.”
Seriously. Let’s stop. Is this the reality we want to experience?
The furniture and me
I’m not telling you this from the sidelines. I catch myself telling limiting stories all the time. The only difference, after all these years, is that I catch them earlier and replace them faster.
A few weeks ago I walked into a piece of furniture for the third time in one week. Three times. That’s when I had to stop and look at the story I’d been telling: that I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing.
True. I wasn’t.
So I started saying to myself, “I am always paying attention.” I faced the story and replaced it with a better one. I shifted it.
There’s an element of grace in this, too. Sometimes we have to allow for the fact that the world’s story says it isn’t possible, and go ahead and choose the better story anyway.
Grace with ourselves when we catch the old story late. Grace to begin again.
Choose the story you want to live
What story do you want to live? What story do you want our children and grandchildren to inherit from us?
Choose the best story you can tell. If you have to bring it down to a human level, do it. Like this:
Age is not a factor in how I feel.
People are good and kind.
Change is easy for me. In fact, I enjoy the adventure of it.
I love learning new things.
I am always paying attention.
Or choose big-R Reality:
There is only One Mind, and it is Infinite Intelligence and omnipresent Love. Therefore, there is no room for anything other than perfect good.
Do you have to believe this? No. But you will over time, as you prove it to yourself.
Do you have to understand it? No. But we can choose it, knowing that eventually we will.
Prove it to yourself
Pick one story you tell that limits you, or those you love, and tell a better one. Keep telling the better one. When you hear a limiting story come out of your mouth, say no. “No. I choose a better story.”
Then watch what happens.
Three rungs on the ladder
Here it is in a nutshell. There are three rungs, and you climb them when you’re ready.
The first rung: stop limiting yourself and the world. Humans live out stories. As long as we are in the story of being human, let’s live better stories, so the world can begin to heal itself.
The second rung: stop telling yourself that you are only human after all. Instead, tell the story that you are the unique expression of the Divine (call it what you will). There is nothing to fix but the story.
The third rung: remember that you are not your story at all. You are already the perfect expression of Love, as is every person, place, and thing.
Let’s help each other out by choosing to stop the old stories of limitation and separation, and always begin with the good, the pure, and the beautiful.
And kindness to each other, starting within ourselves.
Imagine a world built on that story!
PS: If there’s a story you’ve been living that you’re ready to shift, the live Blooming Your Life course is the place to do it with company. It starts in January, we meet on Thursdays, and it doubles as a refresher on the Shift steps. Early bird: use code EBBLY27 for 20% off through December 15. Details and sign-up at here!
