Stories pass wisdom. Many religions base longevity and education on storytelling, as storytelling explains the unexplainable.
We all have our own stories about our own journeys, and they are ongoing in nature. No finite end or distinctive start. Life goes on and so the story within us deepens, is added to, and takes twists and turns. The style changes as romance, humor, and thrill are added or removed.
What is your story? What is the story of your friends, lover, family, and peers?
Everything makes up your story. At the time it may not feel like a highlight or something even worth mentioning, but know that everything shapes us. It lays foundations into the way you will act and respond to future events.
It’s the layers of repetition and renewal that color our story. Understanding results in a greater awareness that we have and we realize that it all dances and interweaves with seemingly unrelated happenings.
Stories we tell are life lessons for others. Listeners pick up, often unknowingly, on ways to cope, thrive or react. Unedited, unrepeatable recollections of life told in person, capture more than a thoroughly edited written version.
Our story is the way we saw it, felt it, lived it. It may and likely will be different from the version someone else recalls, but all are true for the individual. It’s an experiential and emotional account not a videotape of fact.
The way we each react and respond to the same circumstance is as unique as our fingerprints and therefore the way we retell the situation will be just as individual. The way we hear another’s retelling of the story will be different from how others hear it. The message or lesson of the story that we identify with may be different from what another picks up as being important.
The common threads link the unique views and a fresh view expands the appreciation for another. Tales hold so much healing for the one telling it as well as for those that listen. We process as we speak, we shift from a place of denial or fear to a place of trusting someone enough to share. We often recount other people’s stories, retelling them in the way we heard them, continuing the cycle of healing for us and new listeners.
Do you know your story? Have you taken the time to ponder it? Did you live it with enough connection that you noticed it? Or have you rushed so quickly to find out how it all ends that you missed how it all happened?
Slow down, recognize that your story is an ever-evolving account that can be added to every single moment you are blessed with. Yours is influenced by that of those you are surrounded by. Individual stories become encyclopedias of your community or clan.
You can read the same story multiple times and each read, take different insights and learning. Your story is the same, a reflection of your state and longing at the time you read it.
Life is a process, a mystery. There is no certainty other than death. Live with adventure and explore the unknown. Color your pages. Re-read your story and if you're unhappy with the chapter you are on, don't be afraid to rewrite it.
By Amy Booth
Amy is a yoga and pilates teacher and personal trainer in Brisbane, Australia, where she runs a cute riverside studio and a personal training business. In addition each year she runs yoga and hiking retreats.
To find out more: Website: www.ambertreeyoga.com.au Instagram: @ambertreeyogaandretreats Facebook: Amber Tree Yoga and Retreats
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