You know, from the time we are little, we hear stories. We make up stories. We share stories. Through most of our lives, stories have a very big meaning and a purpose. There is a time and there is a type of story and there is a way that we often use stories that don’t serve.

There is a thinking in the world of spirit that in order to be in the present you must be out of your story. I’m sure you’ve heard people say, “Stop with all the stories and be in the present moment.” What does that actually mean? What is the problem with a story?

What may be happening for you is that you may be getting stuck in your stories. Let’s see how that might happen. Very often, when things don’t go our way in the world of physicality, when we have hurt or conflict, someone has disrespected us, a situation has arisen at work, something happens and we’re disappointed, we’re devastated, we’re shocked, we’re surprised. We immediately create a story around it. It’s one of the ways that the brain works to try to understand life. That in and of itself is not the difficulty. The difficulty is when a person can’t let go of a story. The time you lost your job and it was horrifying. You didn’t know what you were going to do. You told yourself a story over and over of how you were fired and then when that wasn’t enough you picked up the phone, called your best friend, called your parents, and called everybody you could think of to tell them about this horrible situation. For some people, there is nothing wrong with that. When you’re on a path and you know that everything is energy and words, our words-it’s hugely important that we watch our words because they’re energy. Then you know that every single time you’re repeating the story the event that happened 2 days ago is over. That energy will dissipate. If you keep bringing it up, and you keep talking about it, you’re keeping that event alive. So think about it, if that was such a horrendous event, why would you want to keep it alive? Why would you want to keep it alive?

I know this sounds counterproductive to the way many people feel because their feelings are so important to them. The feelings are wrapped around the experience. We’re told by psychologists and people in the new age that you’ve got to get in touch with your feelings, you’ve got to feel your feelings, your feelings are everything. I would propose that it’s important to recognize an event. It’s important to recognize your feelings around the event. Instead of telling the story over and over and keeping the energy of that event going, the energy that hurt you so, the next step after having your feelings about the event, acknowledging them, is to let them go and to move forward and to make a choice to go to quiet. Go to calm and to know that this event doesn’t define you. It may cause inconvenience. It may be painful. It doesn’t define you. You can choose to move forward.

Think about it the next time you have an event, when you find yourself telling the story, not being able to wait to call your next friend to tell this horrible story to. Can’t wait to get on Facebook to write about it. Can’t wait to see all your friends on Facebook who are going to give you their support. That’s not the kind of support you need. That possibly is not the kind of support that’s helpful.

Drop the story. Don’t stuff the feelings. Note the feelings. Drop the story. It doesn’t make sense to continue to repeat the energy that burned you once. Choose to move forward. Go to quiet. Then see what’s next best for you.

This is a very controversial topic. People love their stories. They’re very attached to their stories. It’s a big part of history. We tell stories. Let me know what your thoughts are about this. Perhaps you feel differently. Perhaps you have another way of handling stories that we don’t know about. Perhaps you’d like to share your thoughts about how you’ve moved forward and left the stories behind. I’d love to hear from you. I know everybody else would. Leave a post for us here. We’ll be talking soon.