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Precursor to Discovering Our Story

If you walk into one of those big stores that sell TVs, you will see a lot of TVs showing many different movies or shows at the same time. One glance and you might see something familiar, but in no way can you keep track of all that is presented.

Your stories are also playing along with many others at the same time. If you were paying attention to everything around you and tried to understand them, it would bring you total confusion.

So the first step in discovering your story is to quit paying attention to all the other stories. One of the ways to do this is stop analyzing others’ behaviors. Sometimes it feels like sitting down and talking about others is a necessary daily activity. This behavior has two benefits: it keeps us focused on others as opposed to our own issues, and gives us a chance to form little groups inside our community of work, neighborhood, and church. As a result, we feel a sense of community, and at the same time, we stay away from our own issues.

Sometimes we take this gossip even further and make it into huge conspiracy theories. Sometimes believing these conspiracy theories allow us to forget our own issues or put the blame for our own underachievement onto others. It’s an easy way of explaining away our own lack of responsibility by supporting or creating a story that puts the blame on a small group of folks operating from a secret location running our daily lives. (By the way, I don’t think that all governments, industries, financial institutions, churches, etc., are always being honest with us. I know secrecy exists, and possibly bad activities are taking place behind the curtains. However, I just don’t accept the unbelievable level of control we associate with these bodies of power, as if we were all bunch of robots with no influence over our own daily activities.)

You have heard a lot of people blaming the government for this or that. Who is government? Aren’t they a collection of people we put into that position of decision making? Aren’t they our cousin, mother, nephew, uncle, or friend who works in this or that governmental department? When people blame the military for this or that, how far do you think you need to go before you find someone that you know and respect who also works in the military? So if there are a million people in the army and your friend happens to be a great guy, there are probably many more like him. If your cousin works in the State Department, and he is an honest and hard-working guy, he is not the only one there with those attributes.

So before you start discovering your own stories, I ask you to give up participating in any gossip, conspiracy theory, generalization of any group, or focused attention to anyone else’s individual behavior. This allows you to keep a clear mind and focus on your own stories and resulting activities. Once you discover your stories, you will find why you may have been so interested in these conspiracy theories and other gossip, and eventually, you will get to a better place.