What’s your story?

by Jill Schroder

What if Einstein was wrong? “The world is made up of stories, not atoms.” Poet Muriel Rukeyser once said just this!

So, what’s your story?  Here are a few points to ponder, enjoy, laugh about, and share as we consider stories, their importance, the role they play in our lives, and bring awareness to our personal answer to the question.

In the beginning was Story. The caveman rushed back to his tribe and excitedly acted out his encounter with some Paleolithic beast. This was his story, and forever after he would be remembered by this story. Every story has a sacred dimension, not because of gods, but because a man’s or woman’s sense of self and their world is created through them. These stories orient the life of a people through time and establish the reality of their world. Thus are meaning and purpose given to people’s lives. “Without story we do not exist. “ This is how Catherine Ann Jones introduce her Writing Course The Way of Story.

“We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart” writes Pema Chodron

What’s your story about troubles in the world? What about relationships – the difficult ones?   John Hume wrote “Difference is the essence of Humanity.  Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict.  The answer to difference is to respect it.  Therein likes a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity.”

Eleanor Roosevelt adds “We have to face the fact that either all of us are going to die together or we are going to learn to live together, and if we are to live together we have to talk.”

“The more we take the welfare of others to heart and work for their benefit, the more benefit we derive for ourselves.  This is a fact that we can see.” Does this story of H.H. XIV Dalai Lama resonate with you?

What about love in our stories?  “No form of love is wrong, so long as it is love, and you yourself honour what you are doing. Love has an extraordinary variety of forms! And that is all that there is in life, it seems to me”  (D.H. Lawrence).

Moving to another dimension, I invite you to consider not only “What’s Your Story”, but also “What world do you want to see?”  Enjoy these images and let them take you on a journey of appreciation and wonder at the miraculous world we are lucky to inhabit.

Of course, there is a realm, a dimension of reality, where all words, let alone stories, drop away and become a limitation on and of the Oneness.  Still, there is much value in considering, enjoying, assessing, and choosing the stories that frame and reframe our lives here on the incredible planet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In closing, relish these exhortations from (might you have guessed?) – Mother Teresa!

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.

Life is beauty, admire it.

Life is a dream, realize it.

Life is a challenge, meet it.

Life is a duty, complete it.

Life is a game, play it.

Life is a promise, fulfill it.

Life is sorrow, overcome it.

Life is a song, sing it.

Life is a struggle, accept it.

Life is a tragedy, confront it.

Life is an adventure, dare it.

Life is luck, make it.

Life is too precious, do not destroy it.

Life is life, fight for it.