What's My Story?

Everyone has a story.

Actually, we seem to have quite a few stories that we tell ourselves and our world that explain who we are. These stories can be based solely on our perspective of the 'what happens' to us. A critical factor in this is "our perspective".

How do we get to new perspectives? Why would we want to?

Once upon a time a woman was walking in the forest. She'd been walking for many days and nights becoming exhausted and frightened. Most of the trees looked like the rest of the trees. She had held onto hope of finding her way on her own for as long as she could, but finally accepted, that from this point of view, success was out of her reach.

If someone had come along, her story would have sounded like this: "I'm always lost, I can't get out of this forest because the trees all look the same and everytime I turn I end up where I started. I'd like to get past this, but I can't. The forest won't let me. It seems like nothing works out for me."

I've been in this forest myself and it's very frustrating.

Fortunately, one day it occurs to her that if she climbs a tree the view will be different - maybe even better. She had to climb quite a few trees, because each new perspective would only get her so far along on her journey. Eventually, she did find her way out of the forest (only to land in the middle of a deep sea, but that's a different story).

Now her story sounded something like this: "I was lost, but figured out that the trees which were keeping me lost were really the key to my success, because as soon as I learned to climb them I was able to find my way out. I succeeded, not because of the trees, but because I learned to see the trees in a new way."

So, how does one learn to see the trees in a new way? They all look pretty much the same, day after day. What can give us the inspiration that transforms the everyday into the transcendent? What is the 'magic pixie dust' that turns lead into gold?

For me, one great source is story. The world is full of story. We are often limited in the story choices our culture offers, but only because we haven't availed ourselves of the vast pool of multicultural folktales. Stories from around the world hold up fresh mirrors within which to see ourselves. These tales have been distilled through the centuries and offer resonant, archetypal images that we can draw on when interpreting the mundane events of our lives.

Our deeper selves don't long for untroubled, problem-free lives - our deeper selves yearn for a sense of meaning and a cultivation of depth of experience. Feed your deeper self some rich stories today. Go for the wild, enormous Russian tales, or the elegant, poignancy of Japanese tales, or the lilting, rich, dynamic Irish tales. Then, see yourself in the story and see the story in yourself.

This just might be the 'real' magic mirror.