The stories we tell ourselves create our future

All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.
The Dhammapada – Wisdom of the Buddha, Chapter 1 verse 1

What are the stories you tell yourself and how has it shaped who you are?

We create narratives to make sense our of the world, others and ourselves. The great stories and myths that have shaped history are contained in the stories handed down by religion, cultures and communities.

People think in stories

They act as our invisible operating system. The lens through which we view the world, that colours what we see and determines our response.

Everybody acts out a myth, but very few people know what their myth is.
C.G.Jung

Victim or victor?

The choice of the story you tell yourself is yours. Even if you have suffered a great injustice not through any fault of you own, how to move forward will be determined by what you choose to tell yourself.

“I am a failure, a victim of circumstances.”

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond.”

I am not what happened to me but what I choose to become
C. G. Jung

Who am I?

This is not always conscious and clear. Many of our stories are deeply rooted in our unconscious.

Handed down through generations to us. It can create problems when we use these narratives without questioning or challenging their usefulness for us today.

What prevents me from seeing clearly?

All these stories shape the lens through which we view the world:

memes
myths
grand narratives
ideas/ideologies/idols

Identity politics removes our individual story and substitutes it with group identity. We lose our sense of self and the opportunity to take the corrective action that only we can through individual responsibility.

By taking back control of our story we can choose how we respond to the injustice and hurt we have suffered rather than letting anger and hate dominate and colour our response to the perpetrators.