Here's the Story...

We all have a story. We are all starring in our very own movie, wrapped up in the thick of a plot rife with problems and resolutions. We move about in search of contentment, fulfillment, solace, companionship, acknowledgment, money, power, security, love. We find these things and then we lose them. We meet new challenges, new setbacks, new opportunities. We change scenes, change roles, change beliefs, change hair color. We grow older, wiser, jaded, wrinkled. It's a lot. It's a really long movie.

Our stories define us. They complete us. They are a road map of the chapters of our lives. We cling to them and exploit them and obsess over them. We build little villages in our heads and our hearts to keep our stories safe and alive and a part of who we are, always. We get lost in the weight of our narrative and we lose pieces of ourselves in the tangle of the plot. Life becomes rote; we write ourselves into corners.

Life should not be lived on cruise control, heading towards the inevitable. Life is rich and chaotic and unpredictable. We can't wrap it up in a pretty bow and call  it any one thing, The End. Don't buy into that. Don't believe you're someone who doesn't get what they want. Don't believe you're someone who is unlucky, someone who won't find love, who is getting old, who is failing. Don't believe you're trapped, it's over, the moment is lost. So long as we're still breathing, we never reach the end. We are radiant, spontaneous, organic, resilient, never-ending stories.

And we are all part of a much larger tale. We are each just a speck of dust along the corridor of this vast and magnificent universe. Lose yourself in that.  Lose yourself in the moments for which there are no words. Lose yourself in the parts that surprise you, the unexpected joy and sorrow and commotion and jubilation that shake you, that make you feel full and awakened and alive. You can do anything. You can be anyone. Forget the story. Wipe the residue of your past from your mind and heart, and just make it all up as you go along.