Stories…we all have one.

All the things you have done. All the things that have happened in your life. All the things you’ve witnessed, or heard about. This is your story.

And every day we add to our story.

Many of us think of ourselves as being defined by our story. We’ve spent most of our time there, and it’s how we’re used to interacting.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

Here’s my story from yesterday:

I got up early, after not having enough sleep, and drove to my niece Sandra’s house. I spent most of the day with her and my sister Denise. We had a yard sale which was very successful. We sat under a large shade tree for most of the time, and talked and met some interesting people who stopped by. We sold the majority of what we had. About 4:00 I left there and met Mitch at Barrett Commons AMC. We saw a new release called “Moon”, which we enjoyed. Then we went home, had dinner, and relaxed for the evening.

That’s my story (the very short version) from just yesterday.

Was there anything there that was interesting to you? Was there anything there that remains relevant for me today? Answering for myself, I’d say “no.”

The facts about what I did are a part of my story, but they were only relevant in the moment.

What might be still relevant to me are the less tangible things about yesterday. How the experience(s) made me feel. Any insights or knowledge that I gained. Anything that might be useful to me - or to other people - today or in the future.

So, here’s another version of my yesterday - without the story:

I enjoy times when I relax and  become fully engaged in where I am, who I’m with, and just “go with the flow.” It’s a refreshing change to most of my days. I think I’d like to create more time in my life for just “being.” I’d be happier if I took some of pressure of always “doing” off of myself. I laugh more and generally feel better when I do that. I also liked the movie - it was an interesting concept.

Those two things I choose to hold on to. They are relevant to me today, and perhaps even to you. (There were some other little pieces of information and insights that I think might be interesting to certain other people, but you get the idea.)

The point of all this is that if I spend part of today either thinking or talking about my story from yesterday, I’m not present today - I’m living in my past. (And, I just may be boring other people in the process.)

Rather than that, if I spend some time today thinking and talking about the insights I gained, I can perhaps inspire myself - and someone else - to act on them.

So, when someone asks me, “How was your weekend?”, my response will generally be the latter description, or at least the part of it that I think might be relevant to them.

And, when I reflect on my weekend, I choose to think of it in those terms. It just seems more productive to do it that way, because I choose to be  - and share - something other than my story…

Just Imagine That!