Telling stories to myself

Truly, I have the power - the power to make myself unhappy. The most effective way I do it is by telling stories to myself.

I've been a daydreamer all my life, spinning tales that I tell only to myself. There is a common pattern to these stories: I am nearly always a central character, and they don't really end, they just peter off. Events in the stories also do not go well for me. Relationships sour, people die, projects remain undone, deadlines are not met. And the stories leave a bad after-taste in my thoughts and emotions.

A while ago, I went through a period of contentment. It happened to be a time when I was blogging more actively. One day as I drove to work, I realized that I had stopped telling stories to myself. Telling stories to the world in written words seems to clear my thoughts of the dark tales, and to help prevent me from making myself unhappy.

Isn't this the heart of meditation - to not tell stories to oneself, to not cling to those dark tales, to let them drift away?

Comments

  1. PatMarch 25, 2009 at 6:57 AM

    Oh heel, girl, go ahead and tell yourself stories or talk to yourself as my grandmother said, "a smarter person you'll never find."

    And just learn to put a positive spin on these tales and that bad taste leaves quickly -- or just drink more!

    ReplyDelete

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