Since your past is gone, you can no longer take part in it. You can only tell stories about it, primarily to yourself. Since your future is not here yet, you cannot experience it. All you can do is imagine it, again, mostly to yourself.
What stories do you tell yourself about your past? About 20 years ago? About 10 months ago? About last night?
What stories do you tell yourself about your future? About its potential? About its probabilities? About its certainties and uncertainties?
Your present is here with you, always in your grasp. You tell yourself a story about it, too.
What stories are you telling yourself about right now? About yourself at this moment? About where you are? About what you are doing?
You are always telling yourself some story. You do not view the world as it is but through the lens of the stories you tell yourself about it. You do not view yourself as you are but through the lens of the stories you tell yourself about who you are. A big part of that lens is the story you tell yourself about what you've been through and what is ahead.
Stories are not reality. They are stories. But stories affect reality by altering how you see it and your behavior in it.
What stories are you telling yourself about your past, present, and future? How are those stories affecting your feelings, choices, and actions?
ONE FINAL THOUGHT:
3 Bonus Questions for
Revealing Relationships
There is a relationship between your stories about the past, present, and future. The stories you tell about one affect the stories you tell about the other two.
- How is the story you are telling about your past affecting the story you are telling about your present?
- How is the story you are telling about your present affecting the story you are telling about your future?
- How is the story you are telling about your future affecting the story you are telling about your present?
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