We live by our stories. Our current emotional state is depicted by the stories that we have told ourselves about the events in our lives, or other’s lives. I ran across a quote by short story writer, Alice Munro. She says, “Memory is the way we keep telling ourselves our stories – and telling other people a somewhat different version of our stories.”
Even when two or more people experience the same circumstances, in the same time and in the same place, their versions of the story will differ to some degree. When listening to a story that someone else is telling, the picture that forms in our mind, will be different from the picture in the mind of the story teller, and everyone else who is hearing the story. The problem that is so often created when hearing a story is that we believe it is real; but because it is a story about something which has already happened, it is not real. It is only a memory. It is the past and the past is gone. Even if it was a real story about something that actually happened, it is gone, and it is now just a story in our memory.
While most people don’t write fiction or write for a living, we all become immersed in our own stories. Then we become attached to those stories, believing they are who we are. We invent stories about the possibility of events in the future, but again, they are just stories. The future does not yet exist. If we allow these stories to consume us, we miss out on the moment that we are currently experiencing. Why live for a past that is gone, and a future that does not yet exist? The only way that we can change the future is to do something good right now. The only way to take care of our planet for tomorrow, is to take care of it right now.
