Is your story inspiring or not?

If you do the uninspiring story thing occasionally that’s okay. I mean, I do it, usually when I’m having an off day. And we all do this to a greater or lessor extent. We need to. Without the uninspiring and unengaging we can’t really get to know the other facets of life.

But what if you do the uninspiring, unengaged story thing too often. When we engage in the mundane and monotony, and the poor me, life has a tendency to become like the story we’re telling.

So, a few weeks ago, when I was telling myself a whole load of gloom, I caught what I was up to. At which point I yawned out loud – which was slightly embarrassing because I was in a long queue at the time.

But in another way that was good. The lady in front of me turned and smiled. “I’m glad to see I’m not the only one that’s fed up,” she said.

Now I thought this was outrageously funny. Her story was that she thought I was bored of the queue and expressing my feelings. But I was just bored of the rubbish I had going on in my head at that moment. Yawning out loud was just my way of saying to myself, “Kindly shut up and tell a more inspiring story.”

What’s more, by the time we got to the front of the queue, I’d become such good friends with the lady, she offered to pay for my drink! How amazing!

Having spent the best part of 8 years writing stories, I know how easy it is to create whatever narrative I want. I know I can just as easily write the victim as the hero. And an actor will tell you the same thing – he can just as easily play  unfortunate as the amazing.

And that’s what we’re all doing all day long, writing the narrative or playing out the role according to the act we’re choosing to play.

A few months before my 40th birthday I woke up tired and fed up. I had this crazy story going on about being 40 in a couple of months and thinking about all the things I should have done by now. And I started to feel depressed – as only a pending birthday with a zero in it can do.

But then I rewrote the story. Life begins at 40… look at all these great things I haven’t experienced yet! I got on the Internet, Googled pictures of what I wanted, made a wish list, then started to rewrite the story, as though it had already happened and I was looking back telling it to my great grandchildren!

I’m not attached to having this outcome either. I mean, I don’t mind if things don’t work out the way I imagined. What I do know is that I wanted that day, and every day I live, to be happy and adventuresome.

And that’s not to say I’m not grounded in the reality of everything that’s happening around me. I’m very aware about my goals and roles and I’m also clear that I’d like to have a damn good time during the journey.

Where are you at with the story and the journey?

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About the Author:
Neil Fellowes shows conscious entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and complementary therapists how to make a difference AND a profit. Visit our website at http://www.communitysoul.co.uk

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