Selective Storytelling

Can you imagine giving a retirement speech, celebrating the end of an important professional chapter? Just think  how you will interpret events that happen to you today in this light. So-called obstacles  will in retrospect be viewed as opportunities that have guided you into a new direction. A while back a colleague had to leave the company I work for and asked me how to share this news with others. I advised him to present the story he is likely to tell during his retirement speech in a couple of decades. Don't you think he will have quite a different interpretation by then?

History lives, just as the future depends on how we approach it today. Everything is connected with that holy center of power, called  Now. Spirituality is the insight that everything we experience is just a veil except for one thing which is real,  love. I know it is hard to believe but your life has only one purpose, to guide you home to the  Source in the fastest way possible. Most undertake this journey subconsciously, while you have the potential to make it a conscious one.

 Everything is perfect as is from this perspective of bringing you home and once you live by that rule you can actually have so much fun along the Way. So no matter what happens to you, be always be on the lookout for love, be open to heal the past in the same way as you are always open to new opportunities to express yourself creatively, passionately and lovingly in the future.  Discover how with this new perspective "history" will heal magically for you.  People will give you belated reasons why they separated from you or mistreated you which will put the past in a completely new light. Or people may reveal to you that they have completely forgotten events that you still feel bad about years after they transpired.

In the same spirit, if you have to face confrontations today, contemplate what this event will likely stand for. Of course you should never fight anyone for that would mean that you are only fighting yourself. But then, there are opportunities to stand firm with  others just as there are times when you stand firm with yourself, right? If there is conflict, already start telling yourself a story that explains the "happy ending" for everyone. Sure you will make mistakes, sure you will be naive at times, but keep on interacting with the Tao and She will show you the signs that tell you how the story-line is connected and how it is changing for all parties involved. So keep on telling your story and stand ready to revise and edit it along the Way until everything finally makes sense. You know when you are done. It is when you see love no matter where you look.

 You may think this is a strange theory and that it will make you susceptible to self-deception. Well, give our healing theory a shot and see for yourself whether the evidence is lining up for you. Life is a fairy tale if you believe that it is. All the monsters are transient while the Hollywood-ending is guaranteed. Why? Because it is your story and you have the most resourceful movie- director behind you, the Tao. Start telling your story and start living it!

The Future is Now

At every single moment of one's life one is what one is going to be no less than what one has been.
(Oscar Wilde)

That is indeed a very liberating insight. But there is even more to it.  Once you understand that the past never happened while the future is now you are finally free.

Would have, Could have

I once was asked to go on a stage in front of 400 people to perform some experiment. Of course I was scared and nervous, but I did the best that I could and before I knew it, my participation in this experiment was over. Afterwards for days I mulled over what else I could have said, or what I could have done instead. All the while I knew that this was nothing but a mental waste of energy, but I compulsively did it nevertheless, after the effect faded after a few days and I managed to move on with my life.

It was then that it hit me how our drives force us to live outside of the present time. Either we bewail missed opportunities in the past, or we anticipate how we rise to the occasion in the future. Meanwhile, we are missing out on what is happening around us. So what can we actually do to prevent this? Living intensely in the present is one thing. It is ok to run after your passions, but do so with both feet in it. After some time you will realize that reflecting on the past is meaningless, since first you can't change it, and second you never know what the true implication for you and others really is. You will also learn that anticipating the future is meaningless. Reality is way too complex. A safe assumption is  that first it comes differently, and second, as you would have thought.