Your Story
Remember how entranced you were, when as a kid, someone read you a story? If the story was good enough you probably went so deep inside yourself, it was as if you were really there. Those stories had real magic in them! Perhaps you identified with the protagonist, some of you the villain. We were on that pirate ship or in the castle. After we got older those stories faded away, and yet there might still be moments when we are reminded of a certain story. Something triggers that memory and it’s like being within that story all over again.
I was raised within a family of Yogis, practitioners of meditation and Yoga. The stories I heard growing up had largely to do with Sadhus and mystics, Taoist and Himalayan Masters. These stories were very exciting for me and I wanted nothing more than to emulate those characters in the stories I heard. These stories completely influenced my perception of the world and how I perceived reality. The solutions offered within those stories became my solutions for real-life problems, but my stories were not other people’s stories. My perceptions were not their perceptions. My reality was not their reality. If I’d grown up perhaps in Asia my stories may have been similar to other kids’ stories, but I grew up in California. Although California was an open-minded state, other kids around me had very different stories. Many had stories from the bible. These stories didn’t match my stories, or so I thought.
It wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I began to study mythology. It was then that I realized there exists a collection of common myths that connect all cultures. Every culture had a story of creation and each of these tales, whether it was Hindu, American Indian, European, or African, all had some common thread to tie us together. It’s as if we’re all hardwired the same way.
Now each of you is creating your own story. You are the hero or the villan. Is it a romance, comedy, or a tragedy? Is there adventure? Notice how you can begin to appreciate your acceptance of the decision to begin and willingly create your own story consciously. Take some time and write down all the stories you were read as a child. Remember the titles of the books you read in grade school. Which ones had a strong impact on you. How are all those stories shaping your perception now?
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