These words sound like they could be the beginning of a fairy tale, and maybe they are. Our lives are a little bit like the spinning of a fairy tale, a story of a long adventure that brings us home to who we really are. We all have a story but often don’t take the time to look back, understand where we’ve been, and speak it as a whole. Instead it becomes a hodge-podge of feelings and events that don’t bring the wisdom of greater connection. The common denominator eludes us and all we are left with are the moments we’ve lived and the fact we made it through.

But taking the time to sort through important life passages, the meaning they have in our lives, and putting them into perspective, heals us. David Copperfield starts with, “I am born,” and we could write our story like that. Our birth was certainly a major event in the story of our lives and often the circumstances surrounding this event tell the deeper truths of the time. My dad barely made it home from Chicago, he drove through a massive snowstorm to get to my mother, which he did just in time. But our real story may start with something like, one day I woke to find I could no longer keep living the same way, so I changed.

The choices we make about who our friends are, what we do with our time, hobbies we cultivate, classes we take, reveal passions that ignite us. All of these tell more than just the surface story of our life, they tell the story of what matters to us. Making the connections between all the pieces of ourselves comes in telling our story and leads to the whole truth of who we are. When we put our attention on long forgotten stories of the past it takes us deeper, and suddenly our story is told through decisions we made by following, or not following, what we love. We all have beautifully complicated stories to tell and the world needs to hear them.

We write our story everyday by fully participating in our lives. It’s what brings the essence of who we into our daily living. We are on this adventure called life, unsure of where it will take us, and it asks everything of us. Sometimes we are at breakneck speed, other times we pause and give ourselves time for greater reflection. But at any point we can always choose to begin unfolding our story, listen to what it has to say, and see deeper down into the mystery. This is where we meet our self.

What’s your story that needs to be told?

kb