The Direction of Intention

67.

Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

“I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.”

James Joyce

The nurse was prepping Lora for surgery. Somehow their conversation strayed from the logistics of surgery to memories of childhood and what it was like to grow up in a time when people did not lock their front doors. They reminisced about riding their bikes all day, floating inner tubes down arroyos after rainstorms, how their parents encouraged them to run, to explore, to be free and play. Their laughter stalled when they acknowledged that those days are long gone.

“Where did all of this fear come from?” Lora asked.

“I could never let my daughters run free like I did.” The nurse acknowledged.

As if on cue they both said, “I hate this culture of fear.”

Once, on an airplane, I sat next to a man who told me how dangerous the world was. He was absolute: the world was unsafe! He told me that he never let his children play outside without his direct supervision. I questioned his perception and he acknowledged that he’d never experienced violence, he’d never seen in person a violent act, and he didn’t know anyone who had experienced violence. He knew, liked and trusted his neighbors. Where did he develop his view of the world? His answer: “I see it on the news every night.”

Fear sells.

Earthquakes happen to us. Stories are of our creation. Cultures of fear begin and are perpetuated in individual people; we’ve made an agreement that the world is fearful. So it is. We live the stories that we tell because we actively create ourselves through the stories we tell. If we want to change our story, we have to tell a different story.

Stories do not happen to us, we tell them. The good news: there are truly powerful people everywhere and they are telling a different story.

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