The Direction of Intention

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

The number one reason for understanding the power and impact of the-story-you-tell-yourself-about-yourself-and-the-world is (drum roll, please): We see what we believe, not the other way around. And what we believe is a story. If you have ever wondered why there is so much shouting on the airwaves (masked as “news”) these days you might consider that your belief is the rope in an ideological tug of war: if the shouters can get you to believe it you will most certainly see it – and if you see it you will call it truth.

After we believe the story we tell, we commence a search of the world for the data (proof) that supports our belief. Tell the story of a scary world that is a dangerous place and you will see plenty of supporting evidence. Tell the story of never having enough and lack will be ever-present. Tell yourself that people are generous and kind and you will find them in every grocery store, office complex, and on every street corner.

In this sense, truth is relative. What is true for you is not necessarily true for others. Like you, others are scouring the world for proof that what they believe is true. Everyone is telling a story. Each story is beautiful, relevant, and unique to the teller and so they assume it is truth for all because it is truth for them. If it is normal for me it must be normal for you….

What binds us is not a single truth but our capacity to story ourselves.

The difficulty is not in multiple truths, multiple stories; the challenge arises when there is the expectation of one story – one truth. When I believe that your truth must match my truth, that my truth is the only way and yours is inferior, that I must convert you to my truth, then we are on an untenable path. With the expectation of one truth we step into the dark woods and get lost.

There are many ways – as many as there are people on the planet. There are many truths because there are many stories. If there is a single story it is that between birth and death we will make sense of our experiences and we will do that through a process of story creation in our active search for proof that supports what we believe.

[I’m be on the road and taking a break so I’m dipping into the archives and reworking and reposting some of your favorites. I’ll be back at it in the middle of August]

Filed under: Power, Story, Truly Powerful People |