Just Stories?

 

“Just stories. You and me, everybody, we’re a set of stories and what those stories are is what makes us what we are.”
“It’s all those stories and how they braid together that tells us who and what and where we are”
— Charles de Lint

 

The stories that we tell ourselves about our lives are amazing. We write ourselves as heroes or victims and then go on living the roles that we have created. If the stories we tell of our lives are unhappy ones than we go on living unhappy lives. If the stories we tell are of fulfilment and joy than that is what we live. What happens tho if we change the story we tell? What if we take the unhappiest chapter of our life and reframe it as a valuable lesson learned that brought us joy? What happens if we take that one thing we always blamed ourselves for and change it so that while we accept the responsibility for our reactions, we accept that we were living according to who we were at the time and it wasn’t our fault.
When it comes right down to it, very little in our lives is our fault. It is our responsibility tho to deal with the consequences, to learn and then move on. This isn’t always easy. But if we change our tale, we can create a new story for ourselves and ultimately a much happier life.
Blessings, G

 

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Three Pillar ExerciseThree Pillar Exercise by G A Rosenberg

 

Buried SeedBuried Seed by G A Rosenberg

 

Quote of the Day – May 18 2012

“We are our own dragons and our own heroes. We must rescue ourselves from ourselves.”
― Peter S. Beagle

Look in the mirror
Hero or clown reflects back
Choice turns back to you

When I saved myself
I would appreciate
in value someday

My dragon devours
All parts of myself I’d lost
Neighbour’s cat missing

Thinking in Haiku
expressing thought in new ways
frees the fenced in mind

But then I left my meter running
and my scansion got declined

In Peter S Beagle’s quote who trapped us in the first place? Why? Hero, Captive, Dragon what other roles do we play.. Ah yes Director and Set Designer as well

Blessings, G

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Fractal Beings Telling Stories by G A Rosenberg

Stone Grove by G A Rosenberg

Golden Wings by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – February 23 2012

“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.”
— Joseph Campbell

What makes a hero? Someone who is willing to do the right thing no matter what the cost to himself? How do we find the hero within? Go deeper. Go deeper.
I grew up on myths and stories. From an early age I was a pretty voracious reader and what I loved to read most were myths and legends. I went through every book of those I could find and could never get enough. I also loved comic books particularly super-hero ones. Makes sense, what are they but modern mythology? When I discovered both the tarot with the Fool’s journey through the major arcana and then Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey I fell in love with both concepts. They both talk about the arc of the hero and how he leaves the familiar (parents, home) and enters the unknown, encounters several dangers, and returns home with something (possession, power, bride, wisdom) he did not have before. We’re all familiar with the arc. (If not, see Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Star Wars, Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit and many others and note the similarities)

What makes the hero go on the journey in the first place? Once he does depart what keeps him on the path? Well I can only talk about what I know. So many times in my life I have left the familiar behind, doing such things as joining religious cults, hitch-hiking cross countries and travelling to a different country to get married that I became very familiar with what I called ‘rabbit-hole time’. When i reflect on those times, the biggest thing that stands out is that I was curious, Something caught my attention and I jumped for it. Somehow I believed that even if I was not happy with the outcome, the adventure would be worthwhile. Before today, I would have called that foolishness tho today it was brought to my attention what it really was. A leap of faith. I have had faith in the universe and in the guiding force behind the universe and it has never failed me. Even the hard lessons were not as hard as they could have been. Having the love and support of my family has helped a lot there as well.

To be continued…

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Gazing at the Hero Within and Without by G A Rosenberg