If You Don't Like the Story... Change it!
The self-development and enlightenment business — and even broader pop culture, these days — uses a lot phrases like "we create our own reality" and "you can become anything your set your mind to!"
Which — from where I am sitting — amounts to little more than a dressed up version of "choices have consequences" or "you reap what you sow."
We aren't really entitled to these things... we have to work for them, even if a lot of folks don't really like that.
I look around me in this world, and it seems people so often live by a paradigm of either wanting to reap things they never sowed... or people who want to reap before they have sowed. We are really not very good "farmers" in our own lives, anymore... maybe our capitalist consumer society has done too good a job of teaching people to "party and enjoy yourself NOW" and subsequently "do the work and pay later."
I see this all the time, both in online forums as well as in groups of purportedly "evolved" individuals.
Which brings me back around to this whole idea of changing the story/narrative."
In order to write a Better Story for our lives, we first have to know what that looks like.
Simply saying "a better story" amounts to little more than saying something like "I want to make more money next year!" At the end of the year, you made $43,010 instead of $42,995 for the year... and voila, "goal accomplished," but was that actually what you wanted?
It's difficult to Write A Better Story without taking time to identify precisely what you want that story to be.
At least, if you don't, you expose yourself to the very real possibility that your "story" isn't actually what you had in mind. Choices have consequences!
And you have to know what you truly like, and don't like... and what you're realistically willing — and able — to do to get from point A to point B.
All of this requires a fair amount of genuine mindfulness. Wishful thinking isn't going to cut it!
Consciousness and Mindfulness is a lot of work! And maybe part of the reason it often seems like we don't get what we want (or hope for) is precisely that we "go to sleep" and allow external factors to not only disrupt our true story, but actually write the story for us.
That tends to not end well!
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!
How about YOU? Have you ever gone through a period of life where you totally changed your own narrative? Was it a difficult adjustment to make? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 2025.08.21 00:09 PDT
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I think you made a great point. Wanting a “better story” isn’t enough — you have to know exactly what that story looks like and be willing to do the work to make it real. Our culture often pushes quick rewards without effort, but like you said, life works more like farming: you have to sow before you reap. Mindfulness is key, otherwise outside influences end up writing our story for us. Changing your narrative can be tough, but it’s also the path to something more genuine and fulfilling.
As you said, people now expect to reap what they haven’t sown.
Back in my day, I would do everything at work, even if it wasn't my direct responsibility, to prove my usefulness to my employer. But when I started my own business, an employee sat and waited, doing little to generate sales because she wanted to see how much of a raise I'd give her first.