“Every story I create, creates me. I write to create myself.” – Octavia E. Butler
Everyone is living their own story. No matter who you are, you have ups and downs. You have struggled at times, and you have cruised through life. It does not matter how big or how small you believe yourself to be, you have a story to tell.
The most important story is the one that you tell yourself. Regardless of what is going on around you, you get to interpret it any way you choose. You have, within yourself, the capacity to interpret the world through a lens of empowerment or one of disempowerment. Whether you realize it or not, you have the final say in the way you tell your own story.
One thing that can get in the way of telling an empowering story is the narrators that we have constantly chattering in our heads. These voices are often unconscious beliefs. They run below the surface, telling us things that either propel us forward or hold us back. Regardless of what these voices of the past may tell us, we have the ability to make a new choice in the present.
I have been working with a wonderful young man named Justice. He recently had a bone marrow transplant and has been living in a single room at the hospital for close to two months. Thankfully, he will be returning home soon. Through the entire experience he has had to make choices as to how he was going to look at his experience.
What I have witnessed has been inspiring. With the support of a dedicated staff of doctors, nurses, friends, and a family committed to maintaining a vision of health and wellness, Justice has moved through his experience with a positive outlook and an award winning smile. My time with Justice has been yet another reminder that we all have the choice as to how we respond to the circumstances that life dishes out.
We have to tell a good story if we want to get the best results. A wonderful story is one full of appreciation. As the great doctor, Viktor Frankl, proved, we all have a choice as to how we respond to our circumstances. Frankl survived life in a concentration camp. He noted that it was his ability to find the smallest things to appreciate that kept his spirit alive in a situation which understandably destroyed the morale of so many of the people around him. Frankl’s story is a testament to our ability to determine our future by the story we choose to tell.
It does not matter if you were born with everything, or next to nothing. You have a story to tell. Your story is important to who you are and greatly effects how you show up in the world. When you tell an empowering story, your personal energy rises, and your vision expands. When others see you in this state, they too are inspired. There is a ripple effect created by one person who dares to tell an empowering story.
If you have lost some of your fire, it is time to tell a new story. Write your story down. Reinterpret life through the lens of appreciation for all that you are, all that you have, and all that you have done. Include appreciation for what others have done for you. Find the smallest things to be grateful for and they will lead to the bigger things. Life is a blessing. It is up to us to polish that blessing into a thing of beauty that shines for all the world to see.
Edward Biagiotti is the Inclusion Specialist for Culver City Unified School District. He is also co-host of the popular radio show, Funniest Thing! with Darrell and Ed, to find out more go to www.DarrellandEd.com.
