Stories That We Tell

 ... and what that means about us.

In the last few months I have had a lot of stories show up on my Social Media newsfeed. And these stories all tell variations of the same story.

In that story the narrator is either an angry old solitary man, widowed and retired and/or a biker. If retired a mechanic or some other type of person who works with their hands. Or someone who is really hurt and isolated who is sometimes thinking of extreme solutions who is a younger person in the finance or tech side of the world.

In the narration there is usually some sort of talk about how the world is really loud with a lot of shouting going on in the media etc.

And something then happens where the narrator has to interact with someone who is their complete opposite in everything political etc.

And it becomes a heart warming story of people who disagree helping each other to survive in this loud and cold world.

And, no matter whether the narrator is the older or younger person, and it is usually the older one, it is always the older one which helps the younger one. Experience and all.

And I, being just as suspicious and paranoid as anyone in this world, conditioned by the Monster Media Companies, wonder at where these are coming from and the motives behind these stories that are showing up Now. In this time. And not before.

I am willing to consider the most obvious motive, telling healing stories to help people see that we are much more alike than different from each other than not, and getting across the idea that community is our only Human response to adversity and that building a community in todays world happens one connection at a time, as true. And to give credit to those people who are doing these stories for the effort needed in order to put out all these stories and slide the by the algorithms. If this is truly the motive behind all this.

And that nasty suspicious side of me looks at all of this feel good stuff and wonders. Wonders if these stories are designed to get us to ignore the very real differences that are there in order to paper over everything so that the people who are directing all of the division, using their tools in the Monster Media Corporations, never actually get called out for the division that they are pushing.

And what does that story tell you about me? It tells you that I am as whipsawed as anyone in this world by my own Human want and need for Community and the very well Financed and Directed efforts of the rich to divide all of us from each other.

In these United States we have always told stories about ourselves. And these stories were very specifically designed to sell us American Exceptionalism. In reality White Anglo Saxon Protestant Exceptionalism.

Our stories have always Excluded the Native Population, the Black Population, the Asian Population, and any Other Population who did not fit their very narrow criteria of Human Being. And they have always deified the people who Exploit Other People and Resources for Huge Financial Gain. The White Wealthy Exploiters have always been the Golden Calf of America.

And what does those stories tell us about America? That this country has ALWAYS been designed for a very narrow segment of people. It was designed by and for wealthy people. Most of whom despised and terrorized other people for Financial Gain.

So in the end we get exactly where we are now. We are no longer the United States of America. We are the Very Dis-United States of America.

And then we get to our own personal stories about who we are as Ourselves. And that is also an absolutely Fascinating picture.

For example, for many years I really thought that I was a good guy. That I was misunderstood by the world around me. That I was honest to a fault and really just trying to be helpful.

The reality did not match. Not at all. I was sunk into addiction from a very young age. I became a liar to everyone, especially myself, about everything. It was so bad that in times when honesty would have worked so much better for the situation I was dealing with I lied because I was incapable of doing anything else.

So the stories that I told myself pointed towards where I wanted to be. Not my then reality. I wanted to be all that and a box of donuts. I just had no idea how to get there.

Later I began the ongoing journey of becoming that person that I wanted to be. It has been going on for a long time and will be ongoing right up until the moment that I transition into whatever comes after this life is over.

Today I tell myself the story that I will never Arrive. That it is the Journey itself that is meaningful. And, FYI, I truly believe that to be true for me. And what that story means to me about me is that perfection is something that I can aim for yet never achieve. I am sure there is more.

And then there are the stories we tell to ourselves non verbally. The ones that live deep down inside of ourselves that we, usually, do not even know are there. These are the Trauma Stories of who we are.

Science has recently shown that Trauma, especially Early Childhood Trauma, does not get written into Cognitive Memory so much as into the earlier parts of our brain. It is put into the Animal part of who we are. It becomes the Unconscious way that we relate to the world.

The unheard stories. The trauma reactions. The silent and unseen glasses thru which we interact with the world around us. It affects our lives and the lives of those around us in every aspect of our lives. It causes our wounds to bleed on people who had nothing to do with those wounds to begin with.

And what does that mean about us? It means that we have not yet acknowledged our own need to heal. It can, sometimes, mean that we are afraid to face the places where we are wounded and are in denial that we are still wounded. It means that we are reacting, not responding, to the world around us from a place that we cannot see and warps our view of what is actually happening. It means that we have work to do.

So, my Dear Friends:

• What are the stories that you tell about yourself?
• Do they come from a place of Empowerment or a place of Hurt?
• Do they show you as you are or as you wish to be?
• Are you still bleeding on the people around you?
• Do you know what the stories that you exist inside of are?

We all have stories that we exist inside of. I know some of mine. I am learning as we go what they are and how they affect my life and the lives of those around me. I still have a long way to.

What are your stories?

Namaste 🙏