Garden of Stories

Garden of Stories

by Linda Heron Wind

"The universe is not made up of atoms - it is made up of stories." The first time I heard this quote there was a flower that opened within me that has since been informing me about the importance of stories. I have become aware that stories are like seeds that we plant each time we tell them, whether to ourselves or others. The stories we tell are the creators of what we call the reality of our daily experience. What kinds of stories are we telling ourselves about who we are, what we are like, why we are here, what others are like, and what the world is like?

Some seeds grow things we want in our garden and some seeds grow things we don't want. It certainly doesn't mean that some seeds are good and others are bad - they are just different. When we want tomatoes we need to plant tomato seeds and when we want dandelions we need to plant dandelion seeds. Each have their own gifts, but we can't harvest tomatoes by planting dandelions.

Some stories create separation and some stories create connection. When we say that we want to create a world that is more loving and connected, we cannot expect to create it through sowing story seeds of separation. What kinds of stories separate? Any stories about yourself or others that involve comparison, judgment, or labeling will create separation. Stories that create connection honor difference and uniqueness, emphasize inner knowing, acknowledge co-creation and define us in a multidimentional way.

We may be far more aware of the outer stories that we tell than we are of the inner stories.

Anytime people gather who are on a spiritual path, there is a lot of "talking the talk," that is, people talk about love, connection, and unity consciousness. Many of the people have also learned to "walk the talk," or act in ways that are consistent with their talk. They give each other hugs and say nice things. Not as many people have learned to "feel the talk," having inner stories and feelings that are vibrationally consistent with the beliefs about unity and love. The feeling of love is not present if you are comparing yourself with anyone (either favorably or unfavorably), envying anyone, labeling anyone, or judging anyone. Do you have the same love feeling when someone criticizes you or disagrees with you as you do when they praise you or agree with you? Do you have the same love feelings in the grocery store line when the person ahead has a zillion coupons or behind the slow driver when you are in a hurry? Do you have the same love feelings for the boss who treated you unfairly or the partner who cheated on you? Do you have the same feeling for yourself when you succeed as you do when you fail? What stories do you tell about those situations?

The stories we tell affect how we feel and our feelings inform our actions. Have you ever gotten yourself all worked up about something only to find out later that you didn't know the whole story? I am not so sure that we can ever know the whole story, from the perspective of the seen and the unseen, the human and the divine. That keeps me in a constant state of wonder rather than thinking that I know what is going on.

One approach to freeing yourself from thinking you have the one and only "true" story that your emotions have a hay day with, is to practice making up stories about what goes on in your life. See how many stories you can make up about the same set of facts. For example, a friend may fail to show up for a lunch date - that is a fact. How you feel about it depends on what story you tell. If the story says they forgot about you because you are not important to them, you feel hurt. If the story says something terrible must have happened to them, you feel anxious. If you admit you don't know the story, you can be in wonder. After all it is not the facts that create judgment and separation, it is the stories we make up about the facts. Some favorite stories that I use when someone is being difficult are that this person is really myself in a parallel lifetime, or it is an ascended master here to test me. Those always move me into wonder!

It is important to help children differentiate between stories and facts, and understand that all stories are fictional, since we never have all the information.

Since we have choices about what sorts of stories we make up about ourselves, our lives, and the world, choose stories that create feelings of love, unity and oneness, if that is the world you wish to live in. When you do, the garden of your life will over flow with the most beautiful experiences!

Stories seed gardens
Of each day's experience
What seeds will you plant?

If you have comments on these articles or ideas for future topics, call Linda Heron Wind at (585) 924-5620 or send e-mail to LHWind@aol.com.

Page last modified May 1, 2004 by RMC