Stories and their last telling

Stories have been used for countless years to impart knowledge, wisdom, and to teach.  Stories have also been used for countless years to express our experience, to share our perspective, and to release.  Sometimes the stories we tell reflect patterns and pain that are opportunities for growth for us.  Sometimes we get so good at telling stories of pain and suffering that we suffer through their telling without even realizing it.

Recently I was in a session with a client when they spoke of speaking their story.  They had recognized that they had been telling the same story over and over again.  As I listened I was struck by both their insight and a symptom.  They had the insight to recognize the pattern and yet were expressing frustration at being 'done' with telling the story - almost as if frustrated and wanting to move on.  We entered into a dialog.

"When you think of the person that is a part of your story how do you feel?"  I asked.

"I feel 'grrr'...it's like each telling is a part of the release.  But I know that I'm now done with telling the story."

I then asked them what their vision of this relationship was - it's one thing to want to move on but without a vision of where you are going to a gap can be left.  Some discussion surfaced that they sought acceptance and compassion.  A final thought entered my mind for that particular topic.

"Do you think your vision includes a telling of this story where you tell it from a place of love?"

Intellectually they could agree but acknowledged that they had some work left to do.  This work became the basis of next steps.  Simply reaching for an ideal is not what we need to actually do.  It's one thing to have a vision, or ideal, or where you want to go.  But it's quite another to take the steps to get there.  That's where the work actually is.

I think that what I learned in that moment was that we are only truly done with a story if the last telling was made from a place of love.  At that point we really are ready to release the story, and never need to tell it again.  We might not 'like' the choices that people make that trigger the stories in us and that we tell, but we should never forget that the Divine is in all.  And 'that' is worth loving at all times.