Writing My Own Story

I believe we each chose to our life in order to experience certain things - we chose the family, the place, the time, and the lessons.  And we continue to choose our experience every day in a thousand little ways.   We write our own story in life.

Everybody has a story.  And everybody is writing their own story.  We each have a starring role in the story of our lives.  We get to write it and we get to be in it.  We cast the roles and play out the action.  For most of us, many of the people we come in contact with each day are extras.  We have a few co-stars and some guest stars, but we are the central character in our own story. 

Since I believe I have a choice and I know that I am the only one who can make it, I want to write my story well.  I want great dialogue.  I want to be the character that people connect with and want in their living room every week. 

When I watch a tv program or a movie, I decide whether I want to keep watching most often on whether I identify with a character or care about them.  Sometimes I watch a show that has no characters I care about, but a character is so watchable and interesting I am engaged in spite of myself.  Still, I don't want to know that person and usually lose interest in the story.

There are two elements to writing a good story arc -- episodic and mythology.  The episodic are the things that get resolved in the everyday.  These are the life things - where to live, a place to contribute, a job, children, who you marry, where you go to school, a career, how you live your life.   It is the physical things in life; the hows, wheres, and whats.   And although the physical reality of my life exists in the episodic - in the everyday, the spiritual and human being that I am at my core is my mythology. 

The mythology is the why of life.  It is the spiritual journey of life.  The non-physical aspects of  my world.  It contains the rules of my world that are evident, but not tangible.  Those are my beliefs and they create the reality in which I exist. 

We tend to spend a lot of time in the details about the life stuff and act like it is vital and urgent.  We take up time with "life" and the truly important thing is our spiritual journey - the internal struggle and process.  My mythology is what motivates me.  It gives me purpose and helps me to uncover the riches within.  I am learning my lessons, experiencing exactly what I choose.  I am writing my story.  And I must say I am grateful to discover I like my character.