Mind Your Stories

Mind your stories.

 

Mind your stories; question them often.

Nourish those that serve.

 

Change those that do not.

Far easier said than done, yes?

For many of our darker stories

have cut grooves in the primordial stone of our psyches-

and the river of mind all too easily turns back into

these dark and shadowy valleys.

So mind also your story

about changing your story;

be quick to forgive

both yourself and your world

should the story be slow to change.

 

Mind your stories; know them for what they are.

For more than it is through your wild circumstances,

it is instead through your stories

that you might find

health,


prosperity,


and happiness.

 

Mind your stories about health,

about what is sickness, wellness,

and suffering.

For it is not your suffering,

but your stories about suffering

that makes pain either buoyant

or burdensome.

 

Mind your stories about prosperity,

about what is enough.

For it is not your desire,

but your stories about desire

that leaves you

either full or wanting.

If you find yourself succumbing to envy,

surround yourself with the impoverished.

If you find yourself succumbing to

anger,


pride,

or vanity,

surround yourself with those

who are kind, gentle, and wise.

Do these things, and you may learn

of the deeper meaning of prosperity.

 

Mind your stories about happiness,

about what will bring you joy.

Be wary of striving for happiness;

it would be like striving to grow a flower garden.

You can do only this:

find a sunny place for the soul,

prepare the soil of your destiny,

water the seeds of what might be,

tend to the weeds of shadowy stories,

and then,

perhaps,

the rose will bloom all bright and shining . . .

but you can never force her to do so.

 

And beyond health, prosperity, and happiness,

mind your larger story.

Mind your story about your place in our cosmos.

Know that along with all of the beings

of the Web of Life,

you, too, are a child of the Infinite:

that great, mysterious process

that worked patiently

for billions of years

to bring your tiny but delightful

sacred sparkle of stardust

into being.

 

Finally, mind your contribution to our larger story.

Ponder your place in the possibility

that we are growing beyond

both the story of gods and goddesses

serving or stymying us

and the old scientific story

of a decaying and meaningless Universe

to a new story of the Infinite,

a Planetary Story of a mysteriously creative Universe.

Know that we each have a place

in the birth of this emerging story,

and that yours is a vital role as midwife.

 

For it is through our new story that we can awaken

to a deeper communion with Earth,

know and love our place within her Web of Life,

rejoice in her,

and share in her bounty.

And we do so with gratitude, respect,

and humility,

for we know that, while we have learned much,

there is still much to learn

as our Planetary Story awakens within

our Holy Universe.