Stories can disempower or empower us.

Stories can change us.

Stories can destroy us.

Stories can save us.

Stories have the ability to provide answers, closure, release, and healing.

Those statements are powerful. They may have caught you off guard as you read them. Stories have power over us? That is an interesting point of view. We know stories can empower, but render us powerless? Really?

Looking at the stories we tell ourselves or we tell others about ourselves, how often do they empower us? If we are honest, we say ‘not often.’ Our stories usually drag us down into a place of despair, lack, self-doubt, shame, guilt, or another negative emotion. How many of those disempowering stories do we tell over and over, as if we are a stuck record player never able to move beyond this one spot? How often do we only judge ourselves and others because of our stories?

Telling stories or commiserating with others may give us a way to play in the energy of negativity so none of us feels different. None of us feels like an outcast because of what we believe. If we are like everyone else, there is no problem. If our stories are similar and we are all negative, then this reality says we are ‘ok’ or ‘acceptable.’

Do any of the stories we tell ourselves or about ourselves include those who helped us through rough times or times of transformation? Are any positive about who we are, our experiences or the people in our life?

Think about the stories we tell about other people or our own family. Are we willing to look at the truth of who someone is or do we have so many filters and points of view that we cannot look beyond that?

Think about those who have already passed. What are your stories about those people and why is it so important you continue to hold onto the story you have of who they were? Perhaps that is not who they were at all. I encounter these stories most often through my military work. Clients are so certain the stories they have always heard are exactly the truth, when often only pieces contain truth.

Stories have power over us in that they shape the way we see ourselves. They shape the way we see our families. They shape the way we see the world. Stories can show us we are not alone in what we feel or have experienced. Stories may inspire, show different possibilities, or help us choose a new life path.

What if we could choose something other than disempowerment? What if we stopped judging everything and everyone, including ourselves? What if we could choose to be brilliantly different? What if we could choose to drop the story of who we think someone else is and see them for what they truly are?

Today I invite you to look at the stories you tell yourself. What would happen if you let them go? How would your reality shift? What greater things could be created and show up for you?

If you would like to explore more of your stories, sign up for my course, Exploring Family Patterns and Stories. It might just change how you look at yourself and your family.

© 2021 Ancestral Souls Wisdom School