We all have stories that live inside us.

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Stories of our childhood, of our family, our experiences.

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These stories we carry with us every day.

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Not just in our minds, but in our bodies.

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In our nervous systems.

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And these stories dictate how we move through the world.

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The choices we make and the patterns we live into are all formed by the meaning we make from these stories.

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Some of the stories feel open and free and allow us to truly be ourselves.

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Others feel like they are constrictive, tight knots around our necks.

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Regardless of the story, they all shape how we hold ourselves, how we relate to others and the world, how we show up.

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Yet the stories themselves do not determine our patterns.

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It is the meaning we constantly make from them that runs the show.

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That keeps the pain alive in our bodies.

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Or the joy.

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Thoughts like "I am not enough" or "I'll always be alone" come from these experiences.

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They are held in our bodies on a very deep level.

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Carrying them can feel heavy and depleting.

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But we always have a choice.

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A choice to change and shift the meaning we make out of our experiences.

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The experiences themselves will never change.

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For they actually happened, and we will remember them.

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We cannot change that.

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Yet we can change the meaning we have made from them.

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Changing the interpretation of what those experience say about us is within our power.

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Perhaps not radically, and not all at once.

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Slowly, over time, we can reinterpret those same stories to make a different meaning out of them.

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A new meaning that serves us better..

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That feels lighter to hold and carry with us.

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Bringing kindness and curiosity to those stories can serve us well.

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Can help us to see the others involved in the experiences as human beings.

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Humans with flaws and their own stories.

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That are hurt themselves.

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It will not change what actually happened to us.

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What will change is how we feel about what happened to us.

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And perhaps, when we have lived into the new meanings we have made, we can actually feel better.

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Fell better about ourselves.

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About life.

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That is the true power of our ability to make and change the meaning we make around everything.

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So what stories have you been carrying with you that you want to change the meaning of?

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~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant

Host of The Conscious Consultant Hour