The whatness of things

Ever notice that so much of our thought is directed to influencing our future?

Perhaps because, to some degree, the past is fixed, while the future is unknown.

While it’s true that we have more agency over the future, because it is yet to unfold, what do you think of the idea that we also have more agency over the past than we admit?

When I compare the story I tell myself, let’s say about a particularly troubling incident, it isn’t the same story as everyone else who was in that scene of the play is telling themselves. 

My story is valid because it’s what is real to me. 

But my story is not the facts, because no other version quite matches it. 

And yet, it influences my internal landscape and therefore my perceptions of the world and my interactions with it, as if it were. 

Since it’s my story, I can change it if I want to. Not to distort my recollection, but to reframe it- so that what I think of the world and myself serves me better. 

I may have used up more time than I have left, but the past is a story we tell ourselves and we can be the hero, the villain, the victim or a bystander.  

we can only be one of those at any given time.

we choose which one.