The stories we tell

This morning I informed Olive about a job that I had recently applied for, which I was very excited about.

She informed me that she was “crossing her fingers” for me.

“But you crossed both fingers” I accused, jokingly.

“It doesn’t matter daddy, It is good luck anyway, I have tested it”

I later asked Olive how she knew this to be true?

Her response was simple “One time I wanted to be on Ella’s team, I crossed both fingers, and sure enough I was picked”.

I loved how this simple little anecdotal experiment gave Olive confidence about her assertion.

This is a perfect example of what happens frequently throughout our lives.

We make internal hypotheses, based on anecdotal evidence, or at least our interpretation of the evidence.

From these observations we form the stories that create our ‘reality’.

These stories are often driven by emotion and feelings rather than objective facts, and the world around us takes on the colour of our particular ‘lens’.

The way we choose to interpret the world around us, determines our reality.

Imagine choosing optimism over pessimism and thinking:

• ‘People are amazing’ vs ‘people are jerks’

• ‘Police officers keep us safe’ vs. ‘cops are corrupt’

• ‘I have so much love’ vs. ‘nobody likes me’

• ‘I’m so lucky’ vs ‘I never win’

Everything in life is relative.

The stories we tell determine our reality.

It is time to tell ourselves better stories.

• Now that’s a peak ethos.