by Charles K. Barnard
Are the stories you tell yourself literary fiction? Do these stories have artistic value even if they are fiction? Are you – your character, your personhood – the central focus of the story or is it about the events of your life? Are the stories you tell yourself mysteries? Are these stories about you trying to solve some mystery in your life? Are you regularly creating in your own mind suspense and intrigue? Maybe your stories are thrillers or even horror stories. Maybe the stories you tell yourself are romance or would fit into the classic American western genre. Could they be fantasy or dystopian in nature? It can actually be an enlightening exercise to think about the stories you tell yourself, the dreams you create, and determine what genre or genres they tend to fit in. Are you drawn to reading in these genres? What we read may say something about the stories we tell ourselves and the life we create for ourselves.
One thing that is certain, if you fill your mind with stories from genres where you are a victim instead of the hero you will experience victimhood. If your stories have you experience horror you will be far more likely to be horrified by the world. What we fill our minds with we become. I often share the quote from John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
A mind not to be changed by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n.
Many of the great thinkers in history wrote similar thoughts. Paul writing in Philippians 4:8 wrote this, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Confucius reportedly wrote, “The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.” Buddha wrote, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” Socrates wrote, “Be as you wish to seem.” In other words, learn to become the author of your life, but write a good, wholesome, uplifting, magical, beautiful, admirable, praiseworthy, lovely story.
Of course, there are classic works of literature from all genres that are filled with death, destruction, and despair. Sin is forever present in countless biblical stories. Children’s fairy tales were often not exactly G rated. The ultimate question that we need to ask ourselves is how am I interpreting the story. What is the message that is most often being repeated by the stories you tell yourself. Does good triumph over evil? Does love defeat hate? Does faith triumph over doubt?
A habit of journaling can be an eye opening experience. Getting your thoughts down and periodically re-reading them can enlighten you into the stories you tell yourself and genre they fall in, the mood you tend to create, and world you are creating. Are you being as you wish to seem in your stories? If not, why not? Begin making your life into the story you want it to be. You might actually be surprised by the ending.
