Did you know that every one of us is a fantastic story-teller? We’re amazing fiction writers, biographers, autobiographers, historians and novelists. We tell tales about our pasts, possibly expanding upon them, building up their perceived impact via our assorted recollections.

No two of us tell our stories the same way and this includes all the other ‘characters’ that were present when our featured stories originated.

Some stories are glorious, make us laugh and become more wonderful with each telling. Others, not so if they keep us emotionally stuck in a time long ago that has little to do with the present-day as it is.

Just as we each might go through our bookshelves to donate, resell or share our books with others—is it time to rid our mental shelves of any stories that we’ve been clinging to, believing they define our identity in some way?

Decide what purpose your past stories serve. If they’re good entertainment that create laughter or possibly serve an important place in world history do tell! Maybe even go so far as to journal or publish the story for others to read. But if the stories had their time and place, and you’d be better off not reading or retelling it again, it might be time to burn that book. Literally & Ritually: Buy yourself a beautiful journal. Write out the past story that needed to be told adding every detail you can recall that needs to be released. Then…ritually burn it to ashes in a glorious blaze of fire. Celebrate as you give that book the honorable burial it deserves, but accept that it is officially ‘out-of-print.’

While we each tell stories to try to explain our world and ourselves to others, we are not our pasts — no matter how our memories might seem to try to convince us otherwise.  We are who we are today and who we might choose to tell the world we are tomorrow. Make it a good story!

 I’m @DianGriesel aka @SilverDisobedience the author of The Silver Disobedience Playbook I’m a Perception Analyst who shares my Daily Meditations for other Ageless, Passionate & Curious People