The Greatest Storyteller (YOU)

To say that I love watching movies would be a gross understatement.  Recently, I begin to entertain the thought of exactly why I love to watch movies so much.

I use to think that it was a form of escapism and to a certain degree it can be.  However, I’ve come to the realization that it runs a bit deeper than that for me.  I love movies because they put me in front of some of the greatest storytellers in the world.  I love movies because of the way they make me feel.

These storytellers know how to evoke anger inside of me.  They know how to make me laugh while also bringing tears to my eyes. (yes, I do cry at movies).  They give me cause to reflect on my own life.  While engrossed in a movie I’m able to suspend my disbelief long enough to dream with no limits attached.

So are movies imitating life or is life imitating movies?  Whatever answer you come up with there is no way to know for sure.  I’ve also concluded that I am a storyteller as well.  In fact, we’re all telling ourselves stories every single moment of the day.  Which stories that we decide to believe determines the quality of life that we experience.  If there’s one thing I know for sure is that all stories, just like in the movies, are made up.  Now you may argue that they are real but my reply to that is that even that is a story.

Here’s a simple experiment that you can do if you’re up to it.  The next time someone calls you to tell you something that’s going on in their life just listen to them as if they are telling you a story.  Think of them as a great storyteller.  The more drama that they fill their story with the better.  You will discover that this can be quite hilarious because they’ve actually found a way to convince themselves that their story is real.

Here’s one someone recently told me.  “Man I can’t stand to see these kids walk around with their pants hanging off their butts.  They can’t even walk but a few steps before they have to stop and pull them up.  What sense does that make?  One joker was even bigger than me, I bet that joker weighs over 300 pounds, don’t he know that he looks ridiculous.  You know one man was going to have a law passed to make it against the law to wear your pants like that.  It is a form of indecent exposure, you know.”

Can you see how our stories get us into other people’s business?  Can you see how being involved in other people’s business does nothing to correct the situation nor makes the storyteller feel any better?  Can you see how delusional we become to believe that others see something that they are doing inappropriate giving their model of the world?  Can you see how many of the stories that we tell ourselves about life are not empowering?

Here’s a excerpt from a poem by Edgar Guest.

There are two kinds of lies (stories) as well: The kind you live, the one you tell.

Both are damaging but the ones we live are far more fatal.  Choose more empowering stories to tell yourself about yourself.  Choose more empowering stories to tell yourself about others.  I think you’ll be glad you did.

That’s my spin on it.

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