Your Story is Not Over, The Ink Hasn’t Dried

Wake up, wake up
The ink hasn’t dried
The story of you/me/them/us
Echoes in the pages, in the folds
Of what we don’t say
And what we choose to hear
The myth we’ve called our own
But a memory
Sings us back
Calls us home
To a place
We recognize
When we’re not trying to impress
When we’re not trying to expose
When we’re not trying to believe
In a fairy tale
Whispered in our ears
Before we fell asleep
Wake up, wake up
The ink hasn’t dried
——-Irisanya

I recently came across this poem and was so inspired by what it conjured up inside of me, I decide to write this months column surrounding these concepts. The concept of limitless possibility, of the notion of “story” – that which we are once told and for whatever reason chose to believe, the idea of returning to our true selves – that which feels so real and true and loving, wondering where we have been all this time. And finally, the idea that our “story” can be changed at anytime – as soon as we wake up to the realization that the story we’re living is no longer true…for us…anymore.

Life is a limitless journey. The idea that there is only one way to live, one way to be successful, one tool with which to measure our success by, one path for all people, is really narrow minded and lacking in true and abundant imagination. It is this very notion that creates separation, division, anxiety and war. The idea that anyone would have superiority over another because they believe so faithfully in one path, and in order to support this decision they need others to affirm and even join them, to make them “right” because if they are not that means maybe they are wrong and that is just too unbearable to swallow, is living a life based on fear and lack and ignorance, or maybe innocence. I am all for faith based practices. I am all for your right to choose what is right for you. What I am not for however is intolerance, and judgement that leads to hatred. These concepts do not live inside of me and although I haven’t been completely immune to them over the course of my life, I have grown to see (and choose to believe) that life is much bigger then all of this – in true love there are no limits, In true potential there is no lack, in our true essence we are all one.

Our “story” begins even before we are born but that doesn’t mean it is always a fit, and it certainly doesn’t mean it is a closed book case. Our story encompasses our past – our ancestors and their beliefs, it encompasses evolution – what is going on in the world around us and all that has changed in our short lifetime, and it encompasses our hopes, dreams, beliefs and tenacity and, our ability to envision a world other then the one that feels out of date, a size to small, a road too narrow. Our story is made up of all of this and inherent within it is our right to choose a new path, to design a story of our own making. Recall the story of a young man in an African village whose “story” is supposedly written until he discovers that he loves to run and becomes a great athlete, a marathon runner, and wins races all over the world! Or a boy in turkey born with no eyes who becomes a great and prolific artist! Or a youth orchestra in Paraguay where all their instruments are made out of trash! (of which a documentary film is soon to be released called, Landfill Harmonic.) There are countless stories like these that “should” never have happened….if it weren’t for one’s ability to rise above their circumstances and envision another possibility.

And then there is the process of waking-up. The allowing of ourselves to honor and to know the truth and beauty that lies within us. We have such grand potential and I wish from inception we were all taught about our magnificence rather then reminded of our limitations.

Our stories are way too small, our fear of realizing our potential way too great. But, it is never too late to rewrite our story……because the ink hasn’t dried……just yet.

 

Readers Inquiry:

1) What current Story is running your life?

2) What Story are you so sick of you can hardly bring yourself to utter the words of it anymore?

3) What NEW story would you like to write in its’ place?

Challenge: Write that Story now! Begin living that Story now! Circumvent your original Journey.