Let your stories go

The stories we tell ourselves – about what the day ahead will be like or about what’s happened in the past – can grow into full-blown sagas in our minds if we let them. As Sylvia Boorstein writes, in Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There:

“Hardly anything happens without the mind spinning it up into an elaborate production. It’s the elaboration that makes life more difficult than it needs to be.”

This week, when you notice yourself weaving stories about what might happen – or what you want to happen – in the day ahead, take a step back from your thoughts. Bring your awareness to your breathing for a few in-breaths and out-breaths, and then quietly say to yourself “These stories are not facts.” Then, move on with your day.