Determining Fact from Fiction in your life!
Bill’s Tip for February: True Reflections
Gazing into mirrors, we comb our hair, apply moisturizer, shave: Practices aimed at making us presentable and acceptable to ourselves and others.
So often, however, these daily rituals become opportunities to confirm our gray hairs, wrinkles and sallow complexions. Eyes ablaze, we scour our reflections for flaws – all too often scrutinizing what’s staring back. We then mix these unsavory findings into long-simmering beliefs that we are “not quite enough” or that we must “change” in order to succeed in life.
Fictionalizing our Lives
We become selective about what we remember and apply only shortcomings to our unfolding story-lines. Distracted with these assessments, we become preoccupied with social posturing and approval, neglecting life’s unfolding moments. Our concern with how we are doing then keeps us from truly enjoying what we are doing. In essence, we find ourselves authoring our days with emotionally incomplete sentences and, over time, reworking the potency of life’s passages.
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Sadly, we close the book on ourselves when we “judge our book by its cover.” Whatever the theme we assign our struggles: Good vs. Evil, Truths vs. Lies, Self vs. Ego; clarity can only come when we open our eyes and read between the lines.
A more accurate barometer of our well-being lies not through the Looking Glass, but in our abilities to review life circumstances and distinguish fact from fiction.
The following chart dissects one’s inner-focus; separating fact from fiction:
Fact |
<= vs. => |
Fiction |
We |
|
Me |
Responsibility |
|
Blame |
Friendliness |
|
Hostility |
Forgiveness |
|
Resentment |
Love |
|
Pride |
Gratitude |
|
Judgment |
Happiness |
|
Jealousy |
Spiritualistic |
|
Materialistic |
Wise |
|
Foolish |
Peace |
|
War |
Now |
|
Past/Future |
Acceptance |
|
Intolerance |
Simplicity |
|
Complication |
Being |
|
Doing |
Write a Non-Fiction Bestseller
Scan your days for inaccurate content and delete it from consideration. Make your life a page-turner by focusing on the powerful messages life is actually presenting you.
Live voraciously: Enjoying every word, paragraph, page and chapter – Please remember, most often it’s the tattered cover that indicates a well-lived story.