The Story

Today I’m excited to share a short extract from ‘The Story’. The book that I’m currently writing and planning on publishing in 2023. The Story is a guide book and map, a creative program that offers tools to enliven and empower the truth of your story.

"Prophecy and prescience--How can they be put to the test in the face of unanswered questions? Consider: How much is actual prediction ... and how much is the prophet shaping the future to fit the prophecy? What are the harmonics inherent in the act of prophecy? Does the prophet see the future or does he see a line of weakness, a fault or cleavage that he may shatter with words or decisions as a diamond-cutter shatters his gem with a blow of the knife?" - Frank Herbert - Dune

Throughout our lives, we face questions that haunt us.

When we reflect on our purpose, we fuel our growth. Life is strange. Mystery is entwined with our imaginations. For the last seventy or so years, the inherent mystery that exists beneath the surface has been forcefully ignored, refuted, discarded and buried, beneath all manner of materialist concerns.

Technology and our interaction with the internet have taken a great chunk of time from us.

Quiet moments of reflection are few and far between, there has never been a moment in human history that is so full, with experiences, events, and interactions on all levels, at all moments of the day.

The opportunity to contemplate and engage with mystery has decreased.

When we allow space for contemplation; be it creative dreaming or meditation, we begin to uncover who we are. When we fill our time and thoughts to the point of overflow, there’s no way to see clearly through the haze of layers; the sediment of information that clogs up our thinking and dreaming.

It is a radical act to take back your agency, to commit to making the time to explore. When we are unable to do this, we are not experiencing the full richness of life. We miss the point of our journey, then time is over and it's too late.

Why do we need to explore? We are units of understanding. The sacred and divine are expressed through us and our story. Against all odds, you came into existence. Perhaps your insight is key? Perhaps the universe is witnessing itself through your existence, through your thoughts, memories and emotions?

Mystery and wonder unify our minds. They enliven the narrative of our existence, we must open our hearts to the raw experience, approaching each moment as an opportunity to see and learn and understand. Sooner or later, we all confront how wondrous and mysterious life is.

It’s impossible for everyone to agree on a singular view of what existence is. The truth is that life is meant to be experienced by the individual and can only be quantified emotionally from a personal experiential viewpoint.

We’re all put here to learn the truth of who we are and the purpose of our story.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” - Mark Twain

The vast majority of conflict and unhappiness is instigated when others insist their viewpoint or dogma is more valuable than anyone else's. So much of the pain in life exists when organised belief systems insist that we should endorse their purpose, their world view, whilst we are lost to a version of truth that doesn’t belong to us.

We must challenge easy answers and never forget that no-one has a monopoly on truth. Each person exists in orbit of their own essence. Mystery helps us respect our limits. As we attempt to learn and understand from what we are experiencing, it encourages us to think beyond the systems we’re embedded within.

Stories are how we make sense of mystery. When significant events occur, we feel alive and experience a desire to share these moments. This is why storytelling is so inherently linked to creation myths. It connects all great storytelling, in a lineage of narratives that travel back to the dawn of time: one unending question.

The mystery at the heart of the world.

How do we engage with the unknown? We remain open minded, not fixed in our assumptions. We use common sense and focus our attention on the experiences that speak to us in a direct way. We ensure we are attentive and listen to what our intuition tells us is correct and what is fallacy.

We are always ready to receive lessons in the direct connection with the sacred and divine nature of life. We should challenge ourselves and our assumptions at every opportunity so we can attempt to move beyond the suffering and trauma we have endured. If we are able to sacrifice our pain to a creative act, we transform. We can be free of our ego, and free of the limitations our pain sets on us. But, we must be brave enough to transgress arbitrary standards that others have placed upon us, so that they don’t dictate how we should lead our lives.

A great deal of what we think is beyond our grasp, beyond our understanding can be reached with fidelity, common sense, intuitive problem solving and a willingness to step outside of our comfort zone to explore life's wonders.

Exploring our lives through reflection and art and storytelling ensures growth, as we accept that our life is an unfolding mystery that can only be solved by one person: You.

For you to exist, billions of other lives before had to come into the world and survive long enough to raise children under the harshest of conditions. Ancestors are standing behind you who loved, fought and strived to stay alive, so that generations later you could have a life to live and explore the world through.

We are here to unlock the truth of the story that exists within us all.

The book you have in your hands, offers a plan and a map to do just that. Over the course of The Storycreative program, you will raise and enliven the truth inside and journey beyond any current limitations you face, further towards the person you were born to become. Not the limited version that others have attempted to convince you is real.

The You, stripped of the inherited stories that block your heart.

If you’d like to experience ‘The Story’ then please do come along to my ‘Ancestral Healing and Transforming Trauma’ Workshop. Where I will be teaching the foundation of ‘The Story’ creative program at Ashton Court Mansion in Bristol on the 7th and 8th of May.