The Art and Necessity of a Good Story

I love to learn, and most of what I read is nonfiction, often research based articles and books related to the many threads of knowledge I weave together. Lately have read how "The Body Keeps the Score," which talks about how trauma is held in the body, about clinical relationships and organizational leadership. I also read a book my one of my teachers wrote about her journeys with the divine feminine in Nepal..but sometimes I just need to read a novel or watch a low grade movie...All of these stories are important!

When there is a lot of unknown, transition, and upheaval it can be a struggle to "hold it all together."But sometimes we are required to allow parts of our experience to break, or even shatter so we can open to possibility of the new way. Stories can be our guiding light into repair and re-patterning our consciousness in relation to the shifting context of our experience. Myth and story are the threads we can grasp at and weave together to create a template for the unknown.

"Spinning a yarn" can be far more than just passing the time. It is a multidimensional experience that can transcend natural laws, and break the barriers of time and space.

Mythology, personal, and cultural, is woven from the threads of possibility, hope, wisdom, heartbreak, love, and despair. Philosopher and teacher Douglas Brooks says "Facts are truths verified and revised to empower our understanding of the natural world and the processes of our human experience. Myths are lies creatively interpreted to empower our capacity to see the more in life. We must live with the facts but life is so much richer when we live too with the power of myths."

Through the mythology of many ancient traditions, the weaver has been a presence who organizes and intentionally draws strands together to bind together the stories of the world. There is the Spider Woman from the Hopi Tradition, Frigg (the goddess weaving) from the Norse Tradition, and Helen of Troy is at her loom in the Iliad, to name a few.

It is empowering to contemplate ourselves in the role of the weaver archetype, choosing which threads to integrate into the tapestry of our experience. How can we pull the weaving back together when trauma tears the fabric of our reality?

Having routines and rituals that reconnect us to the underlying power of creation are so important for resilliency in the face of challenges. Strengthening the ties that bind us to our purpose brings a here and now activation to our new story so we can evolve the way we live. These are ways to establish the patterns that everything else is overlayed onto. Repitition enforces the new story and structures right relationship with our dharma , or purpose, through alignment of the different aspects of the self, and how we align with others. This maintains the texture, order, and overall strength of the fabric.

Cultivating gratitude is another powerful tool that shifts the perspective from the irregularities we can get caught up on and see the beauty of the whole work of art in progress. As I mentioned; mythology, personal, and cultural, is woven from the threads of possibility, hope, wisdom, heartbreak, love, and despair. Integration of all of the aspects of who we are, have been, and will be are a foundation for whole being health and longevity. Thread by thread, we weave our web.