Fortunately

We as human beings are pretty great about recounting stories from our past, holding on to them as inner truths to shape our current values, routines, and patterns of behavior.  We are equally, though often less consciously, conducting the same mental exercise with our future stories, or shadow stories, as Robert Poynton refers to them in his thoughtful and thought-provoking book, Everything’s an Offer.  If you are familiar with improvisation, you may know two storytelling exercises: the Story Spine and Fortunately/Unfortunately.  Recently, I’ve been thinking about their connections, combining the two of them in order to practice the art of quantum storytelling.  If we can practice the discipline of letting go of our fear-based framing of pessimistic shadow stories and swap it for the resilient spirit of a more optimistic outlook, perhaps we continuously, from the present, can alter our future selves and co-create a both peaceful and dynamic interrelated existence with a more positive collective human story. 

Myth?  Maybe.  Moral imperative?  Absolutely.  Our species’ survival may one day depend on it.