THESE DAMN LACES....AND OTHER STORIES WE TELL OURSELVES
Yesterday I made a quick trip out of town. I stayed over at a friends place. This morning he kindly offered me his shoes, a T shirt and a pair of shorts as we set of a lovely brisk walk enjoying the slight nip in the air. During the walk, the laces of this shoe came undone a couple of times. My friend was profusely apologetic and irritated - "That's the problem with these shoes...the laces are SO BAD." He said this about four times.....and then I gently pointed out the following - that I was so grateful that there was a pair of shoes that fit me well.... that allowed us to go on this walk. Sometimes, maybe all too often, what matters is not what happened, but the stories we tell ourselves (and others) about how we are impacted by what happened. Today, I was grateful that I was able to tell the more constructive story...