If we were to write a story about ourselves, what would it look like? I like to refer to this story is our personal narrative. It's a script that we follow based on the story of our lives as we perceive it through our memories. Recently, I stumbled accrosse an interesting You Tube channel called

run by a man name Rich Gannon. I like his videos because they combine cognitive behavioral techniques with Buddhist philosophy. He also has a take no BS approach to his coaching. He mentioned the subject of changing our personal narrative. For instance, if you were to write your life story over again, what would it look like?

From a Yogic perspective, we do something similar. Instead of writing a new story, we erase the pages all together so that the book of our life is blank. Have you ever seen the show "Once Upon a Time"? This last season, there was a character called The Author that was responsible for writing down the narratives of each character in the TV series. If you have not seen it, it's basically about Disney characters coming to life in the real world, with flashbacks to their lives in the fairytale world. Kind of like Lost, but with wizards. The villains of the show hijacked The Author so that he could write them their own personal happy endings. In the end, the characters destroy The Author's quill so that the future could never be writing again. I guess it's some sort of free will analogy.

When I was attending Kriya Yoga Seminary School, Goswami Kriyananda mentioned an interesting technique. He suggested the we write down all the painful memories we had in our lives and go through them one by one in meditation. During the meditation session, you visualize a different outcome to these painful memories, so that the cumulative effect changes the person who you are now.

It makes sense. We live in the present, but the past is a collection of memories and the future is nothing more than expectation. Others like to hijack our personal narratives in the form of judgments against us. Some of use have control of our own personal narrative, so the opinions of others will not effect out self concept. Most of us do not. Society grabs a hold of the magic quill of our perception and begins to write the narrative for us. Deep down we may know that this narrative is wrong, which causes us to live in fear, doubt and states of anxiety.

Think about who you are. Are you happy? Do you base you decisions on the past? If not, it's time to take control of your narrative. The story you write in the present will determine who you become in the future. I think we all deserve our happy ending.