It happened again.
This time it was a random comment I heard on the radio while driving home.
The radio conversation went one way.
My thoughts went another.
The comment was this:
The stories we tell ourselves remind us of who we are.
What are the stories I tell myself? I wondered.
With the radio conversation still in the background I began to mentally make a list of the stories I tell myself.
When I arrived home I wrote them down. Here they are.

1. There is enough.
   Enough for me.
   Enough for you.
   Enough for others.
   Enough for all.
2. Gratitude matters.
   Saying Thank you reminds me to be thankful.
   For the day.
   For the other people in my life.
   For the time and the opportunities I have.
   Gratitude changes the way I see the world.
3. Pay attention.
   I remember the first time I visited Colorado Springs. I walked around with my mouth open. The Rocky Mountains were right there. Other people walked by me seemingly oblivious the the awesome beauty just above their heads. Remembering that moment reminds me to pay attention. To where I am. To what is around me. To who is around me. To the beauty waiting to take my breath away. I am not very good at this, but I remind myself of the story and try.
4. We share more in common with each other than external differences.
   This applies to both our biology and physiology and our dreams for our lives and our children’s lives and for our future.
5. What we do matters.
   This is true in my day to day interactions with others and the decisions I make, but I sometimes imagine a cosmic scale. Is how I am living and what I am doing adding to the side of good or adding to the side of neglect?
6. Love is love.
   The occasional sign I see with this statement speaks the truth.
7. We are in this together.
   In ways I can see and name and in ways I will never know, my life is linked to yours and to all those others. Rugged individualism is a destructive myth.
8. We can make it better.
   We just have to decide to do so.
9. There is MORE.
   Something more than I can fully know or name.
   I call it God.
   It binds all together or is the sum of all the innumerable parts.
   It is goodness and love and light and…
   All those qualities the great faith traditions remind us of and do their best to turn us towards.
10. The stories we tell ourselves shape who we and what we value and how we treat others and how we see the world around us.

That is my list.
What are the stories you tell which shape your life?