Life is a mirror into which you can gaze and ultimately see all the stories that have ever been written or told. These stories are not limited by the idea that they are your own because truly no one owns any story. There isn’t a story anywhere that is completely and absolutely yours, even though it might seem totally personal.

Your stories are just stories, appearances in the mirror. Start to let go of thinking, first, that there is a unique, specific, and personal story in the mirror and, second, that any story ultimately has anything to do with the you that is absolute.

Most stories evolve out of a feeling and are developed to justify or to change the feeling. These stories are usually generated to convince you to either keep or get rid of the feeling. Not many feelings are neutral, so not many stories are neutral. You are usually either the villain or the hero of your story. There are always mitigating circumstances, sometimes other characters, and often well-used plots and entanglements.