Have you noticed how often we get caught up in stories in our own minds?
Someone doesn’t return a text. Instantly, the mind starts whispering:
“They must be upset with me.”
“Maybe I said something wrong.”
“They don’t care anymore.”
In just a few seconds, what was a simple fact — a message wasn’t answered — turns into an emotional drama.
We feel hurt, anxious, rejected.
But if you pause and really look, you’ll see that the pain isn’t coming from the fact — it’s coming from the story the mind has created about the fact.
The story becomes our reality
Our minds are amazing storytellers.
They take fragments from the past, mix in a bit of fear and memory, and project them into the present.
Soon, we’re living in an inner movie — full of characters, motives, and imagined outcomes.
But this movie isn’t the world as it actually is.
It’s the world as thought paints it.
The “me” who feels hurt is also part of the story
When we say, “I’m hurt,” who is that “I”?
It’s a bundle of memories — what people said to us before, how we see ourselves, what we want others to think.
The self that feels wounded is part of the same thought-structure that creates the story.
They’re not separate.
Seeing without the story
This doesn’t mean we should suppress emotions. It means we can begin to see them directly — without explanation, without justification, without blaming.
You might simply notice:
“There’s sadness right now.”
“There’s tension in my chest.”
And stop there.
Not “I’m sad because…” or “This always happens to me.”
When you see emotion without a story, something shifts.
The emotion moves on its own, like a cloud passing across the sky. There’s no struggle, no resistance.
What remains is clarity — a quiet intelligence that doesn’t belong to thought.
So maybe the next time a storm arises inside you…
Before you follow the storyline, pause and ask:
“What’s the simple fact here?”
You may find that the fact is light, but the story is heavy.
And when you stop feeding the story, peace comes naturally — not because you sought it, but because the mind has stopped inventing its own storms.
