this one practice changed my life — stop, drop, & LOL the story

I wouldn’t have believed it except that it worked for me & works for my clients. It seems counter-intuitive & maybe even too simple. It couldn’t be this easy, could it? There’s no way you can turn your whole life around this fast, is there? And yet… You don’t have to take my word for it. In fact, don’t. But if you’re tired, over it, & done with your life being hard, you might want to read about these peaches—

Your entire life can change in miraculous, incredible ways when you learn to stop, drop, & Laugh Out Loud (LOL) at your sad stories. What is a sad story & how does it affect your life?

It’s easiest to think about it like this — Imagine there’s a basket of bruised, rotting peaches. You found the basket & took interest in it. You felt sad that the peaches weren’t enjoyed in their fresh fullness. You brought other people to see the bruised peaches. You talked about the rotting peaches. You wrote about them, ‘What could have been if these peaches were not damaged! THIS IS SAD AND WRONG.’ You became so enamored with the story of the bruised, rotting peaches that their story became your story.

Then a basket of fresh peaches appeared. You stared at them, somewhat caught off-guard, & immediately started talking about them relative to the rotting peaches. ‘How lucky you are to be fresh & whole. You won’t be for long. This other basket was so sad & forgotten. The unfairness of the world!” You talked about the old basket until the fresh basket rotted too, which reinforced your story of how sad & wrong things are.

While you were busy with your emotions & your sad story, you neglected to notice the peach tree nearby where both baskets were filled. On the tree, there were many, many peaches growing. When you finally did see the tree, you felt the same sense of sadness & despair — all of these will be lost, too!

Do you see what happened? Good experiences & opportunities to enjoy life were passed by because you were so busy focusing on & talking about the one basket of rotted peaches — your sad story. Some of us live our entire lives this way. Focused on the one thing that ‘went wrong’ & in complete oblivion of our power to focus on & enjoy the ever-supplying tree. Yes, peaches will bruise & rot. Yes, it can hurt to see them. AND STILL YES, there is much more than that to enjoy AND it’s ok if you do.

Here’s the practice:

• STOP focusing on the original basket of pain, loss, or unfairness & consider not talking about it as much in your mind or with your mouth. It’s ok to let yourself look elsewhere. ❤
• DROP the idea that pain, loss, & unfairness are all there is & all that you can expect from life. Allow for & respect the entire process of life — genesis, growth, maturation, death.
• Laugh Out Loud (LOL) while you enjoy what’s happening right now. Notice that while you can see the entire process & know that each peach is fleeting, you can still choose to enjoy each peach. Be with its uniqueness with gratitude, love, & laughter.

By STOPping the story, DROPing the negative expectation & LOL’ing in gratitude with what’s present you can turn things for the better. You can live fully, enjoy the process, & contribute your own beautiful peaches no matter what’s behind you.

• What story can be stopped, dropped, & LOL’d so you can fully experience & enjoy what’s in front of you?
• How can you give yourself the freedom to let it drop from your mind & your mouth (meaning, you don’t focus on it anymore) & let yourself be here now?
• Why might you want to allow yourself to wholly enjoy new experiences without the burden of relating them to the old story?
• What would that give you?
• What would you be able to do then?
• Why is it OK?

It can be scary to let go of your sad story because in some ways it helped you know you are. It’s what you went through to be here. You might even feel guilty or wrong to stop, drop, & LOL it. If that’s the case, ask yourself what you really care about & look at if continuing to feel bad about it makes sense. As far as I can tell, the best thing you can do for everyone is allow yourself to be present to & engaged in what’s happening now. Plus, isn’t it scarier & more hurtful to miss out on the rest of life?

Looking for assistance with this practice? I can help you retrain your focus & respectfully retire your sad stories while you learn to confidently look ahead again. To get started, you can schedule an info call. I’ll hear where you are, where you want to be, & tell you what we can do to get you there & how fast. That would be for a customized program I build & facilitate for you. Learn more about packages here. I’m also available for single sessions here.

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