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Article Heroes and Adventurers What's your story? What reality are you creating? Stories are immensely powerful. In fact, our stories have a massive impact on how we perceive the world and our lives and how others perceive us. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that shamans were often considered master story tellers, harnessing the power of storytelling for illumination and empowerment. So, what are the stories we tell ourselves? If we consider the Huna principle of 'Ike, one of its meanings is 'the world is what you think it is'. Relating this to the stories that we tell ourselves, we can see our stories play a big role in creating our own experience of reality. If we consider Kala - the principle of freedom, then we can see that our stories can be limiting or liberating. Considering the principle of Makia - stories focus ourselves, and others, on particular aspects of experience. They can shine a spotlight on one aspect of our life whilst hiding everything else in the shadows. They are a way in which we give meaning to our experience. They are an expression of our beliefs. Of course, just as we make up our stories so we make up the meaning we give them. Sometimes our stories have become so ingrained and habitual that they are told almost unconsciously and accepted as though they represent some form of objective truth. This is fine if the story serves you well, but this is not always the case. In some cases we don't even live our own story but are content to buy into others' stories about our self. And this is where the power of story lies. Our stories are made up. We can tell stories that don't serve us well and disempower, or we can tell stories that serve us well and empower us. Once we acknowledge this, we can begin to take full responsibility for our stories and contribute more effectively to creating our reality. Drawing further on Huna beliefs, we have the principle of Manawa or 'now is the moment of power'. There is only one time we can tell our story and be affected by it, and that is in the present moment. This also gives us the power to change the stories that we no longer want to live by. No matter how long the story has been ours, we still have the power right now to choose to change to a different, better story. Tales of Heroism and Adventure Claim your own story, write it just the way you want, and let it empower the whole of your life.(Thank you to Stewart Blackburn for facilitating the time and space for me to reflect on my own story in Kalapana earlier this year). As a hula teacher put it: Pa'i ana na pahu hula le'a, eia ka'u mele Pete Dalton ©2017 Pete Dalton is an Alakai of Huna International living in the UK. For more information on his work visit his website www.urbanhuna.org |
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