Our Story 1/26/26

Everyone has a story. A life story. A biography if you will. A beginning, an ending, and a whole lot in between. It is the between that holds value and drama, the story’s core.

At birth we knew nothing. Growing up we know what others tell us. Then experiences tell us something different. The combination of both changes us and teaches us a great deal more. Those are the details of the story. We need to pay attention to them.

Living day by day, experience provides the staging platform. What we do with that is what helps us grow into something else throughout all of life. We continually form into our larger personhood, one day at a time, one experience at a time. Lessons learned from all of this push us toward the next challenge. This is our growth.

That growth is often accidental. It is not planned. It is not automatic. It is happenstance at its core. Who we are is the result of what we do. Simple as that.

Why it goes very well or terribly bad is a thing of that specific moment. The results carry on and shape who we are, no matter how or what. Yes, analysis and resolve make repairs to errors and disasters, but those lessons are dear and not always valued and repeated. Constancy is not automatic. It simply isn’t. That is the product of disciplined thinking and action. Most of the time, that discipline is absent in the daily details.

Consistency of purpose, constancy of analysis and knowing what is intended are all products of discipline knowingly applied. Whether we are aware of such at any moment is both the product of chance and discipline. Which prevails is never known before. Hoped for, yes, known, no.

My story unfolds over many decades. It can be told about one era or another, but not as a whole because it is not yet done. Same for you. The difference is what we intend and make happen consistently. How well we do that is variable.

How’s your story developing? Are you satisfied with it? I think I am with my own. It could have been better, but it is what it is. Time remains to change its trajectory, however. What will that be for me? And what will it be for you?

Important distinctions. Important questions. And the answers even more so.

January 26, 2026

 

 

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