Drop Out of Your Story
Consider this metaphor, imagine above your head is a rectangular projector screen. The projector screen is about 1 foot tall by 4 feet wide. Imagine that images are appearing on one side of the screen, and then moving fluidly across the screen to the other side.
These images on the screen represent the thoughts that enter your mind. The thoughts originate from an unknown place, they just appear in your consciousness for a while, and then the thoughts travel to the other side of the screen and disappear.
The images on the screen represent the “story of me”, your inner narrative. This is the story you tell yourself about everything that is affecting you.
Now, imagine the scene, your body underneath the projector screen. Your body represents sense perceptions. Your body represents a focus on “the now” where you are not paying attention to your story. Your body represents a focus on what you see, hear, touch, taste and smell.
The phrase “drop out of your story” means to remove your attention from the images on the screen above you and focus on your body sensations.
You see, stress originates from your story. Some people’s narrative is an angry story, others tell a depressing story, and some tell fearful story. Of course, sometimes your story is happy.
When your story becomes emotionally painful, and you do not have the time or inclination to inquire and revise your story, simply drop out of your story and into your sensations.
When I drop out of my story I immediately feel a sense of relief, I feel relaxed and focused.
Imagine you are a prisoner in a jail cell. Your narrative might be “Look at what the world has done to me, how terrible” or “I can’t believe that I am here” or “I shouldn’t be locked up in this joint, I’m innocent”. These are very painful thoughts. Then imagine that the prisoner drops out of his story into body sensations. He might think, “Look at the beautiful grass, how alive and supple it is” or “I love the feeling of sunlight on my back” or “Look at the metal scratches on the jail cell iron bars, how fascinating”.
