sunny and smiley stories

waking up to the sun in my face is a luxury i refuse to relinquish for any reason. so when the skies are dull and grey i lose my lust to play.

but that's what friends are for - to bring a smile on your face when you have none.

remember the time

nostalgia is a helluva drug that can turn a morose morning into a resplendent day! and lucky for me, Ouseph Chacko lead chimpanzee of the School of Dirt began spinning a story of his time in the Andaman islands.

thanks to the magic of the internet, we were connected instantly and i could bask in his sunny stories of a 300km ride across the Andaman & Nicobar islands far off the coast of India's eastern shores.

while i got the live version straight from the horse's mouth, you can enjoy a recorded version from the camera's point of view here. ps. bet you didn't know he's Wolverine!

capture and enrapture

stories are like a time travel portal, using memories to travel into the past and imagination to travel into the future.

stories such as the one above serve to capture the moment for the story teller to reminisce events, to rekindle memories and reimagine interactions at a later time.

they can also enrapture an audience (of one, few, or many) to offer an escape from the burden of the moment. sure, they have many lessons to glean from the collection of circumstances that come together to form a story. but i'm least concerned about the productivity quotient of a good story.

what i'm curious about is a story's ability to transmit experiences from one human to another, to capture, and to enrapture. to evoke emotions that can transform. whether it's the present moment or future trajectory, a single story can transform your life.

sharing is caring

tiring trope to hear, especially since it's overused all the time. but that doesn't make it any less true. one of the most potent ways to share life's experiences is to spin it into a story.

maybe i'll just share it with my loved ones; family and friends. maybe i'll share it with all and sundry across the world. the interwebs have replaced the intimate medium of campfires with broadcast streams than can instantly relay your intimate experiences to random strangers.

so a story teller can share a story because he cares for his loved ones to feel what he feels, in order to understand him better and/or to learn lessons that'll help them in their journey of life.

a story teller might also share stories because he cares for the fame and fortune that await him when he exhibits his experiences to a voyeuristic world hungry for entertainment and/or education.

whispers and screams

when it comes down to brass tacks, there's not much difference between a soul stirring whisper and a gut wrenching scream.

because it's really all about expressing oneself truly, madly, and deeply. honest expression is the real deal. smoke and mirrors is convoluted bullshit. say your piece. say it true.

and that truth is as loud as it gets. it's hard to be true only because you think it's safer to hide behind a lie. but the truth does set you free. so whether you whisper or scream, just say what you gotta say and share that story without going astray.

what's your story?

what are you telling yourself about yourself that isn't true? a lot of the stories we tell ourselves has nothing to do with the reality of who we are.

we buy into other's narrative of who we are and that often becomes a baked in belief. but i want you to remember, you can tell yourself a sunnier and smilier story!

nobody else can decide how you, the main character of your story plays your part in it. whether it's riding your motorcycle across a remote island or scuba diving off it's shores.

you don't need to settle, you can choose your own adventure and spin your own story. it's never too late to take charge of your life and tell your story the way you want to be seen, heard, and remembered.

every story no matter how dark will always shine when shared ✨

thanks again to Ouseph Chacko for sharing a story and inspiring this post. if you want to hear more stories about motorcycles and mud, take a deep dive in there and if you're eager to share some of your stories, i'm all ears!