We all have stories about ourselves and our lives.  What are yours?  Are you the hero(ine) of your stories or the victim?   Are your stories about empowerment, lack, unhappiness, or abundance?  We all have stories to tell, that we play over and over again to our captive audiences.  Do your stories evoke sympathy or inspiration; awe or pity?  We get something out of the stories we tell to ourselves and to others.  What are you trying to accomplish by relating your stories?  Are you interested in changing them to a more empowering perspective?  The change can start right now.  You have a choice to change your way of thinking.  Everyone goes through a period of suffering, but it is how we use it to define ourselves that matters in the long run.  Divorce, illness, the death of a loved one – these experiences elicit many thoughts and feelings in us that can certainly set us back if we let them.  The key is to process them in a healthy manner, then let them go.  Let go of the anger, the frustration, the sadness, the grief….Life is too short to let suffering take over.  Change your stories so that you are the hero(ine).  Change your story of divorce so that you go from surviving to thriving – begin to live it!  Change your illness or ill-health to overcoming extreme odds.  Change the story of losing a loved one to living a better life to honor their memory.  Become an inspiration and a role model for others.  Rewrite your story so that you are living an inspired, fulfilling, and authentic life.