Photo by S O C I A L . C U T
There are moments in life—personally and globally—when the human experience feels almost unbearable. When we lose someone we love. When the future looks uncertain. When we spiral in our minds, trying to make sense of things that don’t make sense.
In those moments, we instinctively grasp for control, for certainty, for something solid to stand on.
But the most powerful thing you can reach for isn’t control—it’s Truth.
Many years ago, I was in a season of deep suffering. I brought my pain to a trusted teacher, certain that my situation was as dire and immovable as it felt. He listened patiently, then said something that stopped me in my tracks:
“Lola, would you be willing to consider that this is just the way it occurs for you?”
I was confused. What do you mean occurs for me?
“You’re speaking as if this is the Truth,” he said. “But what if this is just the way you’re experiencing it right now?”
I couldn’t grasp it at first. And then he asked the most revealing question of all:
“Do you know what the word ‘occurs’ means?”
That moment cracked something open in me. I realized: this pain I was describing wasn’t the Truth. It wasn’t even the facts. It was my interpretation. My story. It was the way the whole thing occurred to me.
And that story was creating my experience.
The Framework: Facts. Stories. Truth.
There are three ways we experience reality:
- Facts – Facts are what can be caught on camera. Observable. Unarguable.
- Stories – Stories are the meaning we make of those facts. Often unconscious. Often limiting.
- Truth – Truth is what existed before any of it. The wholeness beneath every narrative. The presence that animates all life.
You are always living from one of these three places. Most of us are living inside a web of unconscious stories—and we are extraordinary storytellers. The most common are:
- There’s not enough
- I’m behind
- People like me don’t get to live like that
- I can’t trust anyone
- It’s too late
The stories we make up shape how we show up. They inform what we expect, how we lead, how we love, and what we allow.
In much of my own life, I have had to remember—again and again—to discern between the facts of my experience and the stories I write about those facts.
The ability to distinguish between facts, stories, and Truth is extraordinarily empowering.
It gives you everything you need to produce the results that matter most to you.
It reminds you that you are not at the mercy of your circumstances—you are a powerful creator.
A Practice for Untangling Your Story
I invite you to consider:
Are the current stories you are telling yourself expanding or shrinking you? And are you willing to choose differently?
Here is a simple and potent practice for untangling any story that is keeping you from stepping out onto the skinny branches of Life:
- Identify a recurring issue you’re ready to shift.
- Draw two columns on paper, title one column “Facts” and the other “Stories.”
- List the facts (what is objectively observable)
- List the stories (what you make those facts mean)
- Now, flip the script. For each story, ask: Can I find an example where the opposite is also true?
This is not about bypassing reality—it is a disciplined pathway back to Truth.
Truth is not always easy, but it is liberating.
The facts may show struggle.
Your stories may declare failure.
But the Truth is always deeper.
Truth is that life is ordered, whole, and abundant by nature.
Truth is that you are not here to suffer though you may experience pain.
Truth is that you are more than enough—and there is more than enough.
When we live in stories of fear, lack, and separation, we create a reality that matches them. When we resist the “what’s so” of things we suffer.
When we root into Truth, we create a new field entirely. New possibilities, solutions, and creativity begins to emerge.
From Story to Truth: Returning to What Has Always Been
When you begin to unwind the narrative you’ve been living in, you make space for a deeper knowing to emerge.
And here’s what I want you to consider:
- You are not the limitations you perceive.
- You are not your fear, your failures, or your doubt.
- You are a vessel, a channel, a portal for something vast and sacred.
The Truth is that you are whole, powerful, abundant, and free—even when your stories say otherwise.
You Get to Choose What’s True
This is the power of conscious leadership.
This is the practice of spiritual sovereignty.
This is how transformation works.
The sooner you unravel the stories that no longer serve you, the sooner you connect with the Truth of who you are.
And when you live from that place, your life becomes lighter, more generous, more easeful—not because the circumstances are easy, but because you are aligned with Truth.
You are not here to react.
You are here to create.
And Truth is your starting point.
An Invitation To Practice With Me
Want guided support in applying this framework to your life or leadership?
Fill out the form below to receive a downloadable worksheet that walks you through the “Facts and Stories” practice—so you can begin untangling the narratives that no longer serve you and reconnect with what has always been True.
Let’s create from Truth, together:
Leave A Comment