We all make stories about our lives.

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And we create tremendous meaning from those stories.

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Our history and our experience colors all of these stories.

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To the point that we are convinced all these stories are true.

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We are so sure that they happened exactly the way we remember.

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Yet we are confused as to why people acted the way they did.

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Or why they said what they said.

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When we get so focused on the details we can miss the point.

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We can lose the lesson to learn because we are only seeing things from a limited perspective.

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If we take the time to remember the context, the content can make more sense.

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New patterns emerge before our eyes.

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A deeper understanding can be achieved when there are more details to fill in the background.

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The context gives us a clearer framework with which to see a situation.

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Whether that instance was long ago in our childhood, or yesterday at the grocery store.

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Even remembering that the situation happened in a store and at home can make a big difference.

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The setting, the time, what happened before and after, it all make a huge impact on the meaning we derive from any situation.

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It can help us see patterns where there were none before.

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Or it can help see new or different patterns that we thought.

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And when we discuss these situations it is also helpful to see how things have changed since the situation we are remembering occurred.

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For life is not stagnant.

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It is in constant motion.

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And fluid as water.

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Just because we acted one way for many years does not mean there has not been change.

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Perhaps with each instance we learned something.

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We changed.

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And even though our actions were similar, perhaps we modified our actions just a little each time.

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Without the context we cannot see the change clearly.

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We cannot see how we have changed or how others have changed in the process.

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So when we decide to look at a particular point in our lives, it is always helpful to remember what came before and what came after.

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For nothing in our life exists in a vacuum.

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It is all interrelated and interwoven.

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For we are the products of all we lived up until this very moment.

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All of it matters.

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So next time we stop to review what happened before or what we did, it is very helpful to put it all in context of all that surrounds it.

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Where in your own life do you take things out of context?

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How different would those things look if you put them in the proper context of all that surrounded it?

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~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant

Host of The Conscious Consultant Hour