What Story Are You Telling Yourself?
Two people can experience the same event, yet see it in different ways. This happens all the time at accident scenes. Eyewitnesses often give conflicting accounts. The difference isn't in the facts -- but rather, in how the facts are interpreted. When writing books, I share many stories that involve other people. My publisher makes me obtain permission from the people who are going to be in the book. I send them the passage where they are mentioned and they usually reply, "I remember it a little differently." Then I respond, "Of course, it happened this way. I recall it clearly." And they reply, "No, it happened like this. . ." So I go back do a bunch of editing until the story matches, at least to some degree, how we both remember it. Why does this happen? I'm not making things up. I really remember it that way -- but we end up with different perspectives based on how we processed the event. We all have stori...