What Are You Making It Mean [About You]?

Have you ever noticed how little information we actually need before our minds decide they've got the whole story?

Someone reads your message but doesn't reply. Well, that's obviously because you've offended them.

Your boss says, "Can we have a quick chat tomorrow?" Brilliant. You're getting sacked.

Someone unfollows you on social media. Clearly they can't stand you anymore.

It's almost funny when you stop and look at it, because none of those things are facts. They're stories. Stories we've written so quickly that we don't even realise we've picked up the pen.

I see this all the time in readings. People will tell me what's happened, and then, almost without taking a breath, they'll tell me what it means.

"My relationship ended... so I must be unlovable."

"My business isn't growing... so I must be on the wrong path."

"I didn't get the opportunity... so the universe must be telling me no."

And I'm always fascinated by how quickly we've jumped from an event to a conclusion, as though the two are inseparable.

They're not.

As human beings, we're meaning-making machines. We can't help ourselves. Our brains are constantly trying to work out what's going on, partly because uncertainty is uncomfortable.

We'd often rather have an explanation, even a painful one, than sit in the discomfort of not knowing.

So we fill in the gaps.

We decide what somebody meant by that text. We decide why they looked at us like that. We decide what this setback says about our future. We decide what this chapter says about who we are.

And because the story came from our own mind, it feels true.

Not possible. Not one interpretation among many.

True.

The thing is, I've never met anyone whose mind gets it right one hundred per cent of the time. Mine certainly doesn't. Yours won't either.

Which is why I've become much more interested in the stories people are telling themselves than the circumstances they're describing.

Because very often, the circumstances aren't actually what's keeping them stuck. It's the meaning they've attached to them.

Imagine two people walking away from exactly the same experience. They both lose their job.

One decides, "This is proof that nothing ever works out for me."

The other thinks, "I wouldn't have chosen this, but maybe this is creating space for something I never would've had the courage to choose myself."

Who's more likely to spot opportunities over the next few months?

The person with the better story.

Not because they're kidding themselves. Not because they're pretending everything's wonderful.

Because the meaning they've attached to the situation leaves the door open, whereas the first story slams it firmly shut.

That's what our interpretations do. They either expand us or they imprison us.

Spirit brings this up in readings more than you might imagine.

People often assume the messages they'll receive are all about predicting the future, but so often they're actually about helping someone see the present differently.

Helping them loosen their grip on a story they've unknowingly accepted as fact.

Helping them realise that what they've been believing isn't necessarily what's true.

I think that's incredibly liberating.

Because if I created the meaning, I can question the meaning.

If I can question it, I can change it.

And if I change the meaning, I often change the way I experience the entire situation.

The event may not move an inch, but I do.

So the next time you catch yourself saying, "This means...", just pause for a moment.

Does it?

Or is that simply the first explanation your mind came up with?

Could there be another possibility that you haven't considered yet?

One that's just as believable.

One that leaves room for hope instead of hopelessness.

One that helps rather than hinders.

We're always going to make meaning. That's part of being human.

The question is whether the meaning we're making is serving us, or whether we've become so attached to one version of events that we've stopped looking for any others.

Sometimes the greatest freedom isn't found in changing our circumstances at all.

Sometimes it's found in realising we've been believing a story that was never the only one available to us.

Take good care,
Sarah xx