“Writing a new story” is a powerful way to let go of past hurts (even really old ones). It works like this: you become aware of the “old story” you’ve been telling yourself to justify pet resentments. You write it down in gory detail – everything that person did to you and how it felt. Then, you pray for the grace to write a new story.
Write down the brand new (true) story that leaves your victimhood behind, and find a way to keep repeating it until your mind literally changes by forging new neural pathways in your brain. (Hint: gratitude is the key.) Resentments dissolve; that part of your soul is healed. You’re not bound by the old story anymore. You are free.
Amnon Weinstein is writing a new story with music, or rather musical instruments. The Tel Aviv violin maker has been restoring those that were played by prisoners in the Auschwitz Orchestra (yes, there was one) so that the old instruments, silent for 70 years, can sing a new song of hope to a new generation.
Musicians played some of these instruments on their way to the gas chamber. Weinstein is not letting that be the violins’ final story, though — he is composing a new one. The violins that he has given new life are now being played together in concert to create music that enlivens and inspires. The music streaming from the old violins, many with inlaid stars of David, soars to heaven and leaves the old story in the dust. “Each violin like this talks to the world of millions who are dead. That is a victory,” says Weinstein. “And each concert is a victory.” A video news story about his project, Violins of Hope, is at https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/restoring-hope-by-repairing-violins-of-the-holocaust/
Love always,
Rose
Ann
Great post; I love the idea of reconstructing your own narrative.
Rose Folsom
Me too! Because the more we do that the more of a habit it becomes. Yay!
Rose