Examples of personal stories are: people and events made us the way we are; we are superior to other people; our problems keep us from being happy. We get very invested in our various stories and all the while we are forgetting we are divine beings!

The story becomes the basis of our personality. The root of the word personality is a Latin word persona, meaning mask.

If you observe closely, you will see your story and your personality are made of thoughts. Thoughts are the scaffolding which sustain the stories and allow them to persist. The late Joe Miller, Sufi teacher from San Franciso said, "You get more stinkin' from thinkin' than you do from drinkin."

Consider the possibility that thoughts aren't really OUR thoughts, they are just thought forms passing by, like clouds in the sky. In our need to maintain our story, we catch certain thoughts as they go by, hold on to them, and identify with them.

In this way our story can become more deeply entrenched. We believe it more and more.

The more resistant we are to experiencing oneness with all that is, the more we believe our story and forget our divinity. In the process, our energy, aliveness and inner peace are disturbed

It helps to have someone remind us of our true nature: a friend, therapist, mentor, or life coach. These professionals gently remind us to stop thinking and tune into our present awareness, the dimension of stillness within. Albert Einstein said, "Our separation from each other is an optical illusion of consciousness."

When we distance from our thoughts, we create gaps in our story that render our story less believable. I use little sayings, affirmations, and prayers to remind me to stay present and not lost in thought.

Eckhart Tolle reminds us in his wonderful book, The Power of Now, "There is something within you that remains unaffected by the transient circumstances that makeup your life situation, and only through surrender do you have access to it. It is your life, your very Being---which exists eternally in the timeless realm of the present."

I invite you to study your thoughts and see how you think the same themes over and over, corroborating the fabric of your story. When you notice you are thinking, come back to the present moment and just BE.

In this way you will interrupt your mind, and the illusion of separateness. Each time this happens, you have the opportunity to experience your true nature in the gap of silence.