"Stress is not a result of receiving all of the facts, it is the stories we create about the facts that cause the drama and stress in our lives."
James McPartland
Relationships get damaged when we confuse the facts with opinions, judgments, assumptions, and a manufactured story. Once we learn that we make up stories all of the time, and that we believe the stories to be true, we are freed up to return to the facts and pursue a new and empowering result.
There is nothing wrong with creating a story, or with listening to the stories from others, as they can provide an insightful tool to understand how each of us view the world. When all parties involved recognize the distinction between the facts and our tendency to build assumptions around them, we have a real time opportunity to fortify relationships and come to mutually beneficial conclusions.
