I had the opportunity to watch "The Peaceful Warrior" (released 2006) again last night, for the first time in several years. Several times in the storyline when Dan is being particularly dense, Socrates tells him to take out the trash and points to his forehead. Eventually Dan understands that anything that gets in the way of his perception of the present moment, or his awareness of his desired intention/goal is trash and needs to be removed from his thought processes. Just because there are 'valid' evolutionary and physiological reasons we are wired this way, doesn't mean we have to be at the effect of our biology. We always have choice in what we think about, particularly in what we think repeatedly about. When we take the trash out, our thoughts can be clear and unhampered by old stories.
Our old stories, as a rule, tend to be mis-remembered anyway and are generally not helpful, nor supportive. They tend to reinforce whatever (usually negative or demeaning) world-view we have previously believed about ourselves and our situations, so the best, kindest and most useful thing we can do for ourselves at any moment in time is 'take out the trash'.
I'm headed out the door right now, with another bag-o'-trash overflowing with old stories that no longer are useful, putting them out for the trashman, where they belong.
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