Am I in a movie?

Several of my friends and I have been talking about how crazy it seems around us. All the varieties of drama playing out with us in the midst of it. This has been increasing our stress levels (I have hives from it). It is like we cannot even begin to tie anything together or understand what is really happening around it all. We have no idea what is going on and why, what the potential outcomes are. It feels like we are on a spinny ride roller coaster. After awhile, it does take its toll on our emotions, our body, our brain, our faith, our sleep, eating and our relationships. Faith and fear meet at the rickety bridge.

One day at work, as I was mulling over the situations and saw a chair in front of me. It reminded me that I was in someone else’s movie. I needed to walk out of the screen, grab a popcorn, sit down in that chair and watch what was going on instead of being one of the actors (or bad guy) in that show.

How often can we see that we are in someone else’s movie? Of course, we are our own producer, director and star in our own movie. When we become a supporting actor in someone else’s movie? That is optional. How do we determine what is our movie and what is someone else’s movie?

At another place when I go through the doors, I see it as a walking into a dream sequence. You know how the film editors use a shaky kind of movement to indicate it is a dream? When I am done for the day, I feel like I am doing the reverse of moving out of that dream state.

By stopping and deep breathing, I can become aware of my movie roles, whether my own or being put in someone else’s. I can decide to accept the part or pass on it. Even when I an unwittingly drawn into it, if it is one that is unpleasant, or turning into a horror story, I can opt out of performing, or reacting.

When I was going through a rough patch years ago, James told me that Carol Burnett said that time plus tragedy becomes comedy. At the time, I thought how can that be? As time moved along, I was able to see it become a comedy. Not all things, but most things do.

So I will grab some popcorn and Junior Mints, sit back to watch. Or leave the theater before or right after it starts. In a lot of ways, either choice can be a relief. My minutes, my decision, my life.