Life is a story ?

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Rani Madhavapeddi

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Jun 5, 2026, 1:56:53 AM (7 days ago) Jun 5
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Hi Everyone,

I was reflecting on the group that Jim and Sheri cohost. It was the power of a story. Is our life  a story too? All our experiences, memories and feelings make up this story? 
Do we bring this story to our zoom meetings, is there a need to share ‘our story’ to get across to others? 
Or do we stay open to listen to others’ stories and learn about them? Only to go and make another story about them ?  Or both? Is memory a record of the story that I remember? We all can hear the same story and each can take an aspect that appeals to us and store it as The story not as a story? 
Do we have to have a story? 
Bob Harwood once talked about those who don’t have mind chatter what can their story be? 
If we hear sad stories and store sad stories do we become sad? And what about the good stories? What if we do not designate them as good or bad right or wrong? Can we stop telling ourselves the story that we are this and not that and we are that and not this, and we are just what IS? Whatever is unfolding in the moment open, absorbing what is without memory? 
This song ( see link below), made me think of how as kids we never created memory we just enjoyed the moment played, studied and slept like a log ! 
Conditioning made us remember be it for exams etc and we live mostly in our memories/ stories? As Seinfeld would say nothing wrong with that though 😁

Here is the link to the song that triggered the thoughts on today’s topic
Of story. 
Love peace and joy! 



Rani Madhavapeddi Patel


On Oct 22, 2025, at 1:15 PM, Rani Madhavapeddi <rmadha...@gmail.com> wrote:


Hello Everyone,
I am forwarding a video that Paul has posted on diehards for discussion in the Friday group. I will be in Ca meeting family and friends and may not be able to join. I will however try my best to be present. Lived there for over 10 years so  will be meeting many folks during the short stay. 

Video Link: Courtesy Paul

Zoom Link : Courtesy Purnima

Dan Kilpatrick

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Jun 5, 2026, 6:48:43 PM (6 days ago) Jun 5
to diehar...@googlegroups.com
Thanks Rani, even though I wasn't in the Thursday night meeting, I found your exploring here (initial email) very interesting. Yes, it seems stories or narratives and descriptions are part of being human, something arising in human consciousness. It seems involved in communicating, perhaps more than anything. But as you say, does living require a story....  

It does seem that the forming of stories and sharing them is also living itself, not outside it. So the fact that stories etc happen, in the first place, is also part of living. 

Again, your point (as I hear it) is that stories are not needed for living, like a narrative to guide us or define us etc. Yet narratives are never separate from living at the same time. Where do we draw the line....?

At least this is what you shared brings up for me, and maybe this is all very obvious, but it can be very immediate. I guess all this flows from noticing our tendency to exclude things that seem to us to lack meaning, and yet they may have their own meaning simply because they are. Not either or neither, but both simultaneously..... 

-Dan

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Rani Madhavapeddi

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Jun 5, 2026, 7:01:43 PM (6 days ago) Jun 5
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Thanks Dan. I agree a story has value when we attach a meaning and it drops when the meaning is lost. That same story 10 years later may have a newer meaning and get picked up. So nothing is dropped or held. They do the waving of life. 
Love peace and joy! 
Rani Madhavapeddi Patel


On Jun 5, 2026, at 3:48 PM, Dan Kilpatrick <kilp...@gmail.com> wrote:


Thanks Rani, even though I wasn't in the Thursday night meeting, I found your exploring here (initial email) very interesting. Yes, it seems stories or narratives and descriptions are part of being human, something arising in human consciousness. It seems involved in communicating, perhaps more than anything. But as you say, does living require a story....  

It does seem that the forming of stories and sharing them is also living itself, not outside it. So the fact that stories etc happen, in the first place, is also part of living. 

Again, your point (as I hear it) is that stories are not needed for living, like a narrative to guide us or define us etc. Yet narratives are never separate from living at the same time. Where do we draw the line....?

At least this is what you shared brings up for me, and maybe this is all very obvious, but it can be very immediate. I guess all this flows from noticing our tendency to exclude things that seem to us to lack meaning, and yet they may have their own meaning simply because they are. Not either or neither, but both simultaneously..... 

-Dan

On Fri, Jun 5, 2026 at 1:56 AM Rani Madhavapeddi <rmadha...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I was reflecting on the group that Jim and Sheri cohost. It was the power of a story. Is our life  a story too? All our experiences, memories and feelings make up this story? 
Do we bring this story to our zoom meetings, is there a need to share ‘our story’ to get across to others? 
Or do we stay open to listen to others’ stories and learn about them? Only to go and make another story about them ?  Or both? Is memory a record of the story that I remember? We all can hear the same story and each can take an aspect that appeals to us and store it as The story not as a story? 
Do we have to have a story? 
Bob Harwood once talked about those who don’t have mind chatter what can their story be? 
If we hear sad stories and store sad stories do we become sad? And what about the good stories? What if we do not designate them as good or bad right or wrong? Can we stop telling ourselves the story that we are this and not that and we are that and not this, and we are just what IS? Whatever is unfolding in the moment open, absorbing what is without memory? 
This song ( see link below), made me think of how as kids we never created memory we just enjoyed the moment played, studied and slept like a log ! 
Conditioning made us remember be it for exams etc and we live mostly in our memories/ stories? As Seinfeld would say nothing wrong with that though 😁

Here is the link to the song that triggered the thoughts on today’s topic
Of story. 
Love peace and joy! 



Rani Madhavapeddi Patel


On Oct 22, 2025, at 1:15 PM, Rani Madhavapeddi <rmadha...@gmail.com> wrote:


Hello Everyone,
I am forwarding a video that Paul has posted on diehards for discussion in the Friday group. I will be in Ca meeting family and friends and may not be able to join. I will however try my best to be present. Lived there for over 10 years so  will be meeting many folks during the short stay. 

Video Link: Courtesy Paul

Zoom Link : Courtesy Purnima

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To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/diehard-group/A83C51A5-DDB9-43A4-9DAA-E9575CBB5BAC%40gmail.com.

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Paul Rezendes

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Jun 5, 2026, 7:10:16 PM (6 days ago) Jun 5
to Diehards google
Dan,

I thought your email was very clear.

Thanks,

Paul

On Jun 5, 2026, at 6:48 PM, Dan Kilpatrick <kilp...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Rani, even though I wasn't in the Thursday night meeting, I found your exploring here (initial email) very interesting. Yes, it seems stories or narratives and descriptions are part of being human, something arising in human consciousness. It seems involved in communicating, perhaps more than anything. But as you say, does living require a story....  

It does seem that the forming of stories and sharing them is also living itself, not outside it. So the fact that stories etc happen, in the first place, is also part of living. 

Again, your point (as I hear it) is that stories are not needed for living, like a narrative to guide us or define us etc. Yet narratives are never separate from living at the same time. Where do we draw the line....?

At least this is what you shared brings up for me, and maybe this is all very obvious, but it can be very immediate. I guess all this flows from noticing our tendency to exclude things that seem to us to lack meaning, and yet they may have their own meaning simply because they are. Not either or neither, but both simultaneously..... 

-Dan

On Fri, Jun 5, 2026 at 1:56 AM Rani Madhavapeddi <rmadha...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I was reflecting on the group that Jim and Sheri cohost. It was the power of a story. Is our life  a story too? All our experiences, memories and feelings make up this story? 
Do we bring this story to our zoom meetings, is there a need to share ‘our story’ to get across to others? 
Or do we stay open to listen to others’ stories and learn about them? Only to go and make another story about them ?  Or both? Is memory a record of the story that I remember? We all can hear the same story and each can take an aspect that appeals to us and store it as The story not as a story? 
Do we have to have a story? 
Bob Harwood once talked about those who don’t have mind chatter what can their story be? 
If we hear sad stories and store sad stories do we become sad? And what about the good stories? What if we do not designate them as good or bad right or wrong? Can we stop telling ourselves the story that we are this and not that and we are that and not this, and we are just what IS? Whatever is unfolding in the moment open, absorbing what is without memory? 
This song ( see link below), made me think of how as kids we never created memory we just enjoyed the moment played, studied and slept like a log ! 
Conditioning made us remember be it for exams etc and we live mostly in our memories/ stories? As Seinfeld would say nothing wrong with that though 😁

Here is the link to the song that triggered the thoughts on today’s topic
Of story. 
Love peace and joy! 



Rani Madhavapeddi Patel


On Oct 22, 2025, at 1:15 PM, Rani Madhavapeddi <rmadha...@gmail.com> wrote:


Hello Everyone,
I am forwarding a video that Paul has posted on diehards for discussion in the Friday group. I will be in Ca meeting family and friends and may not be able to join. I will however try my best to be present. Lived there for over 10 years so  will be meeting many folks during the short stay. 

Video Link: Courtesy Paul

Zoom Link : Courtesy Purnima

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To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/diehard-group/A83C51A5-DDB9-43A4-9DAA-E9575CBB5BAC%40gmail.com.

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