We go through life owned by the stories we tell ourselves which are often historic and charged narratives - things we've learnt since childhood that we don't even consciously realise are going on.
Interpretation
Our life experiences and perceptions are shaped by the narratives we create, often unconsciously influenced by our past.
In this quote, Derren Brown emphasizes that the stories we tell ourselves, shaped by our personal history and experiences, significantly influence our identities and behaviors. These narratives are often formed in childhood and may go unrecognized, impacting how we navigate the world and our interactions with others. Understanding these underlying stories can lead to greater self-awareness and the potential for personal growth.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming personal obstacles.
Each of us is leading a difficult life, and when we meet people we are seeing only a tiny part of the thinnest veneer of their complex, troubled existences. To practise anything other than kindness towards them, to treat them in any way save generously, is to quietly deny their humanity.
What I do is rooted in magic - it's got a big foot planted firmly in conjuring, even if the other foot's planted in psychological techniques.
Feeling we have to be constantly updated about the lives of our friends and that everything we say has to be out there leads to frustration, anger and jealousy much more than it leads to anything else.
A diner having a row with a waiter in a swanky restaurant chills the blood in a way that a quarrel over a pizza order elsewhere would never do. Compassion is rarely the custom of the privileged.
Clearly if a hypnotist could make someone to steal £100k just by telling them to, the world would be a different place, and I suspect that hypnotists wouldn't bother doing shows in pubs or dodgy Spanish holiday resorts.
It's a controlling thing on stage - you're directing the action, getting people to play their role. In real life, I take being kind and nice seriously, so the last thing I'd ever want to be is that weird, controlling, manipulative character.
The Middle East is ailing. The malady stems from pervasive violence, shortages of food, water and educational opportunities, discrimination against women and - the most virulent cause of all - the absence of freedom.
The value comes from what is there, but the use comes from what is not there.
There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds.
God tries his votaries through and through but never beyond endurance. He gives them strength enough to go through the ordeal he prescribes for them.
The hatred and contempt for men, women and children that was manifested in the Shoah was a crime against God and against humanity.
Virtue does not come from wealth, but wealth, and every other good thing which men have comes from virtue.
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