Stories About Stories

Enter YOUR Labyrinth at BeWhoYouAre.com.Music by: Luca PalumboSound Engineer: Pedro H. Barceló at Digital Azul, Lisbo, PortugalDedicated to Robbi Behr, who remained present through all the stories, especially those that would not end. With gratitude to my early readers and listeners: Shirin Meiners, Carole Frarey, Burt Kempner, Rob Virtue, Alison Godfrey, Laurie Rivera, Manni Dillon, Anna Brassard, Kerrie Tauzin Mills, Patti Ellsworth, Cheryl Schrillo, Meredith Kelly, Tanner Madarang, Mary Christine Sandner, Meghan Ryan, and Wendy Weatherwax.  Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Suicide Prevention Resource: As this chapter deals with suicide, please visit https://www.heardalliance.org/families-suicide/ for resources to support yourself or someone you know. We don't want to live without you!  Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!  About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com. 

At the end of the day, every compelling story is a yes story or a no story. For a time, you can get away with a maybe story, or a wait and see story, but not for long. Life doesn’t stand for it. The half-hearted will always get passed by in favor of the yes-er and the no-er. As a story author, you get to choose to create a protagonist - which is to say the central character of the story living out their yes or no truth - or a victim… someone lost to the story unfolding. Fate, if you will. What you can’t create is a couch-sitter who keeps couch sitting. There’s no story in that story... Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com   Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!    About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com.

We cognitively understand that we live in a world of left and right, up and down, young and old. In short, that everything has its opposite. We are born, we die. We win some, we lose some. Everyone knows this. Few choose to think about it much, at least when things are going well. As I’ve often said: “Nobody soul searches on a good day.” Rarely do we think about guardian angels coming with menacing devils to thwart us - at least in contemporary society, where we have white-washed evil as a superstition and espouse darkness as a mere lack of education. The traditional Old Ones always gave their fair warnings. We seem to think we are above that need now... Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com   Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!    About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com.

Nowhere are we closer to our deeper stories than in our dreams. I find it fascinating that we use the same word—dream—for both that which we experience when asleep at night and for our more conscious wishes, hopes, plans, and visions. Common between the two types of dreams are the bravery it requires to look closely at them and the intimacy and vulnerability it demands to share them. They are, after all, deeper glimpses into our selves and souls. Story portraits, if you will, of who we really are and who we wish to be...Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com   Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!    About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com.

Imagine a box. A story box. Everything in your life fits in this story box, and as time passes, some things fall out, while new things are put in. The new shapes the memories of the old so that a sense of incongruence does not arise. We can travel through our lives with a box that feels cohesive. Carrying this box, we feel like “us” to “ourselves” and not much changes that feeling. We feel like ourselves even if—upon closer examination—there’s not much to support that feeling. All goes well with our story-boxed life until something happens that does not fit; does not match who we assume ourselves to be on the surface. At this juncture, we have a decision to make. Will we accept what we cannot understand? Will we investigate further? Or will we say, “Well, that was weird,” and forget about it...Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com   Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!    About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com.

Not all stories are created equal. Rather, not all stories hold equal weight in our lives. I have long explained this through the metaphor of a very, very expensive cake. Imagine you have a roommate and you have just moved in together. It’s her birthday and you decide to swing by the local grocery and get her a cake. The cost is $6.99 - and maybe 15 minutes of your time. You decide you’ll take the chocolate. When you give the cake to her, she says, “Uh, thanks, but I don’t like chocolate cake.” You think “rude” and choose to eat the cake yourself. Next birthday, though, no cake. You know her better and are closer, but you remember her last response. Kind of hard to forget...Enter YOUR labyrinth at: BeWhoYouAre.com   Request: I recorded this book for a podcast platform so that you can listen for free. Please rate, dowload, and share with a friend to help us help others with their stories. Thank you!    About Me, Robin Rice: As an author and story philosopher, I know that the way a story is told changes the reality around it. My intention is to write books that stay with my readers long after they’ve closed the last chapter. As a story strategist, I have worked with bestselling authors to help them reach the Top-100-Of-The-Year lists, including Oprah, Time Magazine, and others. I also work with high-profile leaders who are effectively changing our world at scale. I have created social change projects that have traveled the globe, including #stopthebeautymadess and #yourholidaymom. Now, for the first time, I am sharing my personal story of awakening to greater consciousness. Like all impactful stories, it’s really about you. Join me as a trustworthy guide on the journey to uncover your own rich truths. Together, we can shape the story you’ve been waiting to tell yourself and the world. Learn more about me at RobinRice.com.