The Stories We Tell Ourselves

Have you ever noticed how two people can experience the same situation and walk away with completely different stories?

Or perhaps you've looked back at your own life and realised that your memories seem to change depending on how you're feeling today.

That was one of the many profound insights shared by Dr. Richard Moss in our recent conversation on the Soulfull Sound Podcast.

Richard gently reminds us that much of our suffering isn't created by life itself. It's created by the stories our minds build around our experiences.

If we're anxious, we tend to search the past for evidence that confirms our fear.

If we're peaceful, we remember the moments that remind us we are loved, supported, and capable.

The past itself hasn't changed.

Our relationship with it has.

One of Richard's most beautiful teachings is something he calls The Mandala of Being—a simple yet profound way of recognising where our attention has wandered.

Are we lost in the past?

Are we worrying about the future?

Are we caught in stories about ourselves?

Or are we consumed by stories about someone else?

Whenever we leave the present moment, our minds naturally begin creating narratives. Those stories often feel true, but as Richard explains, they are only ever partial truths.

And perhaps that's where freedom begins.

Not by trying to think more positively.

Not by pretending difficult emotions don't exist.

But by becoming curious enough to notice the stories we're believing.

One moment in our conversation particularly stayed with me.

Richard described how fear doesn't disappear simply because we become spiritually aware. Instead, we learn to develop a different relationship with it.

Rather than running from fear, we learn to meet it.

Rather than resisting grief, we allow it to teach us.

Rather than becoming trapped by our thinking, we become aware that we are thinking.

As someone whose work centres around voice and authentic expression, I found this deeply resonant.

Our voice doesn't simply express our thoughts.

It reveals our relationship with ourselves.

When we soften the stories we tell, our voice naturally becomes more spacious, more truthful, and more connected.

Perhaps presence isn't something we achieve.

Perhaps it's something we continually return to.

Again.

And again.

And again.

If there's one question I'm taking away from this conversation, it's this:

What story am I believing right now?

And perhaps an even more important one...

Who would I be without it?

Points Of Discussion:

01:38 A Life-Changing Spiritual Awakening
07:42 Leaving Medicine to Follow His Calling
12:53 Learning to Trust Inner Knowing
20:47 The Mandala of Being Explained
26:45 Where Do You Go When You Leave the Present Moment?
31:56 Why We Avoid the Present
38:41 A Practical Way to Return to Presence
49:57 Why Mindfulness Isn't Enough
53:36 Revisiting The Mandala of Being
59:00 The Voice, Resonance & Presence
01:00:48 Richard's Work Today

Resources & Links:

➡ Website: https://richardmoss.com
➡ Foundational Elements: https://richardmoss.com/foundational-elements-richard-moss/
➡ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RichardMossDeepWork
➡ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richard.moss/
➡ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richard.moss.author
➡ The Mandala of Being Audiobook: https://richardmoss.com/the-mandala-of-being-audio-book/
➡ The Black Butterfly Audiobook: https://richardmoss.com/the-black-butterfly-audio-book/
➡ Satsangs - Master Class in Awareness and the Path of Love: https://richardmoss.com/satsang-with-richard-katherine/
➡ Summer retreat: https://richardmoss.com/summer-retreat-2026/

About Dr. Richard Moss:

Richard Moss is an internationally respected teacher, author, and visionary thinker who has dedicated over 45 years to exploring the nature of human consciousness and the art of radical aliveness.

In 1977, while practicing emergency medicine, Richard experienced a spontaneous state of illumination that irreversibly changed his life. He never returned to clinical practice. Instead, he spent decades mapping the territory of human consciousness: how we lose presence, how we suffer unnecessarily, and how we can come home to ourselves.

He has presented at Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and the University of Chicago Medical School. His seven books, published by New World Library, Hay House, and Celestial Arts, have been translated into nine languages. His teaching integrates spiritual practice, psychological self-inquiry, and body awareness.

Richard lives in Moon Lake, Sandy Ridge, North Carolina with his wife Katherine Fellows-Moss, who is his teaching partner. Together they offer mentoring, Satsang, dreamwork webinars, healing webinars, and retreats. He continues to write, teach, and share insights that arise spontaneously from a life lived in deepening presence.