Dave navigating all the Daves

In the multiverse, which Dave will win?

In the tree-form model of reality, multiple outcomes branch out as your story unfolds.

In this model, I come to crossroads in my day and face a choice: left or right. According to the tree, one Dave goes left, another goes right. Both proceed until they reach another crossroads and the process repeats. It doesn’t take very long for dozens of Daves to be following their own path, their own golden thread.

That said, there are likelihoods and probabilities.

In physics there are Likelihood Ration Tests (LRTs), and Maximum Likelihood Estimates (MLEs) that give a mathematical answer to the multiverse. Yes, there are an infinite number of possibilities, but MLEs say that there is a strong likelihood that I will be a teacher rather than a professional football player. There is a strong likelihood that I will write lots of stories rather than own a zoo with lots of snakes.

Photo by Naser Tamimi on Unsplash

And as you can see in my tree-form multiverse above, several of the golden threads lead to overwhelm. It is not uncommon for me to find that sensation. The thread I prefer, however is the one that lands in Serenity. When you start with the trunk, you see there are choices from the moment I wake up that will likely lead to serenity, and other choices that will likely lead to overwhelm.

I know this. You know this. We all know how choices go: they have consequences. But most of us think it ends with the choice—that once the choice is made, then the options collapse, like with Schroedinger’s Cat. In the tree-form model, they don’t collapse. In the tree-form model, you chose both and both proceed forward. You did both. And there are consequences to both.

This actually changes things.

If I make both “good” and “bad” choices, or go “left” and “right” and each Dave lives out each decision, then I am suddenly in competition with all those Daves. I have to consider all those Daves and where they are headed. Some Daves are a total mess, but some Daves are killing it. Some Daves are running for political office and other Daves hate their job. Some Daves have seven kids and some Daves have none.

The Dave I am currently following is doing really well. This Dave loves his work, loves his wife, loves his children and loves every member of his extended family. This Dave teaches storytelling to kids and adults and is about to hold his first weekend retreat in Maine. He has plans and is manifesting them.

And part of this Dave’s thing is to regularly navigate doubt and worry and fatigue and grief. Daily. These feelings are a part of the tree.

Now the best part of this perspective is that my life is now a game.

I play against other Daves. We are all in a competition to get what we want - and we are playing whether we want to or not. There is no right or wrong move, just moves and where they lead.

Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash

And it works in both directions.

Yes that’s right, we can make similar choices into our past. We can choose which memories to engage, which to forget, which to even change or delete. No matter how you feel about this practice, we all do it. We like to pretend that our memories are accurate and that we are recalling the most important parts but all studies show that we create our past just as much as we imagine our future.

The tree grows in both directions.

All of this is to say that we have choice. I don’t think we live somewhere on a straight line from birth to death. That simply doesn’t make sense and doesn’t align with my experience as a storyteller. There are too many instances where I can sense all the other timelines and on occasion I do jump. This sounds more esoteric and strange that what I mean. We have these random connections, feelings of deja-vu, moments of alignment and “knowing” that don’t seem to fit with our current reality. This is normal, but we generally don’t try to understand what is happening. Well, I think this is about feeling into the full tree. Feeling all the ways in which we have branched and rooted. It is us feeling the whole.

I’d love for you to try something that might show you evidence of your full tree. Do a story inventory. This is how I start retreats. Before we meet, we each do a full inventory of the stories that make up who we are. Use the sheets below to create your own inventory and when you have filled out both sheets fully, notice themes and patterns. Don’t judge, just notice. They are clues—clues to all the other versions of yourself and where you chose to go.

Use these inventory sheets to create your own

And maybe, if you are up for it, play the game a little more consciously. Enjoy a friendly competition with this other version of yourself. Smile, give them a nod, and then set into action.