Most of us perceive their lives as stories. In our minds life is a progression of events that follow each other; linear continues passage of time.
Perceiving one’s life as a story brings suffering. What goes wrong and what goes right, moving up and down our emotional roller coaster. As a story life for us should follow a certain direction. We are harsh on ourselves about how the story shall proceed and how life is supposed to be. As we repeat the story we emphasize on suffering, we mentally recreate past events and feelings which disconnects us from reality.
It might be studying history of ancient people, reading stories, or listening to the stories told by elderly people about their lives that we became programmed to perceive life as story.
Life is nothing but the moment you are experiencing right now. It is all what life is. At every moment life has a different shape which has nothing to do with the story your mind keeps repeating. All aspects of life exist only in this very moment and out of the walls of your mind.
The quality of life is the quality of the moment you are currently experiencing.