How good of a storyteller are you?
Not in the traditional sense of a person who shares a story that draws an audience into a certain time and place, but as a person who tells himself stories that either support or sabotage his efforts. Can you relate?
Want to know the funny thing about our self-made stories? These stories are created from our imagination and not based on actual data.
Think about it. You are driving in traffic and someone cuts you off. Is the story you tell yourself one that gets you pissed off and worked up, or one where you feel calm, even sympathetic for the driver? You and I have no data in that situation except we were cut off.
I could say that guy is an arrogant jerk who only thinks about himself. Which indirectly means I am being treated less than. How does this make me feel? What emotions and thoughts are occupying my body and mind? Not good ones, I can tell you from personal experience.
Conversely I could say that guy is under a lot of stress, there must be some emergency in his life that is seriously affecting his decision making. In this story, what feelings and thoughts are occupying my body and mind? Better ones for sure!
In both cases I have no facts to support my story. I decide “the truth” based on the story I create. Can you see how powerful this ability to create stories becomes in our lives?
When I am working toward a goal there will always be things that get in my way or create an obstacle. When I encounter an obstacle, the story I tell myself can either support my movement forward in confidence, or shut me down in fear and uncertainty. Do you know these places?
In the absence of data I am “filling in the blanks”. What I choose to fill those blanks in with becomes my reality. It may or may not be true. I can’t know unless I directly ask the people involved if my story about them or the situation is true. What is true for me is the reality I create to live in because of my story.
Our stories are powerful. They affect what we do and how we do it.
What story are you living in now that does not serve you? How could changing the details of the “blanks you filled in” change this story?
With a new story, what possibilities are available for you to move forward in your goals, aspirations, and dreams?
