What if many of the problems we face every day were due to the stories we create and relay to our inner selves? The key to freedom may be breaking free of these chains. Join us for a two-part blog on how you can begin to find freedom from your current mindset by focusing on the stories you tell yourself.
The famous founder of the psychological study of positive thinking, Norman Vincent Peale, is noted for once relaying “Change your thoughts, and you can change your world.” Peale’s argument assumes that each one of us holds thoughts that both impact and affect our daily experiences.
Need proof of the power of your thinking? Look back on your day and recall the number of times you had a thought related to your current circumstances:
“If only I looked like her, I wouldn’t feel so bad about myself.
“Wow, if I drove that car, then I know I would impress everyone around me.”
That home is so beautiful… oh, how much more joyful my life would be if I had that house!”
As a Berkeley psychologist, I spend a lot of time with individuals whose minds are filled with thoughts that keep them trapped in a state of continually feeling like they are the victims in their stories. Even when their lives seem fantastic from the outside, these individuals find themselves buried under deep feelings of doubt and an inability to rise above their station.
The key to this perceived hopelessness? Changing the stories you tell yourself each day about who you are and where you are going.
The Chains Of Negative Stories
There is much to be said of your ability to move forward being dictated by how you view yourself. Suppose you see yourself as a successful and driven individual full of latent potential. In that case, the odds are high that you will find yourself rising the ladder of any enterprise you find yourself in simply because you seek those opportunities.
If your inner story is one of being weak, helpless, or ill-equipped to meet the expectation or standards of the world around you, you will likely find yourself stuck in a spot where you will not have the strength or fortitude to rise up and move out.
Negative self-stories can become chains that hold you in the spot where you were never meant to stay. Rather than finding silver linings and opportunities to grow amid a variety of circumstances, you will instead find hidden enemies and invisible trap doors in your path that prevent you from stepping forward in courage.
Finding The Strength To Change Your Story
Do you see yourself as a victor? Someone who was placed in this day and age for a purpose and reason, and that your life is full of potential? Or do you see yourself as a victim of circumstances, held at bay by the powers of a harsh and unforgiving world? The answer to this question can be the starting point of freedom from the chains of negativity.
The key is to begin to implement practical methods by which to change your story. Rather than telling yourself all the reasons that you cannot succeed or achieve, instead, you must begin to preach to yourself a gospel of potential and opportunity.
With simple steps and consistent practice, you can begin to take back control of the stories you tell yourself and begin to rewrite the narrative of your life. In part two of this blog series, we will uncover helpful tips and practices that can help you shift and ultimately rewrite your story.
One of the best ways to begin working through the underlying reasons behind negative self storying is with a trained and experienced therapist. As a leading Berkeley psychologist, I have years of experience working with clients to uncover the deep and hidden narratives of negativity that plague many and keep them from experiencing the life I know they can live.
Want to learn more? Stay tuned for the next blog in our series, and contact me today to learn more about my therapy and counseling services. I would be more than happy to sit down with you in person or online to begin discussing how you can take control of the narration of your life and discover how to start living a life of potential and opportunity!
