Living the life you want – by writing a better story.
Stories are an important part of life, they define who we are, our values and inspirations and aspirations. They define how we got to where we are in life and more importantly where we are heading.
“If you don’t know where you are going any road will take you there”.
So it makes sense to take charge of your story so you have clarity of your end destination. Through, images, sounds, feel, smells and tastes stories can transform the factual into actual.
A story of a baby elephant
Here’s a well known personal development story that captures human nature:
When a elephant living in captivity is still a baby, it is tied to a tree with a strong rope every night. Because it is the nature of elephants to roam free, the baby elephant instinctively tries with all its might to break the rope. But it isn’t yet strong enough to do so. Realising its efforts are of no use, it finally gives up and stops struggling. Having tried and failed many times, it will never try again for the rest of its life.
When the elephant is fully grown, it can be tied to a small tree with a thin rope. It could easily free itself by uprooting the tree or breaking the rope. But because its mind has been conditioned by its prior experiences, it doesn’t make the slightest attempt to break free. The powerful elephant has limited its present abilities by limitations from the past.
Human beings are exactly like that elephant except for one thing – We can CHOOSE not to accept the false boundaries and limitations created by the past….. We can write a better story.
How stories change our minds
Now this is where neuroplasticity comes in. It turns out that every time we think a thought a neuropathway is laid down in our brains. The more often and more strongly we think a thought, the stronger the pathway, and before we know it, its a six lane highway to success. The other good news is that the pathways we neglect to hold in our thoughts get dismantled and fade over time. Its a bit like a path in a field if we don’t walk on it it gets overgrown and soon disappears.
Stories are rich ways of thinking. They contain facts, sensory rich information, relationship, as well as emotions which significantly increate the strength of the neuropathways. Walt Disney called this “Imagineering”.
So if you are feeling stuck and want to break free, rather than fight frustrations, difficulties – relax and write a story about a better future. Fill it with images, sounds, feelings, taste, smell and all the wonderful consequences the new way of thinking will bring to you, yours, and the community in general. Because the mind can’t tell the difference between imagination and reality the more we can make our thinking real, engaging and desirable the greater the chance that we will develop a state of mind that will support and find the means to create our new future.
This is where vision boards, well formed outcomes and goals are so important as they design our futures.
Remember: Its easier to builds a new habit (story) than change an old one.
And finally to ground the story in time and space – build into the story the first small step you will take to make your new story happen, i.e. the how and whens. It doesn’t have to be a big first step, something like switching the computer on and doing a google search. Once that step has been made then the story is real and exists, all we have to do is continue taking small steps.
Find out more
So if you would like help in writing and building your new story contact us at ACT for a chat . Together we can get focused, design goals, overcome limitations and take steps to achieving personal success. At ACT we have all the tools you need: coaching, training and hypnotherapy.
