Thoughts are Stories

And stories aren’t facts, they are just things we’ve chosen to believe. Think about stories that may have held you back. “I’m terrible with money.” “I am super disorganized.” “I am so lazy.” It’s likely your brain has gone searching to find evidence to support these claims, and since you found evidence, you continue to believe the stories.

But what if the story wasn’t true? What if the procrastination you feel isn’t laziness but something else? What if it was possible for you to be good with money? What if you didn’t have to be organized to get things done?

What possibilities open up to you when you start seeing your thoughts as stories rather than facts? Rather than insurmountable obstacles, how do you get curious about these thoughts and then start to move forward despite them?

The goal isn’t to change them, but to understand them, to see where they come from and to see what how they are protecting us. The idea that we’re lazy and disorganized might protect us from applying for a more challenging job because we’re afraid of failing. So we stay in our current job, telling ourselves it’s better for us, when in fact we might feel stuck and unhappy. Our thoughts drive our feelings so if you think you’re lazy, you’ll feel disheartened and disappointed in yourself. And that’s a great way to keep yourself from trying anything new.

For the next week, write down one thought each day that you notice for the first time. Don’t judge it or change it as it goes from brain to pen. Just write it down and get curious about it. This is the first step to understanding that the thought is a story. Often times this story has kept you safe for a really long time. Eventually we’ll start telling more encouraging stories, but for now, let’s look at the old ones so that we can start to take away their power.

This is an amazing tool that helps you look at relationships with others, yourself, your work and your environment in a new way. I love to ask myself the question, “What if I wasn’t lazy, then what?”