“Who are we but the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves, and believe?”
Scott Turow
Life can be messy. It is by no means a linear trajectory with one thing after the other. Amidst the cacophony, we seek the meaning of it all. And we search for who we are.
That identity, the self that we manifest is one that is influenced by many things – most external, some internal. The teacher that said you would never get physics. The father who told you that could do anything you put your mind to. The friend who accused you of wasting your privilege. Often, we internalise these things, and they become part of the stories we tell ourselves. At least they became part of my story, at some stage.
The first principle is you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.
Richard Feynman
In John Kehoe‘s Mind Power programme, the Law of Connection states that ‘our inner and outer worlds are connected.’
“To change the external, you must change the internal. Most people forget this step. They try to change external conditions by working directly on those conditions but this almost always proves futile or temporary, unless it is accompanied by a change of thoughts and beliefs. Train your conscious mind to think thoughts of success, happiness, health, and prosperity. Learn to weed out negativity such as fear and worry. Keep your conscious mind busy with the expectation of the best, and make sure the thoughts you habitually think are based upon what you want in your life.”
Essentially, the story you tell yourself about yourself has an impact on your life. This is something I try to consistently remind myself of.
Now is the time to reflect on that story and its chapters. Now is the time to shift your focus to the positive, instead of languishing in the negative. What’s the worst that could happen?
My two cents.