We’ve been talking about the power of narrative, and it is strong indeed. Narrative – the story we tell ourselves and others about a circumstance, event or opportunity – can change feelings, change outlook, change the future. honesty
Narrative changes all these things by altering our brain chemistry – decreasing the fear-based chemicals and increasing our openness to possibilities, our approach and ultimately success as we define it.
But, for all that good to come, we have to make sure that the story we’re telling is not only focused on learning and possibility. It has to also be true.
One of you brilliant folks wrote to me after last week’s message (Carlota please hyperlink that to the blog post from last week) and pointed out a way narrative can cause harm. If you tell yourself a story that isn’t true. If you pretend to yourself that you don’t feel what you do, that someone else’s motives are good when you know they are not, if you ignore harm that is happening – or exaggerate harm in order to get sympathy, if you disregard facts… any of these are ways that we can accidentally make things worse. Crafting a narrative is key to resilience – crafting a false narrative will undermine your success. Lying to yourself will make you less resilient.
The first tenet of resilience is to be honest with yourself. You may or may not choose to share what you feel or know with anyone else, but don’t waste time or your mental health, by lying to yourself.
Is there anything you need to be more honest with yourself about? Comment and tell me if you’d like. I’ll keep it confidential and be really proud of you for working on this!
All my best,
Dr. G
honesty
