When I was a teenager, I used to have what was referred to back then as bunking parties. My friends brought blankets or sleeping bags and dumped them on my concrete basement floor. Then we played games, ate endlessly, and somewhere around midnight we would put on our pajamas and get in our bedding. It was quite uncomfortable and a little scary in my big, dark basement, but we loved it. And I, as the hostess, always told scary stories. I told stories about things that went bump in the night, and all of us back then told ourselves stories about who we were, we had it figured out. We were all going to college and getting good jobs; all our futures felt bright.
I was thinking of my old basement parties and our beliefs back then when I read an article that told the reader to stop reading, close our eyes, and listen to the story going on in our heads… It’s the story we tell others when we first meet them and the stories we tell ourselves every day. And brain research indicates the stories we tell ourselves are more than just stories, they define who we are.
Let me give you an example that comes from the Educare Unlearning Institute: The unattended mind can spin a story, create a movie, imbed you as lead and a villain and destroy your day in less than an hour, all because someone did not respond to a text.
The more we tune in and observe what stories we’re telling ourselves, the more effective we’ll be in weeding out ideas that don’t belong, and begin telling the stories that help us gain confidence and grow as human beings.
Remember, misery is optional, so is joy, and happiness is a skill and a choice.
