Dropping the Narratives
The mind makes up stories to make sense of what has happened to us—it's a way to process our experiences. Stories can also serve a protective function, our interpretation of events help protect our ego so we can keep going. In psychology, there is a therapy called narrative therapy where a therapist helps you identify and rewrite your own stories.
It begs the question: are we currently living in old stories? Stories that grew out of past micro or macro traumas that are limiting us? Our stories can persist for years or decades, but there comes a point in time where we recognize our stories for what they are, where something cracks through our veil of illusion, a glitch in the matrix, and we question the reality we have crafted for ourselves. Are these stories really true? We start to see perhaps our stories aren't true, and perhaps we can create new stories.
The brain is wiring network and can repeat these stories due to extreme or unprocessed trauma (PTSD) or just from small, jarring events that affected our self-esteem or our belief in our own potential. Some examples: I am not good enough, I don't deserve x, I'm afraid of y, I can't do that, people don't like me, I could never do that, I'm a failure at that.
The brain can loop on these stories, a circuitous loop that actively finds evidence to reinforce itself. If it's based on fear (false evidence appearing real), then we'll have fearful stories. I liken it to the spinning wheel of death on your computer; when it appears, you're computer is stuck and can't function properly. Some stories aren't as dire, but they still shape our reality in a way that doesn't serve our highest potential or state of being.
What happens if we drop the narratives we tell ourselves? Can we practice having new narratives by lingering in it for just as long as the old one? Can we then linger there more and more and look for evidence to reinforce our new belief? The brain will efficiently work with us, as we are the creators of your own narratives.
Soul-Prompt: What are my many narratives? How can I rewrite the narratives that don't serve me anymore?
