Tell yourself a different story

Has this ever happened to you. You're going through your day, feeling good about yourself and how you look. A stranger walks past you and tells you that you smell nice. Brings a smile to your face, but then you can't remember what you smell like, so you sniff your wrist to be reminded.

How could that happen? How could you forget what perfume you put on just hours ago? It's the magic of the brain, instead of constantly triggering your brain to notice the wonderful smells surrounding you, it shuts it down so you can focus on other things. Cool right?

But it can work against you as well. That's why pet people never notice when their homes smell bad, cause they become nose-blind to it.

This blog post isn't about that though. It's about something similar your brain does to your inner critic and traumas. When something bad happens to you, in the beginning, it's the only thing you can think about, running over the situation over and over again in your mind. But eventually it gets quieter and quieter, until you no longer thin about it. And because life continues to happen, you don't even notice that it' gone away.

Did you get over it and heal? Or did you just go "nose-blind" to it? Is it still there in the background of your psyche, guiding your decisions without you realizing the motivation? Has it become part of the internal story you tell yourself about who you are and your value?

When you make a decision to eat poorly, where does that come from? When a guy hits you and YOU apologize, what have you been telling yourself to get you to that place? When you don't speak your truth, is it because a deeper, quieter truth is in your ear?

Everyone has an internal story they tell themselves, though some of us have lost the ability to consciously hear it. I argue that learning to hear that story again gives you the power to change the story, truly heal, and step into the greatness that's just waiting for you. When you hear the story you can make better decisions about your life. Your internal story is like your silenced sense of smell; even though you don't always notice it, it's still there. So do like the title says and tell yourself a different story.

How do you do this? Working with someone that can help you get in touch with that. Sign up for Health Coaching to start the process.

Step one: Acknowledge you have a story

Step two: Say it out loud

Continue in great health,

Leslee R Mcelrath, MD