What Story Are You Telling?
Thanksgiving is here and it is quite a mess. My cousin is hosting dinner downtown and it is such a pain to find parking. My father doesn’t want to go because he thinks his last round of chemo will make him tired. So I am having the parents to my house which means cleaning the house from top to bottom which I despise. And since we are not going to my cousin’s I will miss spending the day with my great aunt and godmother.
Sounds like a rotten holiday, huh?
What if I looked at it from another angle?
I am having my parents and mother-in-law over for Thanksgiving. They have all struggled with health issues over the past few years so it is a blessing we can share this special day together. There will just be a few of us so we can really spend some quality time chatting and laughing. My godmother is in town for the week so we are able to extend the holidays by meeting up over the weekend with her and my great aunt.
Sounds like two different situations, huh? Actually they are both my Thanksgiving, just told by two different narrators. One interpretation of the story is obviously much more positive, loving, and comforting. Our words are truly powerful. How we decide to describe our life is how we also decide how to live it. How are you the author of your life? Are you creating an joy-filled story or a horror film?
When we let our inner narrator prattle on, it often spins a negative, self-attacking story of victimization and pain. But we can retrain our inner narrator to write positive, uplifting life stories. The moment you roll out of bed each morning you make choices on how you interpret your day. Are you stuck in stupid traffic again or do you have a few extra moments to call a good friend as you drive to work? Become aware of your inner narrator and make positive changes to your life story.
This Thanksgiving start retraining your inner narrator with an appreciation audit. Write down all the things that are wonderful in your life. Every morning before I get out of bed I think of five things for which to be grateful. The mornings when I don’t conduct an appreciation audit because I don’t think I have time or when I am caught up in deadlines and fears instead of appreciation, I notice that my inner narrator writes the rest of the day with fears, disappointments, and hassles. When I fill my inner narrator with positive thoughts each morning, the day is joyful, positive, and filled with opportunity.
To get you started, here are a few things for which to be grateful: You woke up this morning, you are breathing, there is adequate food for breakfast, you have the mental ability to read and comprehend this post.
For what else are you grateful?
What life story will you write today?
