The Stories We Tell

We often share the idea that we're always feeling our moment to moment thinking. That our experience in each moment is created by what we're thinking ABOUT what's happening, not exactly what's happening.
We came across a graphic that explains this that we like. It's from Stephanie Harrison who has a website thenewhappy.com. She has an uncanny knack for creating artwork and graphics that illuminate aspects of how life works that can make our lives happier.
Isn't that so often the way it works? There's what happens. Then there's what I focus on, like the tone of voice that someone uses, or a word they chose to use. And then there's the story I tell myself based on that tone of voice or word that I'm focusing on.
What Stephanie says about this is that our brain's attention is like a flashlight that illuminates certain parts of our experience. And once they're illuminated, we focus more on them than the other parts of what's happening. From there, we tell ourselves stories about them, which are often far from the more balanced truth of what's happening... but they feel so real in our experience, as though they are the full truth of the matter.
From this narrow perspective of what's happening, we create a reality (that isn't completely true) and make decisions and actions based on it that deeply impact our lives and our health.
As events repeat themselves, we repeat our interpretation of them, and we create habitual responses to them. This is where the food part comes in. If the story we're telling ourselves doesn't feel good, we look for relief. We look for some way to feel better. And, for some of us, that is food.
Almost all poor food choices and eating disorders come out of our desire to feel better in the moment. They're short-term fixes, but it's the best we see to do. So, when we recognize that we're always feeling our moment to moment thinking, we begin to see that it isn't eating or shopping or having a drink, that will bring us the lasting sense of well being we're looking for. We begin to see that in exploring what's behind the feelings we want relief from, we can put an end to the habitual cycle of short-term relief.
The more we see that life works from the inside-out, that is, we experience what we're thinking, and not the outside-in, that what happens in our lives creates the feelings and experience we have, the less we find ourselves feeling stress and pressure that we need relief from.
Seeing that life works inside-out takes us upstream and we see the fuller picture of what's happening, we get a more balanced view, and from there, our stories lead to more productive and happy outcomes.
Let us know if you have any questions about this or would like a free 30-minute consultation to explore how this understanding may help you find a new happy in your life.

[@LeifVideen-w1h]

Great video Connie and Bill🙂. I wonder why when I’m “in it” it feels so much easier to keep shaking the snow globe than to just set it down. Deep inside I can feel my body wants to let it settle but my mind is wanting to create a serious blizzard outta this snow globe. Almost like I’m concerned that once the snow settles and I’m truly with myself in the moment Im not going to see a cute little cottage in the globe but a run down old shack lol. If I get quite I’m not going to be proud of what I see. If that makes sense.

[@conniebilldekramer9294]

We love your comments. They are so real and open. The truth is when we let the mind settle, that's when we can see magic. So beautiful. Love to you both C & B