How You Tell Your Story Matters

The assignment was to draw a tree on a piece of paper. As a cancer patient, I attended therapy sessions while I as in treatment. I remember thinking I would love to draw a tall, full bodied, spruce tree with fluffy white snow on its boughs. And when I went to do it, the image would not appear on the paper as I imagined. 

I loved to doodle and I often drew palm trees because I once found an easy algorithm to draw palm trees. You start by drawing a circle, pick a spot in the top half of the circle and draw arcs out to the edge of the circle in even spacing (it would look like the top of a beach ball). Then it was simply a matter of zig-zags on either side of the lines, and you have the top of a palm tree. Limited by my artistic talents, I drew a vibrant, full of colour, giant palm tree on my page.

The next day I had explained that I wanted to draw a spruce tree, one with a solid base of branches, reaching high into the air with smaller branches at the top. She started by first explaining that the assignment was more to do with self-image and less to do with vegetation. Then she shared what she saw in what I had drawn. She said she could see that I had many facets to my personality (the spray of fronds), and all of them were thriving (full of color and light), that I was flexible and willing to adjust (trunk of tree) depending on the pressures (wind) in my life. I was blown away. She continued to say that whereas the spruce tree has established branches near the base (in the past) it also has less extension at the top (present) and is less resistant to environmental pressures and tends to break easily.

What she said that day has stayed with me for over thirty years, and has actively shaped and guided my life many times. This is the power of perspective because how you see yourself matters, and how you tell your story continues to shape your life.

We are all here having a human experience. Things happen. Lots of things happen all around the world, every day. What we notice becomes part of our experience, and it becomes part of our experience because we have a thought about it. For example, I could have not paid any attention to the assignment. I could have not done the assignment. But, because I did, and took her words to heart, it then became part of my story.

This is the magic of our story, we can tell it however we choose. Telling it in a way that serves us generates emotional energy that supports us to grow, evolve, and expand. When we tell our stories in a way that doesn’t feel supportive, we contract. We rely on our senses to collect information. We identify other people, places, or things as being responsible for how we feel — on the inside. What started out as a thought we were having about something we notice quickly becomes the material we identify as the cause of our suffering — on the inside.

We decide how we tell our story. Having said that, we have also been conditioned by our past to tell our story in a certain way. Awareness is the currency of healing, and the opportunity for change.

When we tell our stories in a way that feels supportive, we continue to expand. We generate the energy needed to expand. And so, how we tell our story matters, because how we see the world and our place in it provides the framework of possibility.

Learn how to play a stronger role in your own healing.

This is where coaching comes in. You have the power within you, learn how to tell your story in a way that serves you, so you can align with your true desires of a healthy, heart-filled life.

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