What old stories do you tell yourself? Are you letting your old stories hold you back?
I am ugly.
I have buck teeth.
I take bad pictures.
This is an old story I tell myself even as an adult.
I had a patient the other day that went through a health crisis in 2011. She had a stressful, high demand job and found herself with symptoms that were eventually diagnosed as an invisible migraine. She became dizzy, disoriented and started losing her peripheral vision. She thought she was dying. Two years later, even though she came into my office fit and 30 pounds lighter, she was still telling herself the story that she was sick. I gently called her out on this. She mentioned a week later that my comment was a revelation for her.
The day she told me this, I had a phone conversation with a very good friend. I was telling her about something that I was about to do that was scary for me. She said, “Liz, I think you are telling yourself an old story.”
HA! I was busted!
I am ugly.
I don’t look good when I smile.
I take bad pictures.
Maybe this is where positive affirmations come in handy:
I am beautiful.
My smile is endearing.
I can take a damn good picture.
What would happen if I told this to myself everyday? If I turned this into a practice, would I eventually wipe out the old story? If I moved though my fears and followed my heart, could I silence these stories for good? Would I move towards my greatest potential?
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – by Marianne Williamson from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles
What old stories do you tell yourself? Are you afraid to sing in front of people? Dance? Play an instrument? Are you the fat one? The ugly one? The wimpy one? The poor one? Please share. I would love to hear from you. We are all in this together.
Liz Richards, L.Ac.