Human beings are all story-tellers. We tell our life story, the happenings of the day, recount joyous and terrible events. Even if we don’t reveal much or easily to others, we tell ourselves our stories. The way we tell our experiences creates and colours its meaning. “We become the narratives that we construct to tell our lives” (Jerome Bruner, 1997).
I recently watched an amazing webinar: How to Rewrite the Story of Your Life, presented by the positive psychologist Margarita Tarragona. I invite you to watch it, too. She explains how the way we tell our stories shapes how we experience our lives.
When you are “stuck” you are under the influence of a dominant story. This could be: “I’m a procrastinator, “I’m disorganized”, “I rub people the wrong way”, “I can never finish things”.
Through coaching you can rewrite the story you tell yourself about yourself. There are many ways a coach can guide you with this: narrative exercises, journaling, re-telling, re-framing, focusing on gratitude, visioning.
Of course coaching is not intended to help you see tragic events or loss through a rosy lens. Psychotherapy is appropriate for working through trauma and may also use narrative techniques.
As your coach I want you to write your everyday story so that you savour good experiences. I want you to recognize and celebrate your progress, success and resilience. You can learn to recognize and practice how to limit negative ruminations. You can lessen the power of those old stories that limit you moving forward.
You can be pulled by the better life in your future rather than being pushed and constrained by your past. Tell your story better and start living your life better.