You are who you believe yourself to be

You are who you Believe Yourself to be

Let’s discuss the relationship between, The stories we tell ourselves, the feelings that they promote and the actions we take because of them. When I am finished you will understand how each of these combined create the belief in who we are.

So you are who you believe yourself to be correct? Can we agree with that statement?

Yes there are some external factors that come into play like our upbringing, our parents’ values and standards, and your experiences so far in life. These all blend together to make you the person you are right now

We are often told that we can be whoever we want to be. Yet, in many cases we become stuck based on who we believe ourselves to be. We sabotage ourselves by creating false stories and then we act based on these stories. Weather it be happiness, sadness, stress, anxiety, anger, we feel a certain way depending on the situation we are in and the story that we tell ourselves about it. All of these feelings cause us to act in different ways. You may want to act one way but the strong feelings based on a story steer you in the opposite direction. Your beliefs can be the difference between success or failure, winning and losing, happiness and sadness, it can even contribute to life and death.

I’ll have you consider that if you want to change who you believe yourself to be you must first identify the feelings you are having in any given situation. Be aware of how you are feeling, really stop to understand what you are feeling and then try to trace that feeling back to a story that you are telling yourself. Our feelings are the window into the story, if you listen to and study your feelings, you will be able to uncover all of the stories that are running through your head.

So lets say for example, that a current belief is that you are a horrible public speaker. You cringe at the thought of getting up and speaking in front of an audience. You become anxious, your hands begin to sweat, your heart begins to pound, you start speaking very fast and your words just don’t come out the way you want them to.

Just the thought of speaking in front of an audience triggers this story. This story is real to you, it evokes a number of feelings and emotions, and you give yourself no chance but to act accordingly.

So now that the feelings have been identified and the actions have been taken it's now time to trace them back to the story about how you don’t like public speaking.
So lets look at why this story is being told. Is it because of a lack confidence? Do you worry about how others perceive you, are you self conscious, scared to be judged? There are numerous feeling in play. The trick here is to find the root feeling and try to work through it. Do any of these feelings happen in any other areas of your life? Can they be traced back to any other stories that you tell yourself.

Once the root feeling has been identified, We can start working on the solution and different ways to overcome this story so we can change the belief.
Simply ask yourself, is this story true, should it matter how I am perceived, does it matter if I am judged, is it worth having these feelings? Am I committed to changing this story so I can become a better speaker or is the story more important? If I commit to changing the story that means I need to put in the work to overcome and get better and more comfortable in front of an audience.

We are all faced with stories that we tell ourself. It's important that we listen to and study the feelings we have associated with the stories so we don't get sidelined by false beliefs. This is where you need to change your self-talk, as well as your focus. Stop telling yourself what you can’t do and start convincing yourself that you can do whatever you put your mind into. What you say about yourself will affect your whole life and everything you try or attempt to do. If you’ve already made up your mind that you can’t do something, it’s all over.

I challenge you to indentify a story you are telling yourself today and really look into the feelings that story brings out. How is this story effecting you in your everyday life and how does it hold you back from being who you truly believe you can be.

It's amazing what can happen when you change your story, you can actually become a different person, you can change who you believe yourself to be in life and reach all of the dreams you have ever imagined.