Being a verbal processor, more times than not, I speak before I think. Sometimes this is not a good thing. Sometimes, it works. In a planning meeting for the coming school year, I was speaking with a colleague, and said, "We are shaped by the stories we tell ourselves." Our choices and responses are formed by the scripts playing in our minds (conscious or not), and we are playing the part of ourselves. As Shakespeare said,
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts...
Changing the part I am playing requires me to change the stories I tell myself about myself. Defining (or redefining) my character if you will. I love the closing to the Coen Bros.' The Huddsucker Proxy when the main character reads from the blue letter, and allows himself, because of the new story he tells himself, another chance. Or, casting myself into other tales, like the parables of Christ, and seeing myself and my possibilities from whole new perspectives. We ARE shaped by the stories we tell ourselves, and may we all live happily ever after.
Comments