Self-Awareness Saturday | Developing Awareness (Part 3) | Understand the Story of Your Life
Last week I went over the second step, learn about your personality, so this week I'm going to over step three: understand the story of your life.
This is a focused area
called narrative identity.
“The stories we tell
ourselves about our lives don’t just shape our personalities – they are our
personalities.” - Dan McAdams, Northwestern University psychology professor
Your narrative identity is
the story of your life, more specifically, h o w YOU
understand your life.
This includes your past,
present, and future as well as your thoughts, actions, and goals.
If you had the write the
story of your life, what would it sound like? What events or moments stand out
the most to you whether they’re positive or negative?
Research actually proves
that writing about your difficult life experiences improves your physical and
mental health.
Even if we’re the only ones
to ever read the story, it’s best not to keep those things hidden inside us.
As hard as it may be and as
painful as it may be, you HAVE to face your reality.
Until you learn to see your
reality for exactly what it is, you will never be able to develop your
self-awareness.
Trust me, I am the queen of
painting a pretty picture over everything, it’s SO much easier that way. What
happens though is that we bury the pain, the disappointment, the fear, the
rejection; whatever it may be.
How much you confront your
life’s challenges defines your level of self-awareness.
Do some real soul
searching, ask yourself the hard questions and even harder yet, answer them
HONESTLY.
Here are some ideas to get
you started:
Look at your early life
story and ask yourself what people, events, and experiences have had the
greatest impact in shaping the person you have become?
In which experiences did you find the greatest
passion for leading?
How do you frame the setbacks in your life?
What areas of your life are
you painting the pretty picture over?
What’s the one thing you’ve
always wanted to do but fear always held you back from?
What are the things in my
life that I would like to get rid of?
What makes you feel the most
happy?
What do you let get in the
way of achieving your goals?
WHAT is y o u r REALITY?
Get out a paper and a pen
if you have to, take some time to dig deep and truly answer with honesty.
Do you feel a little weight lifted off your shoulders? You should! ;)
*Stay
tuned for my next "Self-Awareness Saturday" at 7:30pm EST over at Facebook.com/RachelFaulFitness
for part 4
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