When I’m coaching individuals or those in the corporate sector, I’ve discovered that all of them struggle with accepting change and realizing the stories they’ve created that no longer serve them (and probably never have). And that developing new stories will better help them reach their goals and become more in touch with their authentic selves.
When I work on my own stories, I’m profoundly influenced by something that took me by surprise. I know that the people I respect have great influence over me, but after humans, I’ve found practicing yoga to be life-altering in my effort to continually develop as an adult. My new, ongoing knowledge comes from my yoga practice and teachers, and the book, “How Yoga Works,” by Gesne Michael Roach, which has given me a new clarity I endeavor to apply to every area of my life. One of the most powerful examples from the book comes from a story based on the yoga sutra:
“Yoga is learning to stop how the mind turns things around.”
It taught me that story generation begins with how we form opinions, good and bad, about people, tasks or things, and how those assumptions are borne within the vacuum of subjectivity. For example, you may know or meet a person and categorize them as something good or bad, and from that moment on, that’s who they are to you. But is that who they are? What are they to other people… to their family, friends or colleagues?
Something you may find painfully annoying about someone may be equally endearing to someone else in their life. Does that mean they are annoying or are they wonderful? As sure as my mind makes me feel one thing about a person, someone else’s mind makes them feel the opposite… and neither of us is right or wrong when it comes to defining who that person really is.
Although this example is a very simplified distillation of Roach’s lesson, the main theme has helped me to create a kind of filter I strive to use daily - one that has me looking at how I feel from a bigger perspective then my own mind - to question my outlook in an attempt to distinguish what is and isn’t a dysfunctional story I’ve created in the vacuum of my mind.
This is part of my work and pardon my presumption, work we would all benefit from. Again, this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how it’s explained in the book… and I know, this is kind of deep stuff… or is it?
Even if you’re not a practicing yogi, I highly recommend this read.