Story vs Fact

I would like to teach you about one of the tools I use to help my clients; It's called Story vs Fact.

  

A Story is what we tell ourselves about a circumstance that includes what happened and all the emotions, thoughts and feelings that we have around the circumstance.

The story can be something that happened yesterday or it can be something that happened to you years ago that you keep telling over and over and over again so much that it becomes so ingrained you believe the story with every fiber of your being.

But the FACTS are neutral items from the story that everyone can agree on.

When we look at just the facts, without the thoughts, feelings & emotions, the facts have no effect on us.

It’s not until we start thinking about the FACTS, and attaching meaning to the facts, that our feelings and emotions take us to places we don’t want to go.

A very basic example would be – if you were to say ‘Work stresses me out” this is really a story

The fact is - you have a job; it’s the thoughts about your job that stresses you out.

So, though you may want another job, that isn’t likely to happen immediately, but if you can change how you think about your current job, that can change how you feel about your current job, immediately.

So instead for thinking “My job stressed me out”, maybe you could change your thought to “My job is hard, but I’m figuring it out” and that could create a completely different feeling while the fact, I have a job, hasn’t changed.

Though this is a very simple example, I hope it helps you see when you separate the FACTS from the STORY you can change your thoughts about the FACTS and feel better immediately, without changing the FACTS.

I have many other tools I use to help my clients learn how to manage their minds so they can create the life they want.  Contact me if you would like to schedule a free coaching session.