Do a quick inventory of the people who have played a significant role in your life. Have you ever stopped to think about whose voice is in your ear, impacting your choices and behavior? Which did you listen to when your chose your path after high-school? How about when you chose your career? Which one shows up in your relationships? Which one tells you what type of parent you should be? Which one judges you? Which voice do you turn to for approval? Which one do you try to please? Whose narrative is shaping the way you see yourself and the world around you?
For better or worse, the people in our lives become part of our mindset fabric.
The experiences we have with them stick. Their voices and narratives shape our values, belief systems, patterns and behavior. They become part of our conscious and unconscious mind. We learn from them, run from them and mimic them. We try to make them proud, prove them wrong, and please them. We can spend our entire lives doing our dead level best to live up to their standards. They’re the voices of our parents, the kid who bullied us in school and our former bosses. They’re the voices of our teachers, lovers, coworkers, and friends. They are the regretful voices of our present, the relentless voices of our past and the worry wart voices of our future. All of these voices play a big role in framing our self narrative- what we believe about ourselves, the world around us and our place in the world.
Mindfulness can help you understand whose narrative is impacting you, your life and your ability to thrive.
This type of awareness can connect you with who has had and who currently has the greatest influence in your life. This awareness can help you better understand what’s behind your choices, habits, and behavior. Once you’re clear, you can choose to listen to the ones that serve you well, silence the ones that don’t and live life on your own terms.
Here are three of the questions I offer clients in my mindfulness-based life coaching practice:
- Whose narratives are impacting my life now?
- Which ones do I want to silence?
- What will change for me if I start listening to my own voice instead?
*If you’re ready to reset from toxicity, tune into your potential and thrive, let’s talk.
