When we change our story, we transform. Our stories create the meaning and the truth of an experience. They determine how we live our lives, and are the building blocks of our lived reality. We can change almost anything when we change our story about it.
First comes mindfulness. If we are not aware of the story we are telling ourselves, then we cannot choose our edits. We build mindfulness into our bodies. Resmaa Menakem talks about building the somatic body like we do our physical body: we do the reps and build it over time like we build muscle.
The language of the body is our feelings and sensations. Mindfully attending to our stories means paying attention to those feelings. To our own inner wisdom. Our stories live in those feelings and that knowledge.
We mine down into these stories. We can use our mindfulness practice to stay present and stay with the stories that are scary, or that tell us about distrust or discomfort. We can stay curious and create safety for ourselves, and that helps us dive deeper into our body story.
After we find the stories, we interface with them. Mindfulness creates the workspace for this process. It helps us find and hear the specific threads of the stories that create our individual reality. Once we see them, then we can reweave them.
There isn’t one right or wrong way to change stories. It is more of a dance. We come into a relationship with them. We engage with them and keep it dynamic. And through that interaction, we are able to create a space where we can design a new point of view by shifting our attention to our somatic experiences from our perceived reality.
Our stories create meaning from experience. When we dive back down into the depths of our feeling, sensing our feelings, we find a space of change and possibility. We can rewrite old stories. We can change their endings, or recast the hero. We can redefine and reshape our experience of the world. Mindfulness is the tool that opens those inner possibilities.
