Each moment we’re telling ourselves stories that are half true at best. And the stories make the difference. The different between the precious life we’re living.
All the stories are like glasses we’re seeing the world through.
There are practices like affirmations or hypnosis that work the same way. Some people are skeptical about their effectiveness, but we’re doing it all the time. We’re hypnotizing ourselves without even being dimly aware of it.
Now, things may appear simple — like, if this is true, why not just change the stories we’re telling?
The challenge is that it ain’t easy. We cannot change something suddenly. Most of the stories come from nowhere close to the conscious mind. They come from the subconscious. They come from what feels like the divine.
But we do have a bit of control over how we can change them.
The more often we can catch ourselves telling these stories, the more often we can pick whether we’re telling the positive or the negative version. We can pick the frame we’re using.
This can be very subtle. Let’s try it now.
Take stock of how you’re feeling, and try to notice what appears:
“I am feeling bad because today is cloudy and it’s going to rain,”
or
“I am feeling happy because I’m going to see Kristin,”
or anything like that.
We’re the world champions at stories like this.
So, simply question the story.
And when you find that the story you’re telling doesn’t serve you — change it. Try to frame it differently. It sounds so easy, but it’s actually pretty hard and requires strenuous effort. But the more you practice, the better you’ll get at it.
This can be very challenging right before taking important action —
Whether you say something or not.
Whether you stand out during a business meeting and throw your ideas out there, or not.
Whether you hit the gym when it’s raining or not.
Whether you go running when it’s raining.
Whether you go to the grocery store to buy healthy products to prepare dinner despite being tired — or call Uber Eats.
All of these actions bring out stories we’re telling ourselves to justify our behavior.
Either the sorry stories we know deep down don’t make any sense — or the good ones.
STORY
Stop → pause the auto-thought
Track → notice the story running (“I’m too tired” / “This isn’t fair”)
Observe → is it helping me move or freeze?
Reframe → what’s a version of this that energizes me?
Yield → lean into that one — act as if that’s the real one
One of the reasons I decided to create Moment is to notice the stories we’re telling ourselves.
If you're curious, you can try Moment here.
No pressure. Just a few mindful pauses — maybe they'll change something.