Carl Jung, the influential psychiatrist, on the value of knowing yourself: “The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.”

I’ve always been one of those “go with the flow” types of people. Very easygoing. At least this is what others might have told you about me. Except, I’m not. I have preferences, and opinions, and to be honest, I’m very particular about some things. Ok, a lot of things.

But, my early childhood experiences taught me that this type of behaviour was not okay. I was rewarded for being “the easy child”. I lived into this easygoing nature that inevitably caused me a lot of pain and suffering as an adult who always sacrificed her personal needs for others’ comfort. In the end, I often felt resentful and frustrated. I wasn’t being my authentic self.

As I’d learn much later in life, I was operating from an old belief. Being “the good girl” was programmed into my brain as being safe, and conducive to living a peaceful life with others. Below my conscious awareness, my behaviours were consistently aligned with this mindset. As an adult, this did not serve me. But how do we know what we don’t know? Seems like a silly sentence to write. And probably a sillier one to say aloud. But it’s true. You can’t change something that isn’t serving you if you don’t have the awareness piece. That’s what this post is for – to help YOU uncover your personal stories… and equally as important, to determine if your stories need to be rewritten.

Psychology is defined as the scientific study of the mind and behaviour.

Our psychology – how we process and respond to the world around us, is largely built from our past experiences and the associated mental-emotional impact of those experiences. In other words, something happens, and our brain tries to make sense of it, or learn from it. When we are young, we tend to create stories to make sense of things that are too big and complex to understand. These stories – aka narratives that we tell ourselves about how the world works (and our place in it), often persist in our adult years regardless of whether they make sense or not. These stories have either been written by us, or they have been written for us (by parents, friends, teachers, culture, etc.). No matter the origin, these stories influence our behaviour, and how we live. Often below our conscious awareness!

The problem is that sometimes these stories don’t serve us. In my case, it was good girl conditioning; however, these stories impact multiple domains of health. Stories like “I can’t even be in the same room as a bag of chips”, or “I’m just big-boned, so I’ll always be overweight” can significantly impact our health and fitness pursuits.

It is our job as human beings to identify our useful, and not–so–useful stories and change them to live more optimally.

Dr. Jade Teta, ND – Author. Naturopathic Doctor. Physical Development & Personal Development. Founder Next Level Human® Podcast.

If change is inevitable, are you going to take control of the change, or let change control you? Personally, I’d rather be in the driver’s seat. If that’s where you’re at, let’s start driving folks! Destination: building awareness.

Reflection time. Part 1: Dig into your own personal evolution with these prompts.

• What are the biggest stories or experiences that have contributed to the person I am today?
• Which qualities or characteristics are my biggest strengths?
• Which qualities or characteristics are my biggest weaknesses?
• Which limiting beliefs do I need to leave behind?

From that place, it’ll be easier (much easier) to act in ways that aligned with who YOU are, or the person YOU want to become. Remember Jung’s words. “The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.”

Part 2: Visualize – Become the person you want to be.

• When you think about someone you admire (real or fictional, dead or alive), what qualities and
  characteristics does that person (or people) embody?
• Which of those characteristics do I want to embody as part of my new self?
• What is different about this new self vs the self I am representing now?
• How is life different and how do I want to think, feel and act as I grow?

Everything that happens to us is an opportunity for growth and learning – if we choose to see it that way.

Photo by Alicia Christin Gerald on Unsplash