The Power of a Story...

Stories make up our lives, who we are, how we relate to the world and where we want to go in the future. 

Counselling clients will often come to session not saying "I am depression", but rather, I am feeling depressed, and this is the story of why I think I am feeling that way. 

Stories are powerful, and they can shape and determine directions in life that we may or may not want. For instance, the woman who, hurt in relationships, feels all men are 'bad'. Relationships are 'hard work' and 'not worth the trouble'. This is her story, and as time goes on, she may gather as much information as she needs to continue this story... sometimes missing out on evidence to the contrary... all the men she has met who are good, kind and loving. All the relationships she knows that are healthy and happy... these become 'exceptions' that are ultimately irrelevant to the story she is creating for herself. 

Counselling and therapy can sometimes help us take a look at stories we have either been told about ourselves, or we have created for ourselves, and re-frame them in ways that are more helpful for the direction we want to head. We can start to describe ourselves and our lives differently when we unpack our stories and look at them from many different perspectives. 

What stories do you have? Do you like all the stories you have been told, or you have told yourself? Are your stories helping you head in the direction you want in life?