Tell Story

Tell Story

Every day you wake up and continue the story of yourself from where you left off the night before. The information a new day presents plus anything left over from your dreams provides the material. Have you ever wondered if this is the best story for you? The story you have about yourself is one of the most important pieces of context you have. It impacts your enjoyment of life, the decisions you make and the success you have. You believe it, defend it, project it and share it with the world. This is true even if it is not the best story for you. The good news is that if it is not the best story for you then you can change it for a better and more useful one for you.

Reality for you is a combination of facts or interpretations about the world, memories you reconstruct and theories you have built throughout your life. The reality you create and believe in comprises very little fact and is heavily weighted to all the other factors. Stop and think about this for a moment. Notice some features of your current story about yourself and take a deep look at what is truly fact. This can be a difficult exercise at first as your mind defends interpretations, memories and theories as facts. As organisms adapting to our current environment we are constantly seeking coherence and consistency with our current representation of the world. The left side of your brain builds rigid models you use to understand the world around you. The right side uses multiple inputs from all your senses and looks out for changes in the world and differences in the model you have. Only when a certain threshold is crossed is a change to the model considered by the left side of the brain. Anything below the threshold is rejected. If you can take an objective look you will see that little of your current story is based on fact.

The power of noticing this is that every other aspect of your story can be changed. Interpretations of the world, memories and theories you have can all be modified to create many other equally true realities. It is likely that one of them is a much better one for you than the one you currently own.

There is no trickery here other than to notice how little fact makes up your current reality. Other realities or stories for you based on other interpretations, theories or memories are as 'true' as the one you currently hold. The challenge is to find the best story for you. You are so hard wired to believe the story you currently hold you will aggressively resist any different versions you can present to yourself. You will also have noticed that when you argue with yourself you always win. To really explore other possibilities you are going to have to argue with people outside yourself. This is a brave but necessary step if you are going to find the best story for you. It is very hard to change your own interpretations, theories and memories by yourself.

There is some preparation you need to do. First of all notice attributes of your current reality that do not help you achieve what you want for yourself. Categorise them as fact, interpretation, memory or theory. Capture a statement about how each of them gets in your way. Keep these obstacles for yourself. You now need to find someone who can help you explore the realities you have categorized. You want someone to talk to who can give you a perspective outside of yourself. You are not seeking judgment. You are looking for another perspective for you to consider. Their only role is to answer your questions. Your role is to listen to the answers they give and not the arguments you give yourself to explain why they are wrong. You will gain great insight through generous listening to what they say and suspending the natural process of listening to yourself.

The question you should ask for each category of attribute is what might be another view? Even for a fact you can ask if it is a fact but also what might be a more useful fact for you? There are facts such as the market closed at x today. Interpretations such as the market is against you are as true as the market is an opportunity or the market is not an obstacle to what you want to do. There are many other equally true realities to the ones you currently hold. Your boss may be 46 (a fact) but your interpretation that she is an obstacle to what you want can be as true as a reality that places her as the most important contribution to your future success. You made up the first interpretation and I promise you there are ways you can equally construct the second. The same is true for memories which are fragments of the past aided with a semantic tag and reconstructed in the moment with new information from the moment and theories you hold. Equally some of the theories you hold are part of the success you are today but will also be a constraint on your future.

As I learn more about the way we experience the world, think and make decisions I am fascinated by the range of possibilities open to us. There is so much more to experience than we do. Our thoughts are limited by our evolution to date. The decisions we make are driven by our experience and our theories. Explore your story and I know you can find a better one for you and the life you want.

Len Williamson
Leadership Coach
The Owl Partnership Ltd
Email: len@theowlpartnership.com
Tel: +44 (0) 7802323061
Website: http://www.theowlpartnership.com

The ideas expressed in this paper are a combination of ideas developed through learning experiences from a degree in Mathematics, a career in industry, working with JMW, studying at the Cleveland Gestalt Institute, taking a Masters in Cognitive and Decision Sciences at UCL. Alternatively an equally true reality is it is my current take on the world as I think it is.

Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story - $24.99 Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story -

Tell-A-Story $19.98 Tell A Story is an imaginative memory and storytelling game. Be the first to find all five of your character's story cards and then use them and your imagination to tell all your friends the exciting story of what is happening to your character in the pictures. Type: Board Games Gender: Unisex Age: Child,Teen,Adult

The Story of William Tell $49.99 Nadir Quinto The Story of William Tell - Giclee Print

Tell It $15.99 Track Listing: 1. Tell It, 2. Jesus Will Make Everything Alright, 3. Holy Ghost, 4. He's a Battle Axe, 5. It's Not Over, 6. I Got a Right to Praise the Lord, 7. I've Got to Tell Someone That Jesus Lives, 8. Best of My Story, The, 9. Trouble in My Way, 10. I Want to Be in Your Will, 11. I Go to the Rock, 12. Thank You Lord, 13. Put It Back, 14. I've Been Delivered, 15. We Worship You

The Simpsons - Kiss And Tell: The Story Of Their Love $9.99 The Simpsons - Kiss And Tell: The Story Of Their Love

No Story to Tell $5.99 Have you ever wondered if you can be born into the wrong life? This is a question Victoria Lackey, a once promising dancer, tries hard not to ask herself as she wanders through her days, tending her secrets and burying her past. It is a question that begins to whisper to her after a chance meeting with Elliot, a sensual artist from the city, who recognizes the dancer’s spirit within her. A question that presses for an answer after softly seductive anonymous telephone calls encourage her forward into a life of her own. A question that demands an answer when the woman she is explodes inside the woman she has become. Buried dreams, anonymous telephone calls, and a heart full of secrets. NO STORY TO TELL is a story that demanded to be told.

Tell me a story II $84.99 Chariklia Zarris Tell me a story II - Framed Art Print

Tell me a story I $59.99 Chariklia Zarris Tell me a story I - Framed Art Print

Tell Me a Story $9.99 Hélène Léveillée Tell Me a Story - Art Print

Tell The Story $18.49 Cd Baby:81120

Story To Tell $10.99 4 Winds:4014

A Story to Tell $16.53 No Synopsis Available

Swords That Tell a Story: a Symbol of Succession $34.99 Escott Swords That Tell a Story: a Symbol of Succession - Giclee Print

Swords That Tell a Story: a King's Bribe $34.99 Escott Swords That Tell a Story: a King's Bribe - Giclee Print

Swords That Tell a Story: Mercenary with a Mission $34.99 Escott Swords That Tell a Story: Mercenary with a Mission - Giclee Print

99 Ways to Tell a Story (Paperback) $27.7 Presents a series of one-page comics that tell the same story in a variety of ways.

Scheherazade Tell Me A Story (DVD) $51.43 SCHEHERAZADE TELL ME A STORY (DVD) (ARABIC W/ENG SUB)

Tell Me a Story! $12.99 Track Listing: 1. Tell Me a Story, 2. Bremen Town Musicians, The, 3. Goldilocks and the Three Bears, 4. Things Could Always Be Worse, 5. Rumplestiltskin, 6. Little Red Hen, The, 7. Hare and the Hedgehog, The

Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends $12.49 Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends

Tell Me A Story 2 (Unabridged) $7.29 A follow-up to Tell Me A Story, the multicultural rhythms and tales of Tell Me A Story 2: Animal Magic reflect the spirit of words offerred in 1854 by Chief Seattle....

Tell-A-Story Glove $8.95 Animate your favorite rhymes with this fabric glove that fits either hand and designed to hold hook & loop puppet characters. Ideal for use with our Tell-Story-Puppet Sets (CP-641 thru CP-645) or our Finger Puppet Sets (SVL-408 thru SVL-412, SVL-415, SVL-417, and SVL-418). Ages 3 years +.

Tell Me the Christmas Story $3.95 Introduce young children to Jesus. It's never too early to tell your children about Jesus and what He has done for them. Children can identify with the charming illustrations that help them grasp the biblical truths on each page. Tangible and intangible are linked to help children understand that Jesus is a very real presence in their lives. Make room for Tell Me the Christmas Story and Jesus Knows Me on your bookshelves; they offer moments of foundational education with a child.

Tell Me the Easter Story $3.95 It's never too early to tell your children about Jesus and what He has done for them. Children can identify with the charming illustrations that help them grasp the biblical truths on each page. The tangible and intangible are linked to help children understand that Jesus is a very real presence in their lives. Make room for "Tell Me the Easter Story, and "Jesus Is with Me on your bookshelves; they offer moments of foundational education with a child.

How to Tell a Story and Other Essays $4.49 A collection of essays by Mark Twain which includes the following: How to Tell a Story, The Wounded Soldier, The Golden Arm, Mental Telegraphy Again, and The Invalids Story.