This morning I readSeth Godin’s blog and really liked what he said.
He asks a very important question:
What story do you tell yourself about yourself?
I know that marketers tell stories. We tell them to clients, prospects, bosses, suppliers, partners and voters. If the stories resonate and spread and seduce, then we succeed.
But what about the story you tell yourself?
(Read the rest of the post here.)
After reading this post, I continued to think about this. What story do I tell myself about myself? How about you? What story do you tell yourself about yourself? The stories we tell ourselves will impact what we conclude about ourselves. For instance, because of these stories some of us conclude:
- “I can’t.”
- “It can’t be done”
- “I know something bad is about to happen.”
- “I never get a break. You wouldn’t do any better if you had been through what I’ve been through”
- “You can’t expect much from me. I am a victim.”
- “If it wasn’t for ______, I would have done much better.”
Question:
What is your experience with this? What has been the impact of the stories that you have told yourself?
For a long time I bought into all the ways well meaning people were feeding my professional ego. Humility isn’t a natural state of mind for some preachers like me, but at some point I actually began to see myself as my Father sees me. I have asked lots of good people to write a short paragraph that depicts how they think God sees them. The responses are all over the map.
So, here’s the bottom line for me – “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – if you continue in your faith…” Colossians 1:22 NIV
I had to fight through a lot of “performance religion” training to get to a place of grace but with the patience and presence of the Holy Spirit, the stories I have learned to tell myself all begin and end with Jesus Christ.
Kent,
I relate to what you said. For a long time, I did something similar to what you describe. Only when well meaning people would say something affirming I tended to discount it, thinking that if they really knew me they would not say something so flattering. At the same time, when someone said something rude or harshly critical I tended to let it become debilitating. Bottom line is that I was getting my identity and sense of worth from others instead of God.
Love what you said regarding the stories that you tell your self beginning and ending with Jesus.
I always love your thought provoking posts Jim. Here are some ‘stories’ I tell myself.. I guess they’re more questions than stories. As questions, I am able to keep myself in check. Anyway, here are my top 3:
1. If I truly believe in what Jesus did for me on the cross, then I have no excuse but to love him, and to love him is to obey his commandments. So I’m focusing on the first 2 🙂 … Love God with all my heart and soul, and to love my neighbor as myself. That alone has re-aligned my life.
2. If I truly believe that Jesus died for me so I may live, then I must live my best life, live beyond myself, and live in the freedom that Jesus has given us. So that my life would be a testament of his mercy, love, and power.
3. If I believe that Jesus who died and rose again lives in me, then I have nothing to fear.