Sunday Journal Prompt

What story are you telling yourself?

 

Often we tell ourselves a story so much that we believe it and live it: I’m not disciplined enough to lose weight, I’m not a good enough wife/mother/daughter/sister/friend, I’m not smart enough.

In a study about personal story editing, researchers gathered 40 college freshman at Duke University who were struggling academically and who felt their intellect was not on par with other students. Those who watched videos of older students who talked about how their grades improved as they adjusted to college not only did better on a sample test, but also boosted their GPAs and were less likely to drop out than those who received no story-changing intervention, as reported in Tara Parker-Pope’s New York Times article, “Writing Your Way to Happiness.”

What’s your self-defeating story?

 

Give yourself a story-changing intervention session by writing down a new story—one in which you will succeed.