by The story you tell your self about the truth of your life and given situations…
can have a very powerful influence on your approach to life, and how you feel about life and yourself. Powerful stories can either empower or inhibit you, even in your day to day life.
Without realizing it, we are often telling ourselves stories that are hurting or hindering us:
- I am not lovable
- It is better to go it alone
- I can only accept abundance if I have worked hard for it
- I am not creative
- Other people are more important than me, I must put their needs before my own
- Loyalty is more important than my inner knowing about right action.
Whatever story we tell ourselves, it acts as an anchor that resists our movement towards change and a new life. Because we are often unaware of the stories we are telling ourselves, the shamanic journey is an excellent tool for uncovering these unconscious anchors. The spirit world is often aware of what is truly hindering you. Given the opportunity, they are willing to show you what is at the root of things that are keeping you stuck.
Thinking your way through what you believe doesn’t always address the underlying problem. Perhaps you can think of a particular issue where, no matter how many times you told yourself that it was not so, you just couldn’t stop doing something the exact same way every time.
Stories, however, can be very powerful. They serve as an inspiration, a lodestone that can give you the direction you need to begin moving and changing. This is because stories talk directly to our unconscious, cutting out the middle man of your everyday thinking brain. That brain isn’t always ready to believe change is possible, but your deeper self is the dreamer, the one who knows that many things are possible.
Journey on Your Unhealthy Stories
Think of an aspect of your life, where you feel stuck and aren’t sure why you have so much trouble moving on.
If nothing springs to mind, you can also ask the spirits to show you a story they think is hindering you.
- Journey to your Spirit Guide, Power Animal or Teacher.
- Ask the spirits to show you two stories.
- First, one of the stories that you are telling yourself that is forming part of the problem that you are experiencing.
- Secondly, ask them to show you a different story you could tell yourself, that would be more empowering.
- If needed do multiple journeys
- If the issue is big there may be more than one story that is holding you back, but you can begin by focusing on one at a time.
- If you feel it would be better, you can break up the journey into two separate journeys. One to find out the story that is holding you back. The second journey to see an alternative story.
If you break your journeys up, don’t forget to journey on the alternative story, because that is an essential part of seeing the possibilities available to you in your current situation. For some people, your spirits might choose to show you a few alternative stories because there is never one way to handle the situation.
If your not ready to believe the alternative story is possible, that is OKAY. Changes begin when you become aware of new possibilities, so its not necessary to believe right away. A powerful story can take root in your mind without your awareness, transforming a barren field, into one filled with wildflowers (new possibilities.)
Also, when the spirits show you one possibility, you should know that there are many options that can be available to you. They may show you the one that is the most fruitful at this time, or one that will inspire you with what is possible, or one that will spark your own imagination for seeking new ways of being in the world.
Once you have been given one or more alternative stories, take some time to reflect on what the new story(ies) would mean to you if those stories became true for you. You can perform additional journeys to ask the spirits for suggestion of how you might implement changes in order to create new stories for yourself.
You can repeat this journey as often as you want, or journey on this topic for others with their permission.
