What is the meaning of the stories we tell ourselves?

[Intro] Let it go, let it go, don't hold it back anymore, let it go. Hello, welcome to Empowered to Thrive. I'm your host, Corinne Powell, and I don't usually start off by singing, but I felt like it today.

I think many of us need to hear and be reminded of those words, that we are free to let whatever we wish go. And we're going to talk specifically today about the stories that we think, the stories that determine our perception of others and of ourselves and of the world at large. But what is it for you that you need to let go of? 

So glad to have you here with me. Empowered to Thrive is a space for you. I'm here for you. And I really appreciate you showing up and taking out this time for yourself.

Corinne Powell: How's your week been? How is today going? Gosh, a lot can happen in a short amount of time, can't it? And I don't know what's happened recently in your life. But in this moment, I'm offering you a warm hug. Maybe that feels creepy, weird, silly, but a lot of times it's what we need.

We need to be embraced in whatever we're going through and just held for a moment. So if you're comfortable with it, even if you're slightly uncomfortable, but you feel safe enough to allow yourself to be slightly uncomfortable, visualize yourself getting a warm hug, a strong embrace, a long embrace. There's something about hugging for more than a couple seconds that's extremely impactful for the body.

So a lot of times when I give hugs, I try to give them for a longer period of time. There's two people in my life that have given me hugs that have deeply impacted me. It's just something about it that was so healing. So I hope in this moment, you can feel the love over the airways that your body can settle back into itself and exhale and rest for a moment because there's a lot of stress right now going on all around us and our bodies are feeling the toll of it. 

So let's be our support and let's allow others' love to come in and to support us as well. So this morning, let's talk about releasing, letting go, some of the stories that we've been telling ourselves. What are the underlying beliefs that are propelling your decisions, that are affecting your outlook? And impacting your relationships? When you look in the mirror, what do you think of yourself or some of the predominant statements? Where did they come from? 

You don't have to figure this all out, but I'm giving you these questions so that you can reflect and consider them. Sometimes we just need to move the soil and allow things, space to show us more, to reveal more. Think about the way when you walk into a room, the way you feel in your body, the thoughts that rumble through your mind. How do you think of others and what do you believe about their perception of you? As you start to notice that, you're going to actually uncover some of the stories that you're believing.

The subconscious beliefs that so deeply affect us often are embedded and we don't even realize. We don't recognize what is propelling our emotion and what's influencing the ways we're interacting with people. I have an underlying belief that someone is glad to see me, that I am safe around them, that they like who I am authentically, 100% guaranteed I'm going to show up happier. There's going to be a bit of a bubbliness to me. I'm going to feel at ease in my body. I'm not going to be thinking about what I say. I'm not going to be worried about how they perceive me. We all deserve relationships like that. And sometimes we don't even have one. But the more relationships like that that we have, the better off we are. The more healing we will naturally start to experience. 

I'm so grateful for the people in my life that like me, that love me in that way, that embrace my authentic self. They don't stand looking at what should be corrected and what should be changed. They don't stand with a critical eye, listening to my words, trying to find the loophole. They just allow themselves to be around my energy and I allow myself to be around their energy and we mutually enjoy each other. Doesn't mean we don't ask questions, doesn't mean we agree on everything, none of that. There's a mutual enjoyment and easiness in relating. 

So what about yourself do you believe? Sit with that. Maybe list off on a piece of paper, pull out your phone and list in your notes app, record an audio message. Let yourself take a hard look at what you really feel about you. If you don't like who you are, there is another way available.

It is possible to look in the mirror and like what you see, to not have a critical eye, to not always be feeling like you need to improve and you need to change and you need to do better. And it's not that you turn a blind eye to any of your weaknesses. It's not that you stop having goals, but something changes deep within you where your outlook is one of love and acceptance and then of course empowerment is in there.

Empowerment is allowing you to say, yeah, I have goals, yes, there's things I'm working towards, there's ways I'm cultivating change in my life. But the focus isn't on, I'm not good enough, unless I get to this place, I won't be good enough. The story that you believe is that you're not good enough unless you get to a certain place internally, externally, socially, there is something there that's holding you back.

Acceptance for where you are allows you to move forward. Oftentimes when there's a resistance, we're holding ourselves back. All we want to do is move forward, but we're not allowing ourselves to accept where we presently are, who we are at the moment.

And when we accept it, it doesn't mean we stay there. That actually allows us to then be empowered to move forward. So as I brought up this idea of noticing the sensations you feel in your body when you walk into a room with other people, becoming more aware of the story you have in your mind about how they perceive you or the ways that you start to perceive them.

All of this is helpful information to get to a place deeper that will allow you to discover where did these stories originate and how can I come to believe something more gentle, more kind, more loving about myself, about others, about life at large. 

If the story is that there are many people out to get you, there are people who wish you harm, you're going to live perceiving statements and actions through that lens. You're probably going to be looking over your back because that's not a safe way to live. Feeling like people are out to get you, that's not safe. But if there is a source in the universe, the universe itself that is for me, that has good in mind for me, well, I can lean back and back and rest. It doesn't mean that I believe every person likes me, but there's this overarching and deep core belief that there is good in store for me, that I am safe.

That's what we need to know. It's a powerful experience to feel safety in the body. There are many ways in which I don't feel safe because of the lack of security in the home environment I grew up in.

Emotionally, there was a lack of safety. I didn't have a place to land to say, I feel sad today. I feel angry at this moment.

I'm confused. I didn't have a place that I could go to and comfortably say these things where someone would hear me, sit with me in those emotions and then help me come back to this place of, ah, all is okay. I learned that. I had to figure it out on my own. I started to live with a feeling of, I don't know what's going to happen next. I don't know if I can handle what's going to happen next. I don't know who's going to be there to help me with what happens next. And I know if you feel the same ways, you get it. You know how hard it is to live life that way.

But when we know, no matter what comes my way, help is close by. I don't have to go it alone. I can feel whatever I'm feeling and I'm going to come back to a place of stability within myself.

I'm going to come back to a place that I can feel the sunshine on my face. And I know the storm is not going to stay forever. It's a different reality than believing the storm will never pass, that other people might experience the sunshine, but I won't.

So if you're identifying with what I'm saying, you can change the stories that you believe. You have so much power over the ways you feel, the ways you think, the ways you experience life. There is a lot in your hands, a lot in your control. There's a lot of things that are out of our control. There's a lot we can do. So with what we can do, I challenge you to do something. What do you want to be different? What change do you want to experience? 

I'm here to help you or you can find another supportive person. Don't go it alone. You're going to experience the change you want more rapidly if you have supportive help. And it's a much more beautiful experience to not go it alone and to do it with someone else.

So my friend, ah, exhale, lean back if you can and feel the love through the airways, experience the comfort of a warm embrace. And if you want to, then remind yourself in this moment that you are not alone. There are others who care. There are others who want to support, but you have to start with yourself. You have to start by reaching out. That's a way you support yourself by reaching out to someone else.

You have to walk through the process, but you've got what it takes. And change is definitely possible for you. I'm wishing you all the best. I hope that you do feel the sunshine on your face this week. I hope that you experience a moment in time where it feels that the storm won't always be there. The storm clouds are going to roll away and the sun's going to break through the clouds and you might even see the rainbow. Keep looking for it. And when you feel it, bask in it. 

The other day, I saw a sunset out my bedroom window. I get to see the glorious sunset out my bedroom window every day. And I called to my other family members, come, come, come look at this. And I stood there and I sucked it up because it was stunning. It was so beautiful. But there's many days I miss it. It's not because it's not there. It's because I don't stop to see it. I don't seek it out. 

[Outro] So to myself and to all of you listening, let's take time to stop and notice. And let's live life seeking it out. Where is the good? Where is the beauty? And how can I grab ahold of it and embrace it? And of course, you're going to give it away to others because it's going to be energetically coming out of you, naturally coming out of you. So much love and I'll talk to you soon.