Love the bottom line shared in Chapter 3 of Onward: If you want to shift the way you feel, you must shift the way you think. Our stories are our thoughts, and we can craft thoughts that serve us. Let’s consider a starting point for creating stories – how we interpret what happens to us. With that understanding, we can narrate the events in our lives in ways that build our resilience.
The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. – Albert Einstein
Isaac Lidsky’s TED Talk What reality are you creating for yourself? is a fascinating look at this same idea from a different perspective. Listen to his personal account of how his thoughts created his reality and how he learned to hold himself accountable.
If you want to change your life, you’ve got to deal with your thoughts. Try reflecting on these questions as a starting point:
- Which of your recurring thoughts are most problematic in your life? What comes to mind first?
- Imagine that you can pull these thoughts out and put them in a display case somewhere. What do you notice about them?