Hi,
Welcome again to another podcast of Inside the Mind of a Sports Psychologist.
Today's podcast is about the illusion of storytelling.
Do we believe it or do we make ourselves believe the story?
When I was living in Amsterdam,
I told myself different stories.
First,
I told myself I could live in a big city.
Even better,
That living in a big city was great for my personal development and career.
Later on,
I even told myself I belonged to this city,
Because I had a nice boyfriend over here,
I was getting settled.
And then my niece was born,
So I told myself that it was better for me to stay close by.
At that moment,
I did not realize that I was making up these stories.
I completely believed in each and every one of them and found evidence for my theories all the time.
It was only when I started to check in with my body,
When I discovered that my energy was actually still low and my zest of life wasn't really there either,
That I started to see that these were stories I invented for myself.
Slowly,
The illusion of these stories fell and I decided they did not make me happier,
But they did make me choose the path of least resistance.
So they made me stay where I was.
The mind had been playing tricks with me.
The mind wants us to stay where we are,
To choose comfort over happiness,
To choose security over steadiness,
And to take the path of least resistance so that we nicely fit into society.
Schools and universities massively value this power of the mind,
So this is what we learn to develop over time.
We do not learn at school to check how a theory feels,
But instead we are asked to get rational proof that the theory is right.
Hence,
It is no miracle that the mind becomes stronger than the body over time.
But the more power we give the mind,
The harder it will be to listen to what the body is actually saying.
The body has all the wisdom that you have always wanted.
You only need to learn to check in,
As I call it.
Checking in with yourself simply comes down to asking how something feels for you,
How something feels inside the body.
Do you feel energy streaming,
Or do you feel like it is getting stuck?
Do you feel your heart expanding,
Or do you feel it contracting?
Do you feel tight in your stomach,
Or do you feel comfortable and relaxed?
All these different bodily signs tell you whether something is right for you or wrong for you.
Checking in is a skill that needs to be developed,
Just like our mind.
But the more you practice,
The better you will get at discovering which signals are signs of your body that something is good for you,
And which signals are signs of the body that something stresses you out.
These signs are different for everyone,
But the better you know how to read these,
The more you can find your own personal path of happiness.
So the next time you are telling yourself a story,
Please check in with yourself just to double-check the story.
Ask yourself,
Am I telling myself a story,
Or do I really feel that it resonates with me inside the body?
The body will tell you the truth.
Your mind might just be sketching an illusion for you that makes you fit in and takes away the resistance.
We have become so good at telling stories to ourselves,
But I challenge you now to become an expert on checking in with yourself.
Because the difference between something that your heart beats for,
Some things that make you feel an incredible zest of life,
And believing in a story that you made up for yourself to satisfy your doubts is massive.
Empowering the body over the mind will allow you to discover your path of happiness,
And gives you the opportunity to live your life to the fullest.
