Re-Authoring The Story Of Self

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Re-authoring is a powerful tool to empower self. It is the ability to locate the life challenges within and outside a person, in an effective way to construct the preferred self. And thereby, renegotiating the journey of life by identifying and acknowledging the skill sets and values and rewriting the story one is born in.
How do others and the world view us- through the lens of mental health.
So before we start observing the world we live in, it is important to look into the world we create, the world that defines us, the world that is called SELF. Our inner world.

In the world of ‘Self’, there are three primary elements- our Emotions, Thoughts, and Actions (Behaviours).
It’s a common belief that thoughts are the most important and we tend to take action accordingly. Thereby, minimizing our emotions. But the truth is that our Emotions are the principal element to building ourselves. It is our emotions or how we feel in a particular situation that leads to thoughts pertaining to that situation and then eventually the desired action.
Therefore, it is our Emotional Health which is a lens to view our inner world. It is how we feel that determines a healthy and fully functioning sense of self.

To be able to have a clean lens to view our inner world, it is very important for us to demystify emotions. To know what emotions really are.
Emotions by themselves are self-explanatory. They carry within themselves the solution if understood well.

Emotions are:

E – Effective
M – Management
O – of (the)
T – Thoughts
I – Interplay
O – Opposing (the)
N – Natural
S – Self

So EMOTIONS are nothing but an effective way to manage the interplay of our thoughts which generally oppose us from being our natural self.
Our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors have an inevitable, irrevocable interplay which determines varied reactions such as affect and emotions as well as future behaviors. Thoughts and emotions have a complex relationship. A common understanding is that we don’t really have an emotional reaction unless a thought has crossed our mind. Life is not a straight jacket. It is never predictable. And how much ever understanding one might have about the hierarchy of one over the other (emotions and thoughts), there will be situations in life where you might react without thinking. In most situations, we feel the situation and then our thoughts direct us to act – as a reaction or as a response. And this entire interplay is a shift of few milliseconds. It is so reflexive.
Therefore, it is important for us to tend to our emotions with the 4 As –
AWARENESS, ACKNOWLEDGMENT, ACCEPTANCE and ARTICULATION in order to validate oneself. The validated self forms the basis for restructuring our emotions, to have a landscape of rational thoughts. The redefined landscape empowers self to re-wire and re-authorise one’s life story.

Sometimes it is easier said than done. We know we need to be aware. But what do you do when awareness brings in an array of emotions led by fear. We get into a freeze, fight or flight mode and cease to acknowledge, accept and articulate. So one needs to hand-hold and go through the following effective steps for articulating their emotions:

• Acknowledge that you are feeling a certain emotion.
• Identify the emotion(s) that you are experiencing (know the emotion vocabulary)
• Name them aloud or in your head.
• It will be helpful to reflect on why-what led to these feelings.
• Notice your reactions to emotions.
• What is the automatic response? This provides the information about how we habitually deal with our feelings.
• How does it feel in your body?
• Where do you feel it?
• Notice any thoughts of self-talk which gives information about the belief regarding what is happening.
• Practice in compassion by imagining how one would treat one’s best friend if they were going through the same thing.In life, all significant emotions have their roots in important stories and all notable stories revolve around principal emotional themes. And because these emotions and narratives interact to form a meaningful sense of self, expression and articulation of emotions is vital to re-authoring life narratives.

  Happy Re-Authoring!

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