Is your food story doing you any good?

I’ve become deeply involved in the area of storytelling over the last few months. I have begun to unravel my own personal story and how that has impacted upon the meaning of my business. As a result, I’ve become rather fascinated by the power of ‘a food story’. As I dig deeper into the importance of storytelling in terms of business development, I’ve been reminded of its importance in terms of health and wellbeing.

People come to me with their stories. The story of how they came to be where they are, and everything that has happened along the way. The story of what is wrong and why it is wrong, Along with the telling of this food story, there is a desire to change what is happening or improve their situation in a certain way.

Irrespective of the context of their story, my role is to ask the questions. And many times I realise that the story people are telling themselves are not in line with the direction they want to go. “I’ve tried this so many times before”, “I really shouldn’t do this”, “I’m not very good at”, “I know I should” are all part of the stories that I hear.

People create barriers for themselves without realising it. People create reasons as to why change is impossible, with some of these being imaginary and some being real. Through telling the same story again and again, they are recreating the same reality, the same scenarios and the same obstacles.

If you find yourself in a stream of consciousness around your health, you know the times you are just following a trail of thought that goes from one thought to the next, ask yourself where you going with it. Are you telling yourself a story filled with hope and potential? Or are you telling yourself a story where you don’t like the ending. Are you telling your story in a way that creates fear around what lies ahead?

Next time you are thinking about your health or how you would like your health to be, perhaps change the story a little. Start adding words like ‘hope’, ‘excitement’, ‘looking forward to’, ‘fun’, and ‘possibility’. Catch yourself before you start on the same old story. Perhaps even change the ending of the story more in line with the direction you wish to go. Often opening the door to the possibility of change is the first step in making it probable.