Updated: Jun 5
Calling in community and releasing old narratives.
This week we are shifting our focus as we explore cooperation with others in both the interpersonal and intrapersonal aspects.
In the past, we learned a lot of expectations, negative beliefs, and pain-informed ideas about how we should interact with others. This week, we are pulling out all those old stories and asking ourselves, “How true is that?”
Later this week I will be releasing blogs on both boundaries in action, as well as how to identify and release old stories that alter our perceptions of others and our interactions with them, so be on the lookout for them. They will help you apply what you have learned this week and become more authentic and aligned as we move forward.
Let’s jump in!
The overarching idea we need to know this week is that we have the power of selection on our side. The shadow of this is a state of indifference, where we feel as if nothing really matters much to us, it just is the way that it is.
As we work through it, we will achieve a level of versatility, discovering that we can in fact affect a positive change in our lives and things don’t HAVE to be that way.
As we practice, we move into mastery and understand how much our choices, intentions behind those choices, and our beliefs and projections impact how we perceive the world around us, allowing us to identify the old narratives and change them in the moment as they come up.
Many of us operate off of this old idea that we must keep people at arm’s length, closing ourselves off to them and putting up walls and barriers in order to feel safe and avoid being taken advantage of. It keeps us feeling isolated and alone, lacking deeper connections with others. In truth, we never really learned how to set and uphold healthy boundaries with others and went one of two ways- dove all in right off the bat, or consistently kept our distance, weary of others’ intentions. But we missed the fact that there is a middle space where we find a healthy balance that doesn’t involve us bouncing between the two extremes.
This week, I invite you to set aside some time to look at your past relationships with others (not just in a romantic sense) and list out what you believe to be true about them, what you expect from others, and notice how much of yourself you invest in them while noticing how much they invest in you.
We are just starting to explore this topic, so make sure you are subscribed for updates so you can get notifications when the Boundaries in Action blog and the Releasing Old Narratives blog go live!
For now, I will leave you with these questions to consider:
- When meeting someone new I often
- immediately open up and share my whole self
- keep my distance and don’t let them get to know me
- Jump all in, realize they may not be into it, and bolt
- Wait until I feel comfortable around them before I open up a little
- Based on the question above, why do you choose to do that? Are there past interactions that have gone bad that taught you to approach others this way? What are they?
- What do you often tell yourself when you are interacting with others? Are you telling yourself that they are judging you? Do you believe that they won’t like you if you disagree with them, or don’t do things for them? List out any internal statements below.
- When interacting with others, I often feel_____________.
Once you are finished answering these questions, read back through them and notice the beliefs, and stories you tell yourself about them and their intentions, any expectations about them that you hold, and how balanced that relationship is.
If you would like support in cultivating healthier habits in your interpersonal relationships, you are welcome to set up a consultation call with me [here], or if you just want to discuss your answers, set up a 30 min free coffee call with me [here].
Oh! You can sign up for notifications [here] if you aren’t already! 😉