I heard about this concept of "story editing" that is a psychological angle you can use on yourself to view past trauma and negative experiences in a more positive light. Of course it was on NPR, and pointed to me by my kind friend.
The essence is that if we can reframe the past, we can feel better in the present. The example given was of a little boy changing his story from the time he got scared into his mother's arms by a giant frankenstein statue to saying he had peed on it. He processed the experience and eventually came up with a way to come out a winner.
This makes a lot of sense to me, and fits in with Buddhist thinking, as in, "What we think, we become". This cuts close to the bone for me because it is easy for me to think that my illness is purely physiological, and that I am helpless in the face of it. But that is not the case.
In fact, I am in charge of my thoughts and reactions, and don't have to take anything lying down (unless I'm in the mood). So really, I need to find a way to reframe this past year as a year of evolution, not destruction. I still did positive things and made an impact on people around me; it just didn't turn out quite like I hoped it would. But I found my inner warrior, and gave myself the metaphor of a phoenix, rising from my own ashes.
What we think makes all the difference in how we ARE. Food for thought.
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