The document discusses how stories shape our identities and realities. It explains that stories began as a way to connect and share experiences, and that humans are inherently storytelling beings. The summary discusses how our perceptions, beliefs, expectations, and brain plasticity influence the stories we create about ourselves and our lives. It also provides ways to challenge existing stories by changing perspectives and frames of reference.

1. 206-478-7173 * janakis@msn.com * www.managingdynamics.com
Managing
Dynamics
Our Logo:
The Sand represents dynamic
life changes.
The Stone represents strength
and courage under all
circumstances
The Leaf represents the
energy of new beginnings and
potential
The Power of
Your Story
Janaki Severy
Seattle, Washington

2. Managing
Dynamics
In the beginningIn the beginning
we had language andwe had language and
we began to share life…we began to share life…

3. Managing
DynamicsStories Began with DesiresStories Began with Desires
to Connect…to Connect…

4. Managing
Dynamics
What is a Story?What is a Story?
Random House: meaning of “Story”
1. Written/spoken account of something that has
happened.
2. Fictitious tale shorter than a novel.
3. Plot of a novel or drama

5. Managing
Dynamics
The story was the bushman’s most sacred
possession. They knew what we do not; that
without a story you have not got a nation, or
culture, or civilization. Without a story of your
own, you haven’t got a life of your own.
Laurens Van der
Post
Stories are Sacred

6. Managing
Dynamics
Human Beings
Always Tell Stories
Story telling allows us….
 to share our experience in narrative form
 to construct meaning about life challenges
 to build armor protecting us from adversity
 to express our fears, beliefs and heroism
 to teach values and unwritten rules
 to explain life and how the world works

7. Managing
Dynamics
Stories areStories are
Shaped and ConstructedShaped and Constructed
77
 Nature-Nurture
 Timing –Values
 Finance-Fear
 Health-Intelligence
 Gender-Siblings
 Looks-Popularity

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Dynamics
Who Told You Stories?
 Family Love you and teach you their world
 Friends Influence you to be in their tribe and be like them
 Culture Keep your culture and history alive
 School Teach how to learn and how to fit in
 Religion Teach about God
 Work Train us “their way”
Who did you dream to
be?

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Dynamics
How “Your” Stories Started
Imagination is Powerful…
What kind of stories did you hear?
What did you believe?
What stories became your stories?
What stories have you released?
What stories would you like to change?

10. Managing
Dynamics
Your Stories Need a
Voice
Who listened to Your Stories?
 When were you heard?
 How did you know they heard you?
 Did they tell your stories back to you?
 How did that impact your story?
 What story did you bring today?
 Is it time to give your story voice?

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Dynamics

12. Managing
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Things that affect how
we create our stories…

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Dynamics
Your Brain is aYour Brain is a
Survival SentinelSurvival Sentinel
We pay 80.000 times more attention to
danger(real or imagined) and what could
place us at risk than to what is good
This helps us avoid conflict and stay
alive
Fear is a survival mechanism
False Evidence Appearing Real
Evil
Eye

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Dynamics
Perceptions CreatePerceptions Create
RealityReality
 Billions of sensory impulses come your
way every moment
 As you grow, you selectively filter out the
vast majority of impulses and only allow a
fraction into your awareness
 What you allow is determined by your
habitual patterns of seeing and
interpreting the world
Reality is flexible. It is made of
selective acts of attention and interpretation

15. Managing
Dynamics
Change Your PerceptionsChange Your Perceptions ……
 Your attention and interpretations createYour attention and interpretations create
what you see, ultimately determiningwhat you see, ultimately determining
your beliefsyour beliefs
 A belief is simply an interpretation youA belief is simply an interpretation you
hold to be truehold to be true
 New ideas expand awareness, enhanceNew ideas expand awareness, enhance
life and challenge those beliefslife and challenge those beliefs
 Embracing new ideas can change yourEmbracing new ideas can change your
beliefs about yourself and as a result,beliefs about yourself and as a result,
change your storychange your story

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Dynamics
Biology of BeliefBiology of Belief by Bruceby Bruce
LiptonLipton
Genes and DNA do not control our biology
DNA controlled by signals outside the
cell
DNA responds to energetic messages
emanating from our positive and
negative thoughts.
Dr. Lipton’s profound synthesis of cell biology and
quantum physics is a major breakthrough showing
that our bodies can be changed as we retrain our
thinking.

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Dynamics
1.. Brains consist of interconnected nerve and glial cells
2. Brain’s change as a result of life experience
2. Brains are 'plastic' and 'malleable‘ with learning
3. Learning changes brain connection strength by adding or
removing connections, or adding cells
Neuroplasticity
(cortical remapping)
Experience changes
brain structure and
organization
“Neurons that fire
together, wire
together"/"neurons
that fire apart, wire
apart."

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Dynamics
Looking Glass SelfLooking Glass Self
We shape our sense of self by what
other people see and say and we accept
what they see as true and become it.
.

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Pygmalion Affect-Pygmalion Affect- OriginOrigin
Pygmalion, a Cypriot sculptor who falls so
deeply in love with a statue he carved it
comes to life.
1.Our expectations of people or events are formed
2.We communicate our expectations through cues
3.People respond to our cues, by matching their
behavior to those cues
4.Our original expectation becomes true

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Dynamics
Pygmalion EffectPygmalion Effect
The higher the expectation the better they perform.
Those for whom others have…
Poor expectations internalize their negative label
Positive expectations internalize their positive label
A snobbish phonetics
professor wagers he can
take a flower girl and make
her presentable in high
society.
When given information certain
students had higher IQs school
teachers unconsciously
behave in ways that facilitate
and encourage students'
success

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Dynamics
Mirror NeuronsMirror Neurons
A mirror neuron is a neuron that fires
“both when a person acts” and
“when a person observes the same actions from another”.
They help us learn by observing the actions of others and
practicing it in our brain…Imitating is a mirror neuron action

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Dynamics
Story Busting: Ways
to Change Your
Story

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Dynamics
Einstein Says…Einstein Says…
The physical body, like all material objects is an
illusion, and trying to manipulate it can be like grasping
the shadow and missing the substance.
The unseen world is the real world, and when we are
willing to explore the unseen levels of our bodies, we
can tap in to the immense creative power that lies at
our source.

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Live ConsciouslyLive Consciously
We must do our personal work first
We must be present and aware of
our own fears, frustrations, hopes
and dreams
We must make powerful choices of
the stories we want to live
When we are present and
intentional, and live in the now we
access our power.

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Dynamics
Stories and YouStories and You
You have power over the stories woven
into your lives: to retell them, rethink
them, deconstruct them, joke about
them, and change them as times
change, because you can think new
thoughts and create new stories
Clay Sculpture-
Story Teller under Sunny Skies

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Dynamics
Challenge Your Story!!!
 Old and useless stories harm your spirit
 Unaddressed negativity leads to inaction
 Negativity in our bodies make us sick
 Your body and brain are can change
 Decide to take a step…baby steps work!
If you keep telling the same sad small
story, you will keep living the same
sad small life. —Jean Houston
There is no agony like bearing an
untold story inside of you.
—Maya
Angelou

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The Opportunity….
 unlearn damaging thoughts
 unlearn validation from others for our worth
 unlearn self statements that are “not useful”
 unlearn actions incongruent with your preferred story
We must believe we are powerful
enough to change our stories and our lives…

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Rotate The Entry Point
 Give up old thinking
that is not useful
 Seek new information
 Avoid dead-end
thoughts and beliefs
 See information from a
new perspective
 Use lateral thinking
skills

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Use Lateral Thinking
1. Stay flexible (reframe words/labels)
2. Do not get hooked by old
meanings/interpretations
3. Be willing to not be right
4. Be willing to restructure your
thinking with new information
5. Generate unique interpretations for
what you hear
6. Avoid self and other labeling

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Stuck in Your Reality? - Ask for Help !
….the belief that one’s own view of reality is the only
reality is the most dangerous of all delusions.
Paul Watzlawik How Real is Real?
Find one or two persons you trust
to help you Bust your Stories….

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Reframing: Change TheReframing: Change The
Meaning –Change the StoryMeaning –Change the Story
 The meaning any story has depends on theThe meaning any story has depends on the
“Frame” in which it is perceived.“Frame” in which it is perceived.
 Are there “Frames” you could change to createAre there “Frames” you could change to create
the stories you want?the stories you want?

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Reframing: Two LevelsReframing: Two Levels
 Internal Reframing:Internal Reframing: What thoughts about yourselfWhat thoughts about yourself
could you reframe in order to generate new beliefscould you reframe in order to generate new beliefs
about yourself and change your story?about yourself and change your story?
 External Reframing:External Reframing: What things could you say orWhat things could you say or
do to change another’s perceptions or belief aboutdo to change another’s perceptions or belief about
you ?you ?
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Explorations of Your StoryExplorations of Your Story
 What do you want?
 What will you see, hear and feel when
your story is active?
 How does it feel when you imagine it?
 What attitudes preserve your story?
 How will you keep your story alive?
Find a partner and share your experiences
referring to the specifics above.

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Dynamics
Creating Your Story
How to create the story you want.
a) Select a story you want to change.
b) Create a willingness and desire to change
c) Create clear affirmation statement.
d) Remember previous feelings of success.
e) Generate those feeling about the new story
F) Feel certainty about your new outcome

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Act as If….Act as If….
 Whatever image you can create and
embellish can become real.
 Moment to moment from the time of
your creation forward you must
behave or “Act as if” you are already
living and expressing that vision.
 Deepen the vision through all of your
senses and breathe it into your reality.

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Manifesting IntentionManifesting Intention
 Know the story is changing
 Give up designing the details
 Trust it is happening
 Create an emotional connection
 Feel positive emotions
 Believe it!

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“Try? There is no try.
There is only do or not do."
Yoda, in The Empire Strikes Back