We all have stories we tell ourselves. We have reasons for why we do, and don’t do things, we try to make sense of the good and bad that happens to us, and we also have narratives for why we can and can’t do things.

We work with stories, our brains like stories and narratives because they help us make sense of the world.

But narratives can go wrong - for one, they’re not always grounded in truth, they tend to ignore the nuances, and complexities that form our world, which is what makes potentially Dangerous. 

What about our internal narratives? Do you think they’re all based on objective truth and reality? They’re invariably not.

Some of these internal narratives serve us well. They help us move forward with confidence, but some stories we tell ourselves and beliefs that we strongly hold can be very limiting. They can make us feel small and unworthy, they can restrict our growth and reduce the quality of our lives. And what’s worse, they’re not even true.

They may just be beliefs we formed in our early life and despite having a defining effect on the quality of our life, they’ve just gone unquestioned and unexamined.

David goggins says the conversation that matters the most is the one you have with yourself. So it maters what sorry we’re telling ourselves, and whether that’s helping us or holding us back.

Welcome to Episode 21. Today’s guest is Dr Divya Parashar who’s a clinical and a rehabilitation psychologist with over 20 years of experience helping individuals regain their ability to function at their best. Divya holds a PHD in Rehab psychology from the university of Wisconsin-Madison USA, and masters in applied Clinical psychology from the university of Delhi.

Divya now has her own practice, but until a few years ago she used to head the department of psychology at the Indian Spinal Injuries centre, Vasant Kunj.

I truly believe the key to a better life lies not in better understanding our world, but in better understanding our brains - the softwares and the algorithms that run in our brains, the lenses through which we interpret the world and make sense of what’s going on. - Psychology surely has some of these answers, and which is why we’ve got Dr Divya Parashar, with all her decades of experience with therapy, traveling, and long distance running to explain some of why we do what we do.

It’s a wide ranging conversation covering internal narratives, Anxiety, Addiction, Therapy, Coping mechanisms, and how extremely painful experiences can actually transform, and even heal us.

Let’s go straight to the conversation, this is me and Dr Divya Parashar in the find your ultra podcast episode 21, Indulge away!

Workbook Divya talked about

Kristian Neff - Self compassion workbook

https://self-compassion.org/mindful-self-compassion-workbook/

Dr Divya’s website. Get in touch:

https://www.divyaparashar.com/

Follow the guest on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/dnparashar/

Follow your host

https://www.instagram.com/ultravipin/

#innernarratives #SelfImage #MentalHealth #Addiction #Copingmechanisms #SelfCare #Anxiety #Running #Healing