The Joy Diet - Truth

In the Joy Diet book group facilitated by Jamie Ridler we are on to chapter 2 which is all about truth. The truths that we tell ourselves and the stories we create around them. She asked that after we did our 15 minutes of nothing that we ask these questions.

What am I feeling?
What hurts?
What is the painful story I am telling?
Can I be sure my story is true"?
Is my story working?
Can I think of another story that might work better?

When I tried this I always felt in a good mood. I didn't have any hurts so I really did not do this exercise well at all.

Now this morning I was doing my morning pages and I started thinking about this. so I tried it again.

What am I feeling? Overwhelmed
What hurts? that I have done this again, when will I learn.
What is the painful story I am telling? That I have taken on too many things and that I will not have the time to do everything.
Can I be sure my story is true"? NO
Is my story working? No I think it adds more stress
Can I think of another story that might work better? Yes I can. I now realize well yes I have a lot on my plate right now and I will have plenty of time to do it all.

Now this time I saw the exercise in a positive light. I could see how it could be helpful to me.














This is my collage card. I didn't make it till today. I couldn't decide what truth really look like. So I just did whatever came to me. I saw the woman contemplating her life and I saw the little girl as the part of ourselves we should not deny. The sweaters are for the simplicity of life. Truth at its core is very simple I think we are the pones that make it harder. The sunflowers for their beauty, they always make me smile and the words are self evident. To really see the truth you need to open your eyes and look at the issue from a new perspective. I think that is what Martha Beck is having us do.