Reframing Your Narrative About Challenging Relationships
Have you ever noticed that the same type of person keeps showing up in your life and pushing all of your buttons? Why do these individuals and situations keep appearing in the storyline of your life? Is it just to senselessly aggravate you?
If you answered “yes,” you may feel like a victim, and that probably doesn’t feel very good. When we feel like a victim, we feel a heavy sense of powerless that, if gone unchecked, can lead to depression, health issues, and low self-esteem.
But what if there was another way to look at challenging people and situations that left you feeling empowered, and perhaps even a little inspired? The good news is that you can reframe such tensions as opportunities to open your heart, expand your awareness, strengthen your emotional muscles, take constructive action, and deepen your appreciation for the mystery of life.
In this 10-week course, Kim Schneiderman, LCSW, presents a series of research-based writing exercises that can help you reframe adversity as a “character development workout,” a custom-made, emotional journey designed to help you build strengths while further honing areas within yourself that haven’t been fully developed. Using perspective-bending writing exercises, you will tap into the voice of your omniscient narrator to find an elevated, compassionate perspective on your emotionally-charged storyline. This and other writing techniques, some cued with guided meditation, will help you transform self-defeating stories into soul narratives, leaving you feeling inspired and empowered regardless of circumstances.
What you will learn in this course:
- Learn to view yourself as the hero or heroine of your own unfolding story
- Reframe adversity as necessary friction for your own character development and spiritual growth
- Learn how to view your struggles with challenging relationships through more objective, compassionate eyes
- Learn the difference between a self-defeating story and soul narrative
- Understand the dynamics behind recurring problematic interpersonal issues
- Explore the parts of ourselves that are evoked by our antagonists (for example, a fearful part that arises when we get into an argument with a significant other)
- Cultivate, develop and strengthen emotional and spiritual muscles
- Take inventory of all your assets, including strengths, supporting characters, resources, learned lessons, practices and mantras that can help you overcome adversity
- Give yourself the blessing you seek from your adversary
- Write a resolution to the conflict that leaves you feeling inspired
- Feel clear-sighted and empowered regardless of circumstances
The hard reality is that you can’t change your adversary, you can only change your reaction to him or her. If we can embrace the challenges we face as an invitation to refine aspects of our character and cultivate new strengths, then a positive fate awaits us because, regardless of the outcome of the story, we emerge as improved versions of ourselves. This may seem like a small reward compared to the one we really want, perhaps to be absolved from the series of headaches and criticisms our adversaries wields in our direction. But feeling and behaving in a new and improved way is liberating in and of itself, and often changes how others respond to us.
"I found this (workshop) surprising and powerful. As someone with decades of therapy and "navel-gazing" behind her, I am just lifting my head above the rim of the mountaintop that I've been climbing, to see the beautiful vista peacefully lying there. I was, frankly, surprised to get ANY new information -- thought I'd just be recycling the same old narratives. Thank you, Kim, for showing a seeker who was in a rut that there are new ways of being -- new people to be, new parts to embrace." - Susanne
“Mired in grief about a family member, I thought this might help me gain perspective on my situation and think about things differently. The writing exercises opened up feelings about what was going on that I did not know I had, as well as shedding new light on ones that I was aware of having. Kim is quick to see the heart of an idea and go for commentary that is both helpful and challenging. I am still peeling away the layers of insight since I walked away.” -Barbara
“Step Out of Your Story is a truly fresh approach to reflective writing. By placing our own lives in the context of plotlines, characters, and narrative devices, Schneiderman provides a genius way to twist our culture’s fascination with reality TV and sensational movies and channel it toward the story that matters most: the narrative of our own lives. This book’s approach to self-awareness is both entertaining and evocative, and promises to reveal a fascinating story you may not have realized was inside you.” - Marney
“Using your approach, a new possibility opened for me in terms of reinterpreting what was, is, and will be. I feel so happy, so free just in writing this. Thanks for a creative, out of the box, program.” -Jessie
“I just got divorced and wanted to make sure that, since I am responsible for, and can control my future, that I do it the right way. By focusing on my antagonist – fear – and using the third person, I was able to think about my life in a new way.” -Jennifer
“Kim Schneiderman's techniques helped me reclaim my personal narrative and to slowly quiet the noisy voices of counter-narrative that would, if I let them, dictate my own story to me.” -Gabriel
“An unexpected beautiful experience that was optimistic and real.” -Dianna
