Photo by Lauren H. Dowdle
Susan Cunningham, director of personal well-being and a certified life coach for a company called Dream4, speaks to the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce at the Hoover Country Club in Hoover, Alabama, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.
Stories matter, especially the ones people tell themselves. Those stories shape how people view themselves as individuals and leaders, which was the topic of Thursday’s Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Hoover Country Club.
Susan Cunningham, director of personal well-being and a certified life coach with a company called Dream4, spoke to the chamber members about how their inner stories shape their impacts. She referenced a 2020 Queen’s University study that determined the average person has up to 6,200 thoughts a day, reinforcing the idea that people are constantly telling themselves stories.
“In many ways, you are the author of your story,” Cunningham said. “What story do you want to tell yourself now?”
People are also looking for ways to make meaning of these stories to interpret their environments and themselves, she said. The meaning they come up with can be based on things like a person’s beliefs, experiences and culture. These stories can then impact a person’s connections, emotions, communication, results and action or inaction.
“The stories we tell ourselves matter,” Cunningham said. “They have an effect on every single area of our life and of our being.”
But these stories are not always correct, she said. There can be a negative bias that skews their perception of an event. “People have a tendency to think if I came up with this idea in my head, it must be true,” Cunningham said.
When these stories are left unchecked, it can cause conflicts, competition within a team, the loss of trust, negative perceptions in the future and a lack of accountability. To counteract these issues, Cunningham encourages people to ask what story they’re telling themselves when they experience a strong emotion. They should acknowledge the story, assess their conclusions and ask for clarity, she said.
“If you’re willing to do that, you’ll get good feedback that will help you expand your story,” Cunningham said. “When we check our stories, we see ourselves, our circumstances and others more clearly.”
This was the last chamber luncheon of the year. The chamber will have a senior citizen and veteran educational expo at the Aveda Arts and Sciences Institute Birmingham at 3200 Galleria Circle in Hoover on Nov. 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The chamber also will hold its annual meeting and giving gala on Dec. 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel.