Language that Heals: Three Storytelling Tips for Better, Faster Results
Be aware when telling your healing story about your recent knee surgery or back injury or other physical troubles. Of course, people want to know because they value and support you and your success. So, it’s inevitable that your story will be relevant in various conversations.
As a physical therapist, or PT, I always ask a patient about their present state, their story about how they are feeling, how their body is performing, and how life is affecting their recovery. And with family and friends, I express my concern by acknowledging and inquiring about their physical struggle. In this way, storytelling about one’s physical ailment is common throughout our culture.
Unfortunately, most people tell their story in ways that inhibit their healing connection. What you say and how you say it affect your emotions, and your emotions affect your body. Strong evidence of this mind-body connection has been available and understood in past and ongoing research. To be clear, language that pumps up energy and hope also pumps up tissue healing. In contrast, language that causes fear, doubt, or frustration debilitates the mending process.
Since your story can be shared in different ways, choose a strategy that mobilizes your healing power. Allow your storytelling to inspire your physical recovery. Following are three tips that will align your mind and body for better, faster results. Start them now, and over time these tips will automatically bolster your conversations.
- Strong Commitment. Tell them about your strong commitment to cooperate with the restoration of your body’s tissues. Maybe assure them about getting adequate sleep and nutrition or performing PT-prescribed exercises. For example, you might say, “My healing is going well because I enjoy eight hours of quality sleep every night” or “I am happy to report that I consistently perform the exercises that my PT has prescribed.”
- Clear Understanding. Tell them about your clear understanding of the healing details that your tissues are experiencing at that moment. Possibly inform them about your need for rest or your readiness of flexibility training. For example, you might say, “Right now, I must rest and relieve my tissues in order to expedite their healing” or “According to my PT, increasing my flexibility is most important at this time.”
- Renewed Gratitude. Tell them about your renewed gratitude of your innate, subconscious intelligence that eagerly enlightens the entire healing process. Express your amazement about its ramped-up healing effort during sleep or its unrelenting resilience under nonideal healing circumstances. For example, you might say, “I am amazed that my body feels and performs much better today than yesterday” or “Even though I was unable to attend physical therapy this week, my body is still making great improvements.”
When you tell your story to others out loud, you also tell your story to yourself. Naturally, the more your ears and mind hear your story, the greater your physical healing is enhanced. Similarly, when you tell your story silently to yourself, your body responds. So, talk to yourself often and passionately. Feed your mind with bold, gutsy, and courageous healing stories.
Even though these stories are creatively uplifting, they also must be factual and real. Mostly importantly, you must enthusiastically believe your own story. Your words can’t fool the mind-body relationship, so Pollyanna-style storytelling is not advised.
There’s just one prerequisite: you must have the desire to take the first step. Then once you taste the sweet impact of self-empowerment, your desire will inherently expand and drive you to the next level. So go forth, looking forward to unknown and undefined healing possibilities!
As a physical therapist and certified clinical hypnotherapist, Ruth E. Smith offers a bold and intriguing mind-body-spirit approach for physical recovery. Her book, Without Boundaries: Optimizing Physical Recovery with Self-Hypnosis, and other writings connect and align with the powers of the mind: belief, language, mindfulness, and imagination. Her campaign, “Be Aware and Power Up!” enlightens and motivates healthcare consumers about hopeful perspectives and strategies for excellent results. Connect on Facebook and Substack.
