Throughout life as you encounter various experiences, you will tell and retell your story. Sometimes the storytelling is simply self-dialogue in your mind about how your life is going. And often you share it with others as you describe the events of your days. Each experience builds on the next. The story you tell over and over reinforces your beliefs and solidifies your view and beliefs of the world. In the repeated story-telling you reinterpret what happened to fit those beliefs. What is the story you tell about your health, your happiness and your efforts to improve yourself and your life?

As we make a positive health behavior change, we naturally follow this cycle. We reflect on our story, explain what has happened and give our interpretation of why it happened. We listen to others’ responses and process the events until we develop a new understanding. This understanding may lead us to be open for change.

When we go through the change cycle we apply the thought processes that Jung identified:

• We experience behaviors and events through our senses–extroverted sensing.
• We reflect on what was most memorable–introverted sensing.
• We review what happened and look for patterns and meanings behind events–extroverted intuition.
• We consider the impact of the event or experience on others–extraverted feeling.
• We consider how this aligns with our values–introverted feeling.
• We develop an understanding of what this experience means–introverted thinking.
• We identify our insights about the situation, our lives and the future–introverted intuition.
• We plans and organize our world to take next steps–extroverted thinking.

You automatically apply some of these thought processes, especially the one that is dominant (your strength) for your personality. You use your “auxiliary” thought process as well, fairly easily and naturally. You may not even know you are using them. But some of these thought processes do not come naturally for your personality and you might even gloss them over or skip them entirely. These areas of emphasis and potential imbalance shapes how we manage and respond to our lives.

HealthType™ emphasizes using your natural personality strengths. But it is a good idea to stretch and apply thought processes that do not come so easily in order to develop a well-rounded perspective. In doing so you might discover solutions to the challenges you face.

For example, a friend of mind has an ESTJ preference. Her personality-based strengths lie in organizing her world and planning. She felt she had a clear vision of how she would maintain her health in retirement. She got a dog and she planned to walk her dog daily. When I caught up with her some months later, she had not achieved her goal.

It is possible that had she purposely taken the time to review the patterns in her life (extroverted intuition), before making her plan, she would have noticed that she tends to stay home and watch TV. Her understanding of herself (introverted thinking) is someone who is a home body and not an exerciser, not even to prevent her beloved dog from getting chunky! She might have also noted that her values align with friends and family (introverted feeling) and so she would benefit from making to go walking with her sister who lives down the street.

Now it is your turn. What is your story? What is your goal? Apply as many of the cognitive processes as possible to identify new solutions for achieving your goals. Please join us on Facebook or @HealthType (use #HealthHappiness) and tell us how you are doing.