Home, Homeless, Homelessness?
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: PA
Posts: 12,000
I just finished reading the rest... Something in your last few post Strat got me to thinking of something.
When I went to fire school every year, they used natural gas to flame the fires and sensors to determine if we put enough extinguishing agent on the fire and the flame was adjusted accordingly - fire out.
Sometimes no matter what we did, the flames didn't go out - plus you can't see a thing in the black smoke. It was an exercise in decision making. Do we stay inside this burning structure and continue to dump water on something that is never going out? Or do we exit the building and save ourselves. Think of crawling on hands and knees not being able to see and hot as fffff! and wet with an SCBA strapped to my back that never has as much air as it's supposed to. Do I stay in this madness or do I find the nearest exit?
Staying in our past is like staying inside that burning building sometimes.
Something else I thought of - an album title by Joe Walsh, "You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind" -- a reason we as individuals should not psychoanalyze ourselves. Let the pros handle it. And I'm not insinuating you are sick, it's just that we do not always have the insight to dissect what's going on inside our minds. And we are already biased about it.
When I went to fire school every year, they used natural gas to flame the fires and sensors to determine if we put enough extinguishing agent on the fire and the flame was adjusted accordingly - fire out.
Sometimes no matter what we did, the flames didn't go out - plus you can't see a thing in the black smoke. It was an exercise in decision making. Do we stay inside this burning structure and continue to dump water on something that is never going out? Or do we exit the building and save ourselves. Think of crawling on hands and knees not being able to see and hot as fffff! and wet with an SCBA strapped to my back that never has as much air as it's supposed to. Do I stay in this madness or do I find the nearest exit?
Staying in our past is like staying inside that burning building sometimes.
Something else I thought of - an album title by Joe Walsh, "You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind" -- a reason we as individuals should not psychoanalyze ourselves. Let the pros handle it. And I'm not insinuating you are sick, it's just that we do not always have the insight to dissect what's going on inside our minds. And we are already biased about it.
Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Washington, MO
Posts: 2,306
Dee is right. My past inequities can only be addressed when a situation arises today that gives me the opportunity to try something different. No need to hold onto the exact circumstance, person etc. as the "thing" to address. It will come up like a bar of Ivory soap in the bath and you will either pick it up and use it or push it back down. My point is, growth and atonement happen slowly and of their own accord if we stay awake long enough. The biggest lesson I learned from being dependent on "them" for assistance is they are much shittier caretakers than I can be for myself. Time to be a good parent to myself. Give yourself a hug AND a slap on the ass--it's what good parents do.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 6,666
Originally Posted by haennie 
Are you sober now, bud?
It turns out I was probably right about the memory part, just reading about the phenomena known as 'flashback' here on wiki. I feel notably better today.
The universe loves me, it's something worth remembering. I busted out some yoga moves for an hour after that, is that enough action for you guys??? Lol, peace
Guest
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: The Deep South
Posts: 14,636
Just don't let yourself be bogged down by the details, Stratman. The he-said, she-said, blah blah blah drama. Your life is worth more than rehashing it over and over.
Keep up the good sobriety.
Listen a bit more than you talk That's my own advice to myself, by the way. Listening has a larger payoff.
Keep up the good sobriety.
Listen a bit more than you talk
That's my own advice to myself, by the way. Listening has a larger payoff.
p***enger
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NYC
Posts: 19,075
Stay sober, keep riding whatever wave carries you on. Sometimes it's choppy. Doesn't do much good to look to very far in the distance 'cause nothing on the horizon is sure to pick you up. But keep your eyes open for everything that'll help you build your raft. You'll get better at floating with practice and the power of example. There are lots of folks on SR who are really good at not drowning. You're finding them already.
EndGame
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,677
Bringing repressed, unconscious content into awareness has its place in healing. Doing so is based on the theories and the work of Sigmund Freud in psychoanalysis, commonly known as "talk therapy."
But this needs to be done with the guidance of a skilled and caring professional. Doing this on our own can be dangerous, and by necessity, falls short. There are good reasons why we repress certain emotionally-charged experiences, and not all of these are created equal. Bringing to the surface repressed content can provoke trauma, anxiety and depression. Even psychosis. It's not a simple process of connecting the dots from something that occurred years ago yet still exists in the present in the form of symptoms or personal and interpersonal conflicts.
Working in psychoanalysis or in psychodynamic psychotherapy, one of the therapist's goals is to provide a "corrective emotional experience," in which the patient can re-experience past trauma in a safe place and with someone who is nonjudgmental, who knows (or should know) how to bring that person to safety. A kind of undoing the past in a safer, healthier way. This can lead to healing, but it's generally a very long and complicated process, and never happens over night.
Anna Freud wrote a book, Self Analysis, that describes how people can continue to work on themselves alone, during vacation periods or other times when either the patient or the analyst is unavailable. But the book is aimed at people who've already done a great deal of work in psychoanalysis, and it is only a limited substitute for the work that's done with the analyst. Undertaking this work on our own, there is no one to "catch" us when we fall.
We all want to "make sense" of our lives, of who we are. Surrendering to introspection alone typically leaves us nowhere. Dead ends, wrong turns, and misreading what we see, to say nothing of false or edited memories. It can be like reading the same newspaper over and over again, with the worst bits affecting us increasingly more adversely the more we read about them.
Psychoanalysis is not for everyone. I'm neither recommending participation in psychoanalysis, nor am I saying that there are not other ways to heal without the help of a therapist. In my case, it was clear to me that something needed to be done.
But this needs to be done with the guidance of a skilled and caring professional. Doing this on our own can be dangerous, and by necessity, falls short. There are good reasons why we repress certain emotionally-charged experiences, and not all of these are created equal. Bringing to the surface repressed content can provoke trauma, anxiety and depression. Even psychosis. It's not a simple process of connecting the dots from something that occurred years ago yet still exists in the present in the form of symptoms or personal and interpersonal conflicts.
Working in psychoanalysis or in psychodynamic psychotherapy, one of the therapist's goals is to provide a "corrective emotional experience," in which the patient can re-experience past trauma in a safe place and with someone who is nonjudgmental, who knows (or should know) how to bring that person to safety. A kind of undoing the past in a safer, healthier way. This can lead to healing, but it's generally a very long and complicated process, and never happens over night.
Anna Freud wrote a book, Self Analysis, that describes how people can continue to work on themselves alone, during vacation periods or other times when either the patient or the analyst is unavailable. But the book is aimed at people who've already done a great deal of work in psychoanalysis, and it is only a limited substitute for the work that's done with the analyst. Undertaking this work on our own, there is no one to "catch" us when we fall.
We all want to "make sense" of our lives, of who we are. Surrendering to introspection alone typically leaves us nowhere. Dead ends, wrong turns, and misreading what we see, to say nothing of false or edited memories. It can be like reading the same newspaper over and over again, with the worst bits affecting us increasingly more adversely the more we read about them.
Psychoanalysis is not for everyone. I'm neither recommending participation in psychoanalysis, nor am I saying that there are not other ways to heal without the help of a therapist. In my case, it was clear to me that something needed to be done.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 6,666
Good comment courage! I need to keep on this tip.
There's a ton of good advice and opinions here for me to reflect on.
Hope you are all well. Hare krishna peace out
http://youtu.be/oM1eYCGBNls
There's a ton of good advice and opinions here for me to reflect on.
Hope you are all well. Hare krishna peace out
http://youtu.be/oM1eYCGBNls Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 6,666
Whoops, I posted the wrong link above as thats not the original version nor what I thought I had copied here, not to worry…
EndGame sorry, I hadn't seen your post earlier. It makes for interesting reading and that is I suppose what I was getting at this AM. However I've had an about turn since and I'm more leaning towards your previous comment now! The type of therapy I was practicing on myself was more Jungian in nature but as I'm not expert on either, I'm not really getting into it. What I can say, I've had the absolute best day in a long time here. And I'm not on an insomnia buzz, nor have I just placated my mood with distractions and the like. If I can wake up tomorrow in this mindset and go about a relatively normal day here, I'd consider that not far short of a miracle. It hasn't happened once yet this year so here's hoping.
Could I ask that some of you keep me in your thoughts and prayers? I will surely return the favor all going well. Om shanti namaste, cheers
EndGame sorry, I hadn't seen your post earlier. It makes for interesting reading and that is I suppose what I was getting at this AM. However I've had an about turn since and I'm more leaning towards your previous comment now! The type of therapy I was practicing on myself was more Jungian in nature but as I'm not expert on either, I'm not really getting into it. What I can say, I've had the absolute best day in a long time here. And I'm not on an insomnia buzz, nor have I just placated my mood with distractions and the like. If I can wake up tomorrow in this mindset and go about a relatively normal day here, I'd consider that not far short of a miracle. It hasn't happened once yet this year so here's hoping.
Could I ask that some of you keep me in your thoughts and prayers? I will surely return the favor all going well. Om shanti namaste, cheers
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