Posted by shar on June 24, 2000, at 0:31:09
In reply to Re: Milage, the BEAST, creativity ...., posted by dj on June 23, 2000, at 8:03:39
DJ Wrote:
> Part of healing, I believe, is letting go of all these labels we and others try to pin on ourselves and realizing we are only human. The labels have their time and place but they are only labels and we are what we are...DJ, I believe that one reason we have such a hard time letting go of labels or behaviors is that they have often been survival techniques. Usually, from early childhood, and in response to a threat we were truly powerless to deal with at that time.
So, it is doubly hard to let go of some things because they can make us feel intensely vulnerable when they are gone. And, there has to be something to put in its place. For me to give up just a few of these ideas has taken years of therapy, and meds to keep me out of the pit long enough to work in therapy.
I say it is a good goal to become aware of the self-destructive things we do and thoughts we have, but people shouldn't feel pressured if they just can't "let go" immediately. Anything one learns, any modification of behavior, warrants a celebration.
We are survivors, as screwed up as we may be. Today those survival behaviors may not serve us well. So, we can become aware of them, and step by step, as long as it takes, let go of them and feel stronger and whole.
(I like to call the "we are who we are" the Popeye Revelation: I yam what I yam.)
Namaste,
S
poster:shar
thread:37856
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000619/msgs/38226.html