Posted by Dinah on January 16, 2006, at 18:35:23
In reply to Success, I Guess » Racer, posted by Poet on January 16, 2006, at 12:38:55
> I kept one diabetic cat alive for six months, the other for a year and a half, giving insulin injections and checking blood glucose levels.
You know, that says several good things about you. Someone who cares that much about their pets is automatically worthwhile in my book.
> I'm good at water aerobics. It's the only exercise that I've kept up for more than a few months.
Wow. That's fabulous!
Don't forget that you're smart and funny.
I'm just not sure you can convince yourself into a positive self image. Maybe it just sets yourself up for an internal battle with negative self talk.
Let me think of how I can describe this. I always laugh that my therapist provides me nothing to push against. So that when I push, I just fall down. That's his brilliance. With nothing to push against, I drop my stubborn insistence.
So maybe negative thoughts are something like that. Or like my OCD. I could argue my OCD. I could tell it that of course I didn't leave the door wide open. I couldn't have run over anybody. But doing that gives the OCD something to resist.
But when I named my OCD Ruthie and pictured her as a nagging, worried little girl who was constantly tugging at my sleeve and telling me things she's worried about, I was able to pat her on her imaginary little head and tell her not to fuss so. Yes, yes, I know you think that bump on the road was a person. But right now let's do a little work.
So maybe by fighting the negative self image and trying to convince it that it's wrong, you're just feeding it the energy it needs to live.
And maybe what you need to do with little Grizelda is to pat her on her little head and tell her that yes yes, you know she thinks you're a miserable failure. But right now let's go make a nice salad, and get ready for water aerobics.
If that makes any sense.
(And maybe letting yourself get clobbered in a pillow fight is just what your therapy needs right now. It would certainly shake things up. grin.)
poster:Dinah
thread:599016
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060110/msgs/599743.html