Couch 243: Winchester Cathedral

She did mention Internal Family Systems on both Monday and today. (I don't know that she has specific training in that.) She thinks I'm strong enough that I can start comforting the younger parts of me, even if I don't think so.

Does it seem to be helping any?

Now that I think about it, ex-MC had his daughter name her anxiety, too, in order to talk back to it. Maybe I need a name for this complex. She called it a filter, so I pictured something like a coffee filter, but thicker lining my chest (as that's where I feel these things).

I hope it works out without any problems tomorrow, Lost!

Yes, I think it is helping - we talked about that today actually, how it's helping - that being mainly, when we 'named' a couple of them recently, it made them feel a little more autonomous, a little more separate from my Self; which, I think, is why I can 'see them coming' more easily lately! Also, my homework recently was to write a conversation between two of them - I ended up writing a song to the tune of that song "guy with the hair" on youtube sings all of his songs to, that's a conversation between me and one of them. I haven't tackled a conversation between 2 of them yet.

That’s exactly what I was going to say, as well. I haven’t done much of IFS in awhile due to crisis’, but my T has told me many times that these “parts” of you need to be acknowledged and heard in order for them to either change “jobs” in. a more productive way, or at least appease them. If you ignore/shame these different parts of you, they just get louder and try in different ways to get your attention.

I must admit that I am very bad at being kind and gentle to all of the parts of me that probably needs kindness and gentleness. I have told my T multiple times that I want to banish away those needs. Unfortunately, it does not work that way.

It took me a long time to accept that these parts of me that I don't like (the various complexes as the Jungian world calls them) are not gonna go away. That's why I never wanted to dive this deeply into working with them before, I suppose. But we're doing it now; better late than never. Today she reassured me that as I work with them, in time, they will get smaller so that was good to hear.

that is great, artie!

Hi Couch,

Today is weird and hard, but I made some beautiful things happen by planting this year's sunflowers.

Tiny moments of beauty can sustain us, right?

I'm sorry that today it weird and hard; but, I believe that yes, tiny moments of beauty added together can; especially when the beauty is in planting something because it just organically includes hope for the future. And sunflowers are definitely beautiful!

And now, I am off to tackle today's poetry prompt on NaNoWriMo.net; it's a doozie! It's called "Twenty Little Poetry Projects" - the challenge is to use them all in one poem.

Took longer than I wanted to spend on it, but by golly I got 'er done & posted!! Now I need to do some laundry and go for a walk...

I just spent about an hour and a half decluttering my office - it got so cluttered in here I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic working. I've been meaning to work on it since our overtime ended not long ago but just hadn't yet. It's a very small room, doesn't have a closet, so I have shelves with bins in them to store stuff. If it had a closet, I guess the usable room space would be even smaller so I guess it's good it doesn't have a closet after all.

Sounds like you've been very productive today, Artie!

I just intended to type the word "theory" in a comment on something and initially typed the word "therapy" instead... guess it's clear what my fingers are used to typing! Sigh...

@artie saw this an thought of you:

Jung explained- Gen Z style.

https://i.redd.it/m0peiupfppsa1.png

yeah that about sums it up!

My mother is very into only eating organic/plant based foods. At one point she seemed to be doing some sort of MLM scheme.

Anyway, when I was talking to her today, she said nutrition makes a big difference in how your body functions, and that eating some anti-inflammatory foods might help heal my feet. I know she is probably right, but the thought of going down that google
rabbit hole sounds exhausting.

Do you think adding anti-inflammatory food can be done with smoothies. I’m good at smoothies. I am not good/avoid cooking. Of course, I will search this too, just thought I would get everyone’s opinion!

i don't have any personal experience with it, but I did a little googling

11 Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie Recipes

15 Easy Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie Recipes For Your Summer – Pain Doctor

Today is being called "Sonnet Sunday" on napowrimo.net so today's prompt is to write a traditional sonnet. Gonna have to wait until after work to tackle this, since my lunch break will be over in about 4 minutes. On Sundays, most of my lunch break is spent on our family Zoom call, otherwise I would have started already.

Ewww, you have to work on a Sunday? That sucks.

And thank you for that link. I am sure I could google too, but, you know, i am lazy

You could try turmeric, as that's anti-inflammatory. This supplement could be one to try--it tastes pretty good (to me) on its own and could be easily added to a smoothie. With it being a dropper, you could try just a tiny bit at first. It's a reputable organic brand, though I'm sure you could find some other turmeric supplement that's cheaper (I try to look for those that are vegetarian).

And I think my sister-in-law is doing some sort of MLM that involves protein powder (I forget the brand--something like Airbonne maybe?) and some other stuff. She keeps posting on Facebook about how good the product is. I promise I won't make any kickbacks from the thing I recommended!

Great minds think alike, LT.


Some health food stores may carry capsules if that's more convenient, Velcro.

I am on a low inflammation way of eating. I don't eat any added sugar, white flour, or dairy. I know those will cause me pain. The thing is - whereas those are a big deal for most of us with inflammation -there are things that don't bother me that bother others and vice versa. I suggest starting from zero and cutting out most things and then add them in back slowly. For me, I was so sick all I could eat was some roasted or boiled chicken, steamed vegetables, and brown rice for a few months. I started feeling better and added in a food every 3-4 weeks after that - that way I could immediately tell if something was causing me inflammation. I can tell with added sugar and white flour pretty much within 25 min or so because my hand joints will swell. I don't find it hard to eat in this newer way because of how terrible I feel when I go back to a more american way of eating. If you try turmeric - just remember it will take time to notice a difference. Also many of the protein powder type things have inflammatory ingredients = so be careful about them.

My schedule is Sun-Thurs, so yeah. I chose it actually because I like having Friday off to schedule H's many dr appts on and for therapy the last little while. I've had to call a few people today and one of them asked why are you working on Easter? I said, well, um, it's not a holiday for where I work and it's my normal work day so....

haha! I think my mom’s js called Isogenics, maybe? Thank you for the supplement recommendation! I will check it out, and love the idea of adding it to smoothies.
Like anti-inflammatory capsules?


aaah. this scares me. i do not have a good relationship with food. It got worse when the pandemic started, and now it is pretty bad. i am not sure if i can take out all of the sugar or flour. My food intake gets even worse the more depressed I feel. And that is bad right now as well.

Thank you for the tip that turmeric takes time to have an effect.