Oh, and I did forget to mention yesterday in all my self-generated hoopla, that the other morning I did carry my W into the bedroom, made out with her a little bit, and told her I was unhappy with her spending so much time on the computer. Last night as soon as I walked into the room and sat in the easy chair, she shut down the web browser and with just a little protest (i.e. "you promise you'll kick me out after a few minutes, and NO rocking") sat in my lap and we cuddled. Ironically enough, I was the one who feel asleep.
This here is good stuff, Maynard.
What you said about the voices being a part of you reminded me of something I heard at a conference once. The speaker was talking about our voices, inner critics, the paranoid whispers of pathological self doubt, etc. He personified those voices as "hungry ghosts". I think he was adapting some Buddhist thought to suit his own process, but it worked. He said something about making a ritual of (mentally or literally) placing a grain of rice or some symbolic fragment of food in a special bowl each morning; "feeding your hungry ghosts". In other words, rather than investing a lot of energy in denying or hiding from your self-doubt, acknowlege those voices/emotions as a part of you ... ONCE. Then for the rest of the day, whenever those thoughts begin to intrude, tell them, "I fed you already today" and *immediately* proceed with whatever you were doing refusing to "nourish" them further. He was talking mostly about how this impacts creative pursuits, but I think it's a wonderful way to approach your whole life.
Last edited by Kettricken; 09/05/0711:38 PM.
"Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock." -- Frank Herbert
