CATEGORY THOUGHTFUL REFLECTIONS AND WELLNESS
How often do you feel you have screwed up? My guess is that you may feel like that more often at the moment. The frustrations of the current situation are likely to inflame one’s ‘downers’ when things don’t go as planned. Consider for a moment, this might be a good example, a learning curve, regarding understanding how the levels of stress have increased for you during the ongoing frustrating restrictions on, and in all levels of our life at the moment.
The next thing, along comes the old pest our saboteur reiterating the blame, and failure ideas, and scolding, something shocking just as though he has the right to condemn our very human responses and mistakes, coming out with the old, ‘I told you sos’ and it seems too true to even attempt to challenge him/her.
Frustrations and screw ups are completely natural in the circumstances we are in, its harder to find a balance more escpecially when something as incidious as COVID is continuing it’s disgusting visit to our globe. Here’s the thing though, its very frustrating when one feels let down by failing institutions and constantly rising prices.Its rather like you have your patient gown on and off all the time, and simply have no more energy, every time you gain an inch you are thrown back a mile! To add insult to injury you can’t think straight.
This is how stress and traumatic responses can govern our thinking and behaviour, and we struggle with them now day and daily. The work of the saboteur is easy in these circumstances because we are living in a regressed state, as though our brains metaphorically are just swelled up with the pressure.
The saboteur is a sub personality ingrained with both conscious and unconscious information, and supported by the norms and mores of our culture, operating and kicking us when we are down.
A good beginning ,as we indicated before in previous blogs, is to give him/her a name, and speak directly to him/her. Ask ‘twister’ [my name’] ‘what’s your beef’ ?comfort him/her as a part of you e.g.I’m sorry you are hurt and frustrated but there is no use blaming yourself and thinking you have failed, try again! everyone has a patient inside themselves and it is healthy to acknowledge this , why blame yourself for something you have no power over ,and did not instigate, let me give you a hug?
Knowledge and understanding is good but does not give a pat answer, but it is there to go back to when stuck and frustrated. Don’t forget ask yourself sensible questions
Is it normal to screw up sometimes? could be one
Did I manage before?
Might it be ok to see that I need repetition to learn something new?
Use your patient experience to transform your thinking and experience and in the service of others.
COME ON DON’T BE ARROGANT JOIN THE HUMAN RACE AND RUN TO THE FINISH LINE
aoibheann thoughtful reflections 