Hello good people of the blogosphere, how are you doing? I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. I have scheduled this post and am either at the beach or sipping a good cuppa on the sofa. So cheers to all of you 😉 .
But I wanted to share two things: The self-care suggestion by Rachel Kelly in the next chapter of her book “Singing in the Rain – 52 Practical Steps to Happiness” and my thoughts on Terry Pratchett’s anger that Neil Gaiman mentioned in an article by The Guardian several years ago. It also mentions “Good Omens” one of my favourite books by the two and as it happens a new TV series by… Netflix? Amazon? No idea… 😉
But first things first:
You might recognise the situation: Something happened. You might have missed a step and your foot hurts. Your mind goes crazy and develops all sorts of scenarios from having your foot in a cast to having it cut off.
This is what Cognitive-Behavioural-Therapy calls “Catastrophising” and it usually is a strategy that we embraced while dealing with trauma. Mind you we certainly don’t do this consciously. It’s rather that your brain has changed its connections and now expects catastrophes instead of miracles.
Rachel describes a technique to find perspective when something happens that is less than fortunate and might get you into the downward spin:
She suggests to ask yourself the questions in the above image and then go and create a paper folded boat. Good old origami 🙂 will help you to get your mind off the catastrophe you are expecting.
There are different ways of dealing with catastrophizing. I usually use something called “Safe Place” but I guess the above questions help to bring everything into perspective much faster. I am going to give it a try.
Maybe you do not consider this self-care as such. Many think when it comes to self-care of a hot bath or something nice to eat. But keeping your mind off the hamster wheel of negative thinking is an important part too. So go on. Give it a try.
That’s it for today. But there is an interesting post I wrote in March 2015 about one of my most favourite authors and here you can enjoy it again:
July 2019
I can’t believe it’s over four years ago that Sir Terry Pratchett passed over to another life. RIP may you have left your anger behind.
Here are my thoughts from 2015
March 2015
Last October The Guardian published an extract from Neil Gaiman’s introduction to “A Slip of the Keyboard: Collected Non-fiction by Terry Pratchett”. I read the article then but got bored and didn’t really concentrate on what he said.
On Thursday Terry Pratchett passed away and this time I fully read the article and these sentences touched a cord:
“…Terry looked at me. He said: “Do not underestimate this anger. This anger was the engine that powered Good Omens.” I thought of the driven way that Terry wrote, and of the way that he drove the rest of us with him, and I knew that he was right.
There is a fury to Terry Pratchett’s writing: it’s the fury that was the engine that powered Discworld. It’s also the anger at the headmaster who would decide that six-year-old Terry Pratchett would never be smart enough for the 11-plus; anger at pompous critics, and at those who think serious is the opposite of funny; anger at his early American publishers who could not bring his books out successfully.
The anger is always there, an engine that drives. By the time Terry learned he had a rare, early onset form of Alzheimer’s, the targets of his fury changed: he was angry with his brain and his genetics and, more than these, furious at a country that would not permit him (or others in a similarly intolerable situation) to choose the manner and the time of their passing.
And that anger, it seems to me, is about Terry’s underlying sense of what is fair and what is not….” (quote from “Terry Pratchett isn’t jolly. He is angry.” Extract from Neil Gaiman’s introduction to A Slip of the Keyboard)
Video credit: Arts & Ideas at the JCCSF via YouTube
I struggle with my feelings for many years. Especially anger which I have directed at myself in self-harming. I also suspect it expresses itself in grinding my teeth at night which causes an awful lot of physical problems like headaches, shoulder pain and exhaustion.
While doing “Love Is In Da Blog” I realised that it is time to do something about that and not the “usual” way with medication or therapy. I began to feel strongly that I needed another maybe more spiritual approach. It feels like these sentences are the answer to my healing wish.
My anger, acquired when my mother passed away when my father did what he did when I got bullied at school and other things, is not a disease that stops me from doing what I want to do. It is the fuel that powers my creativity but I need to allow it to do its job.
I suspect I let it do its job when I decided out of nowhere to do “Love Is In Da Blog” and it has transformed me. It has kick-started a development which end I do not know yet. But I do not need to know it. I trust the process. I trust that the great creator knows where I am heading and that my intuition will guide me the right way.
At last, I know where to go: I go with the flow 🙂
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You sound to be in a very healthy process Bee, wish you all the best to get through your past, so you can live a better life without all those negative feelings ❤
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Thanks Irene. I believe it’s work in progress for the rest of my life but I am ok with it. Better work in progress than stuck in the past 🙂
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I agree so much and feel grateful that I got the help I needed Bee
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🙂
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Thanks very much. Much appreciated 🙂
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My friend Herb catastrophizes … every time he gets a headache, he’s certain it’s a brain tumour, and a backache must surely be testicular cancer! I, on the other hand, am the exact opposite. I just remind my body that I don’t have time for this nonsense, and I go on about my business.
I did not know Terry Pratchett was dead! Just last year, David recommended his books to me, and I enjoy them very much! Granny Weatherwax is my absolute favourite! 🙋
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Yes, he had a rare form of dimentia and passed well four years ago I think. One of the saddest days in my life. Am also a huge fan of Granny Weatherwax but Death is quite funny too 😁. Have a lovely week!
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You have a lovely week also, my friend! I hope yours has started better than my own. Sigh.
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Sorry to hear that. Need to pop over to your blog soon. Just having lunch and wait to know who will be Tory leader. I would so love it if it would be Jeremy Hunt by just a couple of votes 😁. Hope your weeks gets better soon 🙋♀️🐝
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Popping over to my blog will likely only depress you, though I always love seeing you here! And … as we now know, your wish did not come true. I am almost as stunned by Boris’ election as I was Trump’s … they are two peas in a pod, and they even buy their hair from the same online retailer I think. Sigh. 🙋
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😁 my husband calls Johnson “Poundland Trump” but even though I wished for Hunt to become Tory leader I knew it would be Johnson and I am somehow glad because now he has to prove that he can give the Brexiteers all his bold promises. Will be interesting how he wriggles himself out of that one. To me he looked like he wished Hunt won just for a teeny moment … 😁… then it was gone and his bravado was back.
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Sigh … I’ve long said that Johnson and Trump are two peas in a pod, however I do think that Johnson is more intelligent. And … I have a feeling he won’t be around too long. I hear what you’re saying … his mess is now right squarely on his plate, but I must admit that I fear the outcome. Especially if he allows himself to be influenced by the Fool on the Hill over here. Sigh. The world has turned upside-down.
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It has indeed. And Johnson seems to be more intelligent but he also comes from a very priviledged Background which makes him unable to understand how life is for normal people. But hey, it will definitely be interesting … 🙋♀️🐝
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Heh heh … now you sound like me … I keep saying these are ‘interesting’ times, and on any given day, the word may have one meaning or another.
That ‘privileged background’ is the problem with so many of our politicians on both sides of the pond. The system is such that if you aren’t fairly wealthy, you really don’t stand a chance, so we are left with those who have no concept of juggling bills, trying to decide whether to pay the electric bill or buy food this month. I’ve proposed a few times that every candidate for office should have to spend one month in low income housing, with no access to his own money, but given only a stipend equal to what a poor person would have to live on. Not a cure all, but at least they would get a taste of how “the other half”, which is actually more than half, live. 🙋
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And they should work for a month in the sector they are responsible for. Both preferably for a month each year they are in office. Great minds think alike 😁
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👍👍 Excellent ideas we have!!!
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Time we get into politics 😁😘
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It’s been suggested to me before, but … I think it would eat us alive. That’s the problem … those with kind and gentle hearts, the ones that would be the best of leaders for their fairness and honesty, cannot deal with the dark side of it all. However, yeah, we would do an awesome job!
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I know, I know… 😚🙋♀️🐝
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Nope, we are “blessed” with Boris. God help us!!!!!! 🤮🙋♀️🐝
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🙋
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