Posts Tagged ‘happiness’

20 Sep

Tazzie responds to a post on betrayal trauma

Posted by Marty in Assorted. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

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I follow Tazzie’s blog and find her an inspiration. Oh she lives in Tasmania.

https://echidna.home.blog

“What incredible research and statistics. My partner and I tried to be as honest and open in all areas of our relationship. Yet I feel as being his third long term partner, and one after a relationship with a woman who treated him terribly our honesty and respect unconditional love and not fearing how our words would be taken wrongly allowed us to have a very deep level of love. My partner had had prostate cancer and this impacted his ability at times, he was deeply ashamed of this. Worried how I would react. We were totally open about it. things improved greatly and he shared that with me he never felt in adequate or a need to perform.

I feel so little real information is shared honestly and openly about sex. The crap that is written in magazines and tv movies. Expectations and that it will be wonderful. The shame of body image. Aging, odours, natural odours that have the pheremones being sanatised and destroyed by chemicals.

The pornogrpahy industry showing ridiculous situations fantasies, and all that goes with it. Fictional and not reality but often the only way many see the sexual act displayed. Sigh.

Sex and sexuality, expectation and reality. Not being honest, not communicating about what you like, and how before you marry or commit to a relationship with someone who may not really be on the same page or need as you are in the sex department.

I know that my partner and I were very very lucky but we did work very hard at communicating and not judging. When he became ill with his cancer, he told me it would be OK if I had sex with someone else I told him how touched and appreciated I was by his very kind words. I told him it meant a lot to me but he meant more and I knew at this point in his life if I did that even with his blessing it would hurt him. I also told him that I was quite happy if I needed to to masturbate, something he quite enjoyed being present for. lol he found it fascinating.

I feel sex is one thing but a sexual relationship and a commitment to being a couple goes deeper than sex. Many women find masturbation satisfies them better than sex with their partner. Have they shared it with their partner maybe not.

I am a very open and willing person in relationships within reason and my being in charge of my situation(not sure that makes sense) So if any person I was in a relationship with say went off and had sex with say a paid sex worker or an affair. I would much prefer that it was a safe hygiene where the sex worker was not taken advantage off, but a ‘professional’ than if the person had an affair. Firstly I would want to know why my partner had done this, and what I was not willing to do to satisfythe need. If I was nt willing but the person told me and still needed that to help then it would be to me no different to other therapies that help people cope. It is a business transaction, not emotional. If it was an affair, why? would I want the person still to be in my life if they did not want to be with me, I dont think so. As I age Sex is important but it is such a transient thing dependent on so many things. Both parties feeling like it at the same moment, weariness, children, stress, work, finances, body image, making noise and disturbing neighbours, having different desires (consenting adults ones) comfort levels, education regarding sex. some people seeing it as a necessity but not enjoyable, other loving it. Not feeling satisfied by it. feeling inadequate.

It is really a tragedy that so much is put upon sex in a realtionship. If you are really having such incredible issues in regard to your partners sexual needs (as long as they are in regard to consensual adults) than perhaps love is not what you have but a dream of what you thought it would be.

I believe you have to be honest before committing to live with someone. Be honest with yourself too. If you can not communicate about sex, openly with the person that might be a red flag.

I have never been married as I see it as a institution by the religious organisations to keep woman powerless and certainly in our history as chattels and owned by their spouses. Even now many religious services continue to have obey for the woman to say to the man but not the other way.

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16 Sep

Focus has helped me heal the most

Posted by Marty in Assorted. Tagged: , , , , , , .

https://pixabay.com/users/www_slon_pics-5203613/

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Think of things in your life that demand focus.

How would you describe your ability to focus?

For me, hitting a baseball at a professional level with 25,000 screaming fans tops my list.

This skill lay dormant for decades until PTSD erupted.

When therapy after therapy had little impact, a hybrid therapy, Acceptance and Commitment using meditation entered my life.

Now that external focus I had built, the ability to hit a round object with a round bat in milliseconds, needed to be turned inward.

All my friends laughed, a Type a driver, an anxious, hyped up jock was going to sit quiet and meditate.

Yes, it was awkward for a while, then my focus got stronger, thoughts faded and life changed.

Our ability to focus when our trauma thoughts and emotions visit us is key to surviving.

I could not let go, release my fears and abuse without the ability to focus and stay present.

It is the core of integrating trauma, healing for me.

It is the safe haven I can visit anytime, anywhere.

It seems mundane and powerless.

I have found the opposite.

When I can focus, nature comes alive, I see beauty and perfection and opportunity.

We know all to well how to feel abuse, anxiety, fear and panic.

How do you handle your intrusive thoughts and emotions?

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10 Sep

“Gone” watching sensory events leave our bodies!

Posted by Marty in Assorted. Tagged: , , , , , .

https://pixabay.com/users/egfriday-3324779/

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This concept (Gone) is a core training from a mindfulness program (https://unifiedmindfulness.com/core).

I have used a version of this concept in my mindfulness group.

We bring awareness to a sensory event in our bodies, noticing one part of our body is extremely relaxed or sensing a firm tightness in the solar plexus.

“Gone” is the process of watching sensory events as they leave our bodies.

Instead of dealing with external stimulus, we focus on our own sensory stimulus intently.

For me, we expand that awareness to noticing when an agitation or a relaxation starts, stays a while, then witness it leave.

This concept of “Gone” uses no thought and focuses on knowing our body sensations intimately, as they flow through us.

The lesson is clear, sensory things are impermanent.

Our core is solid, not transparent like sensory events.

Anger lights up my solar plexus, accompanied by tensing and tightening of my muscles, followed by adrenaline joining the party.

This is a great opportunity to take a step back and observe.

Leave the external reason for your anger alone, it is our internal sensory world we want to discover.

Feel this sensory event with a curious mindset.

Can you focus, watch this upset leave your body?

It happens everyday without any awareness on our part.

Many of the answers are right below our judgment and indifference.

The premise is, if we have sensory clarity, the external world becomes much easier to navigate.

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7 Sep

It’s a practice of being with yourself just as you are.

Posted by Marty in Assorted. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

https://pixabay.com/users/Ben_Kerckx-69781/

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From Living with your Heart Wide Open:

“All of us sometimes act unskillfully and make poor choices that hurt others, and we are all sometimes hurt by the actions of others.

Rather than pushing thoughts and feelings about these things away, and rather than trying to correct anything or anyone, simply be with the thoughts and feelings that come up for you with curiosity and awareness.

As you practice self-compassion meditation, the intention is to be open to all of your thoughts, emotions, and sensations, to let all the streams of perception flow through you unfettered.

It’s a practice of being with yourself just as you are.”

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My two cents: Learning to observe means using curiosity and awareness instead of judgment.

Tenzin Palmo, a nun in the Tibetan tradition wrote:

“There is the thought, and then there is the knowing of the thought. 

And the difference between being aware of the thought and just thinking is immense.”

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7 Sep

Caring for ourselves in relationships

Posted by Marty in Assorted. Tagged: , , , , , .

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Living with your Heart Wide Open:

“Caring for ourselves in relationships with others is another way to cultivate self-compassion.

Do you really need to remain in relationships that make you feel small or less alive?

Do you really need to accommodate yet another phone conversation with the “friend” who calls you only when she needs advice or reassurance?

Do you always have to accommodate lunch invitations from a coworker who likes to gossip about the other people in your workplace?

Why not try discouraging relationships that feel like they deplete you and nourishing relationships that make you feel loved and appreciated and bring out the best in you?

We are meant to love one another and care for one another in the deepest sense, and cultivating relationships that manifest these qualities is the very heart of self-compassion.”

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6 Sep

Compassion for our Inner Critic?

Posted by Marty in Assorted. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

https://pixabay.com/users/geralt-9301/

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“You can learn to witness unpleasant thoughts and emotions with self-compassion, and even come to feel a certain amount of compassion for the inner critic (which often helps calm this eternal source of self-criticism).”

Living with your Heart Wide Open

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My two cents: Have compassion for our inner critic, interesting!

I have been trying to murder my inner critic, at least cut his vocal cords.

Once again, surrendering to our fears is the correct path.

My human nature always wants to face, resist and fight off criticism, external or internal.

That has ended badly.

Now, I will adapt and build compassion for my inner critic.

New things are always awkward at first.

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5 Sep

The Many Paths to Self-Compassion from Living with your Heart Wide Open

Posted by Marty in Assorted. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

Pixabay bhpsundra624

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Investigating how you can cultivate self-compassion in your life involves an exploration of how you relate to your body, thoughts, and emotions, and also how you choose and maintain your relationships.

Considering how we can be more compassionate toward our bodies can help many of us see how very little compassion we have for ourselves and how hard we push ourselves physically.

You may find yourself answering yet another e-mail even though you’ve needed to use the bathroom for over an hour, or you may eat junk food from the nearest source just so you can get back to work sooner.

You may convince yourself that you don’t have time to exercise, or you may have a somewhat perverse sense of pride in how little sleep you get.

Paying attention to the many ways you mistreat your body can provide a great deal of insight into how you can begin practicing self-compassion right now—simply by reversing many of these habits. It’s the same with thoughts and emotions.

You can learn to witness unpleasant thoughts and emotions with self-compassion, and even come to feel a certain amount of compassion for the inner critic (which often helps calm this eternal source of self-criticism).

When you notice that you’re being hard on yourself for something like being late for an appointment, you can turn toward this self-criticism with a soft and kind acknowledgement, like “It’s only a mistake; I love you anyway.”

If you notice that you’re ruminating on a feeling like guilt and saying things to yourself that are just making you feel more guilty, you can acknowledge this morbid indulgence; for example, you might say,

“This is just a guilt-fest” or “Will heaping on even more guilt really help me learn from this mistake?”

For most of us, learning to attend to our thoughts and emotions with this friendly kind of attention is a very different way of being in the world.

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18 Aug

Rumi: I am only an arrow. Fill your bow with me and let fly.

Posted by Marty in Assorted. Tagged: , , , , .

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You that give new life to this planet,

you that transcend logic, come. I am only

an arrow. Fill your bow with me and let fly.

Because of this love for you

my bowl has fallen from the roof.

Put down a ladder and collect the pieces,

please.

People ask, But which roof is your roof?

I answer, Wherever the soul came from

and wherever it goes at night, my roof

is in that direction.

From wherever spring arrives to heal the

ground,

from wherever searching rises in a human

being.

The looking itself is a trace

of what we are looking for.

But we have been more like the man

who sits on his donkey

and asks the donkey where to go.

Be quiet now and wait.

It may be that the ocean one,

the one we desire so to move into and become,

desires us out here on land a little longer,

going our sundry roads to the shore.”

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14 Aug

My Rule for Childhood PTSD

Posted by Marty in Assorted. Tagged: , , , , , , .

https://pixabay.com/users/Alexas_Fotos-686414/

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Never compare, never rank, never feel sorry for yourself.

Dissociation is my Achilles heel. I bargain, deny, and wander into the “What if’s” of my trauma.

If I ruminate suffering ensues.

It is simple, if I stay present life is good, if I ruminate life sucks.

A layman’s response to PTSD.

If you do one thing, stay present.

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6 Aug

Looking back, assessing the arduous journey

Posted by Marty in Assorted. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

https://pixabay.com/users/Free-Photos-242387/

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For some of us abuse started around five, way before a little mind had developed. I did not have the skills to even discern it was abuse. Criticism replaced encouragement, achievement was expected not rewarded.

I thought everyone was raised like me. Perfection was demanded of all kids and met with harsh physical punishment when it was not attained.

Fear, anxiety and a stomach that ached and was prone to vomiting often followed me. Never figured out, it was my abuse that was the culprit. My nervous system was in survival mode quite often.

Everyday life had real danger, verbal threats, physical harm and suffering.

I was shocked to find other kids had a much different experience.

They could not relate to me and I sure as hell had no idea what love, support and kindness looked like. I did not fit in at home or school.

Looking back, it seemed I needed to suffer a tremendous amount in my life before death would grace my door.

One of the biggest joys of my life was healing (improving) the first time.

For two years life was free of intense anxiety and suffering.

At 68, I see I fought a lifetime to earn two short years. But those two years meant everything to me, a magnificent triumph.

Now another trauma has returned and upset the delicate balance between suffering and being free.

In spite of my plight, I meditate and practice as hard as ever.

For my life, I had to find some peace of mind, some happiness in my ability to endure my suffering and not slack off my effort.

That was happiness for me.

Happiness is much different for me than normal kids.

I have gratitude because I know other kids had it much worse than me.

Self pity is something I loathe and rarely practice.

This recent trauma has clarified why I am like I am.

It was not easy to sit and accept everything about myself.

How about your journey and challenges?

Never give up, never give in.

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