Dad's Learning Part 2 (A Continuing Series)
I have been invited to explore my thoughts for therapeutic purposes. I intend on doing what is asked of me considering I sought out the advice in the first place.
"I will continue exploring and utilizing the tools (i.e. positive self-talk, Scriptures, etc.) to bring to light the original reason I started seeking therapy again."
For some reason this was “unpublished”.
So I am re-publishing it as it is important for an upcoming piece to be able to link to it.
This was originally published the first week of December 2022.
Time to prepare for my upcoming therapy session. I should have been writing all week prior to this but I couldn't seem to bring myself to do it. I know that's weak as a reason, but I am not convinced it was simply due to clutter or schedule. Consider this; I have many chances throughout each day to take a 15 minute break from whatever I am doing.
That is putting it mildly. In reality I have to fill my day with things to do but somehow choose not to write out my thoughts or reflect on my therapy. I am not completely sure what that's about, but of course I don't like it. However, let me take this time to go over some of the points in therapy in preparation for the session tomorrow.
First, "feelings can be temporary". Let's see where that lead since as a standalone statement it can provide plenty of insight but it's not very focused. Next is "23% of speech is tone". Now the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place. So let's add the next part prior to circling back.
"Mind over matter" and "the mind affects how you feel". Now I am understanding more. So in essence, taking a step back and shifting your view of the situation a bit can change how situations feel or affect you. The tone you take with someone during a conversation can affect how they feel or the tone they take with you can do the same.
Perhaps I can misinterpret tone at times and reframing or taking a look back to make sure I was accurate may assist when I get aggravated. Understood. I can likely take something else away too. Checking my tone or at least paying attention to it can alleviate some issues people feel when talking to me.
I have many people who find me overly aggressive or sometimes even upset or angry when I don't necessarily feel that way. This begs the question: I wonder if I was somehow able to talk to myself if I would feel the same? Honestly that's likely.
Dr. Peterson said something I think back to a lot. If 1 person mentions it, it may be a fluke. If 2 people mention it, you can still chalk it up to a fluke but pay attention. If 3 or more people mention it, it's you. So maybe they're onto something? I'm pretty sure I am in the several dozen territory with tone...
"'I will' statements are effective in shifting or creating motivation for a task". I am certain I paraphrased that a bit, but seems good enough to standalone. And it's also the basis for the task this week I didn't make much headway on!
"Buried thoughts don't die, they stay trapped." Now that one is deep, pun intended. I do believe I have written something on this specifically. Now that I have checked I can confirm that I have in fact written on this thread a bit and it just so happened to be the day after meeting with my therapist.
I imagine it has something to do with contemplating this particular thread. This actually makes me feel exceedingly better about my work after the prior appointment. I guess I had just forgotten. In any event, here's that write up:
Perhaps I should take some of the parts where I lamented not doing what I should have out of this example, but at the same time perhaps there's a lesson in there somewhere about beating yourself up for no reason or the imperfect state of being human. I am going to leave everything in.
We also discovered and discussed how I enjoy puzzles. Now I don't think actual puzzles are boring and I can certainly do them and have the hours slip away but in this case we mean complex problems. I can confirm this is the case and I love slipping away in my thoughts trying to unwrap this layer and that layer in an issue.
Admittedly though, I can only think about something myself to a point. Generally a fairly shallow point. I rely on books and lectures to actually answer my questions, but I try. Either way, I am feeling much better now about my session tomorrow! I guess tonight I get to sleep well.