Recognition for the work that carers do

@Phoenix_Rising

Just a little something I picked up for you.

@Former-Member Oh I super love the chocolates!!!

I'm glad your meeting went well. It sounds like you are making slow and steady progress on that front.

I am definitely still playing the violin. It is the most positive part of my life. I am up to the second piece in book 4, although I can't yet play the first piece at full speed. My teacher told me in my last lesson to just keep working at both pieces slowly and the speed will come in time.

My cats are happily enjoying the super sunny day we are having in Sydney today.

The session with the psychologist last week went about as bad as a session can go. Here is what I wrote about it in a post that day:

So...you know it's a bad therapy session when you are in such crisis and so chaotic you call the SANE helpline WHILE YOU ARE STILL IN THE THERAPY SESSION WITH THE THERAPIST SITTING THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is not good for the therapist to take a phone call from another client ten seconds into the session. It is REALLY not good when a random stranger knocks on the door during the session. It is ESPECIALLY not good for the therapist to then try to soothe the distressed client by touching her without first asking, and it is ABSOLUTELY DEFINITELY not good to ask the by now completely out of control client if the therapist should call an ambulance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And thus endeth the relationship with therapist-take-eleven. I'm not even entirely sure who ended it. I think in my brain I was already thinking I would be sacking her, but she sacked me as a client before I had the chance to sack her...so I guess you'd say it was mutual.

I can't do this anymore. I am done. Somehow I need to figure out how to fix my muddle on my own. I know (A) is there as a form of social support, and I deeply value that. However we both know that she doesn't know how to actually help me. And the reality is that I simply cannot try for therapist-take-twelve. An incident like today just further fries my brain. Somehow (and right now I have no idea how), I need to figure out how to heal my scrambled brain on my own.

Sigh...oh well, I'll just keep swimming I guess. I hope you and Mr Darcy are having a nice day today @Former-Member

@Phoenix_Rising - that sounds like the worst ever session. Might be better off sticking to yoga. I'm working up the courage to go. There's a session late this afternoon that I have my eye on.

@Former-Member Ooooh you peaked at the yoga thread? Does this mean I can expect you to be a tree tomorrow??

@Former-Member said "yoghurt" thread 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆

Good evening @Former-Member,

I have just got home from my fourth yoga class. I have to drag myself there because I still feel super anxious in the unfamiliar place, but once I'm there I super enjoy it. I find yoga extremely calming. I recognise that I have actually been doing yoga without realising it for...well...pretty much forever. I just naturally move around a lot on the floor a lot of the time and it is only when I started looking at yoga videos that I realised things I just naturally do, are actually yoga postures. I kind-of wonder if it is an aspie sensory quirk thing.

I find mindfulness extremely helpful in managing my big feelings. I think because it has become the "trendy" thing in psychology over the past decade or so, it often isn't described/explained/taught as well as it might be. Being mindful really just means being fully focused on what you are doing in the present. So, for example, washing up mindfully would mean focusing on the feel of the water and the dishes, rather than planning your shopping list in your head or worrying about what you need to do the next day.

I know the reason I find my violin playing so calming is because it is a mindful activity. That is, I have to fully focus on my posture and scan my body for tension etc. If there is any tension at all anywhere in my right arm, the bow will bounce. Thus it is a really cool activity for training myself to relax and be aware of what is happening in my body.

There is actually a lot of research around the benefits of mindfulness (and yoga, which is a form of mindfulness). It changes the way our brains function. That's why I was so heartbroken when I got dumped by the neurofeedback psychologist - neurofeedback is basically turbo-charged mindfulness and I could actually SEE on the computer screen how my brainwaves changed when I got into "the zone." Anyway, as you said, horses for courses.

I agree with you that being in nature is super calming. I particularly like being near water. There is a river near me with lots of trees and lots of Bell birds. I super love listening to them.

I hope you and Mr Darcy are going ok this week.