Writing As A Form Of Therapy

[BlueBay]

Oh @Silenus @thst is so very sad that your friend lost everything. 😢

I can't imagine the pain he must be in. 
you're a great mate fir giving what you can. I know your friend will greatly appreciate what you can give. I know I would hrlp my friend in need too. 

[Maggie]

@Silenus  So sad about your friend. Grandma will be loved to life again, but much pain to follow such devastation.

You are a good friend. Many need that gift. Take care as you navigate the charred earth. 💜💙💜💙

[eth]

Hi @Silenus  what a tragedy for your friend.  Thank goodness for your generosity, I am sure that is helping him survive and begin the slow road to re-establishing his life. 

I totally agree that natural disasters can bring out the best in some people and communities, having first-hand experience due to being in cyclone Tracy in Darwin so many years ago.  We lost our home and everything else then.  Bizarrely these times also bring out a warped type of humour that really speaks of our i.d. as Australians.  My whole family sheltered in the bath tub and even the walls of the bathroom flew away.  Next morning, when we were still in it as Dad thought the cyclone wasn't finished, the hotel owner from across the street stood in the middle of the road and yelled to us "are you having a good soak in there or do you want some breakfast?"  I've never forgotten that moment. 

Humanity can be wonderful and it's people like you and your partner that prove it.

[Silenus]

Hahaha... love it, @eth ...

[Meowmy]

@Silenus thank you for your great kindness. It makes the difference. It helps.Take care

[Silenus]

How do you respond when life kicks you in your soft bits?

How do you react when things don't go your way?

How do you feel when you suffer a setback?

The way that we respond to the uncontrollable things that happen to us in our lives due to external forces is such an important thing...

It is important because this is something that we have power over. We may be powerless to affect the negative life events that cause us hurt, but we have all the power in the world to control how we react and respond to them.

Depression, anxiety, catastrophising, overthinking, anger; all of these things are often how we respond to a major negative life event. And yet, I am sure that most of you would agree that these responses are hardly in our best interests, nor are they particularly helpful. If anything, they worsen the effects of the negative life event, amplifying the initial hurt...

It is like a rock dropped into a pond. The rock disappears quickly, but the ripples play across the surface for a good while after the rock has dropped out of sight and come to rest on the bottom of the pond. And in a small pond, the ripples bounce off the edges and double back on themselves, and ripples create ever more chaos on the surface of the pond...

I find in my own mental health journey that it is often not the huge changes in one's life that make the difference to the quality of it. Sure, challenging the negative patterns of a lifetime is important, but sometimes you can bite off more than you can chew...

I find it easier to be a little bit subtle, or perhaps sneaky, about it...

Little changes can make as big a difference as big changes, if they are targeted and applied in the right way...

For example, I have taken to applying a simple behaviour modification technique in my life, and it's worked wonders...

Now, when a negative life event impacts on me, I respond in a particular way. Instead of responding in all the negative ways that I used to, I have a nice glass of wine and celebrate...

A setback is merely an opportunity to take a breath, reappraise where you are at in your life, and to continue on (maybe in a new direction) with renewed vigour... over the course of the decades, even major setbacks fall into place in the end, and we end up wondering what all the fuss was about... some setbacks end an old life and start a new one, and years later we can come to thank those at-the-time terrible things that happened to us...

It is indeed a great reason to celebrate... for if life went totally according to plan all the time, it would be dull and predictable, lacking in creativity...

So yes, setbacks and knockdowns have become a cause for me to celebrate. And most especially as a bipolar person, it helps to cut down on the melodrama in my life. Cheers, peeps...

Much love to the community... hugs and happy vibes beaming to you all...

[Silenus]

@Meowmy... your poem was beautifully written. I really connected with it...

May your journey of self-discovery find many inner wonders to compensate for the sometimes harsh and hurtful outer world...

I could write a book about the torrid relationship that I have had with my parents over the years... it is an incredibly complex thing to navigate because there are so many emotions, so many past hurts, so many holes where there should be happy memories...

I think I have come to a place of relative peace (pun intended ) within myself regarding my parents... it's not perfect, but it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it used to...

Much respect to you for your journey... and more power to you...

[Appleblossom]

I also appreciate you style and use of language. @Silenus 

Thank you for your story about your friend, the fires and grandma.

Despite natural or manmade disasters there are those people and times which bring out the best in people and it is so important to celebrate them ... or with that down to earth humour like in @eth 's bathtub story.

[eth]

Nice concept @Silenus  in celebrating change in whatever form it comes.  I'll try to keep it in mind.

[Ralph]

Well Silenus,

   I have read your poem, it sings a tune I can relate to, keep writing mate.

   l have known depression from the inside, but I am not depressed now. I write stuff, I pick out what grabs-

   Spread your wings    

   o eagle that never was.

   No feet, no legs,

   bum, shrunk to the point   

   of ugly, beyond repair.

 I have lost my left frontal lobe in a farm accident 20 years ago, l still work on a farm. A smashed leg inside my head.

   I am in a caravan park, my wife is living at home which I half own and I will never kick her out of. I am looking for a house to rent.

  I am under NDIS, -they are morbidly incompetent.

  I am under administration, -the lawyer already thinks no one will like him or trust him. With some help I might be able to change lawyers to one that actually gives a shit, after they change the administration laws in March.

    Puppy,  

    with the wolves    

    circling,  

    drooling.

Agony of the soul

rasping, grating.

flight fight freeze. Choose  freeze                

                             then

                             no one will see

                             you

I wrote a long song, with help, about my wack on the head, I can hardly bare to listen to it.

   The best bit about my accident was that in the house while l was taking the one way ride to being a different man forever(I was flung into the air) was-

VAN MORRISON WAS SINGING

“BRIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD”

    I am sitting in the local RSL beneath a tribute to the battle of

Long Tan 

   Death and destruction in all around

   I see

   O thou who changes not, abide 

   with me.

         RALPH

Thankyou to anyone out there who reads this