Have you ever been in a mood? Sometimes it's hard to know which mood is what. For the picture above, what mood do you see? Here are some of the options I see: Bored Irritated Frustrated Disappointed Sadness What about this mood? What moods do you see in the pictures below? Do you see ....... … [Read more...]
Life-Changing Heartbreak Hurts
Something about heartbreak totally changes a person. Repeated heartbreak. Changes your life. I’m not sure I can put words to it yet, but I know it happens. Depression. Sadness. Loss. Grief. Pain. It consumes your thoughts, your mind, your time. What hurts the most? Abandonment? Abuse? Neglect? Betrayal? Dishonesty? Physical pain? Sexual trauma? Aloneness? I … [Read more...]
25 More Ways to Avoid Self-Injury and Prevent Self-Harm
. This blog is a continuation of the initial article posted on December 31, 2008, "25 Ways to Avoid Self-Injury and Prevent Self-Harm." If you are feeling pressured to get past the "heat of the moment" and you need some ideas of how to do this safely, try using a handful of the following ideas. These ideas will not help solve your self-injury issue on a long-term basis, but they could help you to get … [Read more...]
Using Collage as a Way of Communicating
Creating a collage is another way of allowing your internal system parts to tell more about themselves. Pictures can be a powerful way of communicating. And a collage - a collection of pictures - can tell a lifetime of stories. Most trauma survivors were repeatedly told by their abusers, "Do not tell". Violence, threats, abuse, and pain often accompanied these rules. How many times did you hear "don't say … [Read more...]
Working with Difficult and Destructive Alters
I'm going to take a slight detour in the internal communication series and write a little about working with difficult alters. It is crucial to work with these internal parts, no matter how challenging and hopeless things seem in the beginning. Your therapy and healing will never be resolved unless you approach the issues connected with these difficult insiders. And for that matter, the whole process of … [Read more...]