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Sexual Abuse ForumsGeneral & SupportThoughts on Memory
03/17/2010 09:35 PM
cptblack
cptblack
 
Posts: 12381
VIP Member

It's funny how my mind works in that place right before I fall asleep. I remembered something I had heard about training elephants.

When an elephant is very small they use a small stake and chain to keep them in place. After trying so many times to pull it out they remember the effort is futile. They give up trying because it has never worked.

This little stake and chain will hold a full grown elephant safely unless it becomes inraged or terrified.

So if your memories are this little stake and chain that have been holding you back and you've given up hope of pulling it up, Your trained.

It doesn't matter who trained you. An Abusser, parents or even yourself. You've been trained with these memories.

Now, how do we get the mental strenght to pull it up like the little twig it is and find our mental freedom from the little circle of pain we've been living in?

Any one else have ideas on this?

"Projecting the worst is a prescription for anxiety." Uppity
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03/17/2010 11:07 PM  Top
Philomela

How ironic! I was just talking about the elephant/stake thing with someone the other day. I never really thought of the analogy you present by tying it to a person's memories. Thanks for sharing that. As for answering your question on getting the mental strength...I have absolutely no idea. Hopefully, someone here will have some good ideas/input.

03/18/2010 02:55 AM  Top
DonnaLynne

We eat, we breath, we have patterns. That stake is our environment we grew up in. We know it's a wrong one, but the stake is safe, and familiar, we know our limits. Removing the stake, is like baby bird finally attempting flight. (great thought btw cap) We have to be brave enough to make a new pattern, walk down new paths, unfamiliarity will make you retreat, curiousity will make you go back and walk down it alittle. Through bravery, we can keep going further down the path and explore more.

Eventually we can go on explorations,,,,,,look into families that have what you never did. Write a list of all the qualities you crave.

Also write a list of why you don't think you deserve it.

Keep doing this, eventually, ask yourself, who's words are on the con side? Who said these things to make it impossible???

When we can peg where it came from and confront it, we can give that stake, back to that trainer, and begin, with baby steps, our own exploration, of creating our own safe environment, without limitations to space to explore.

The gammit is huge, emotional freedom, phsycical freedom, our own opinions freedom, and the toughest our own self worth opinion.

On self worth, you will have to be your own trainer, to your inner child. One self help book I read, so many of them, it said to give that child what it lacked.

I still go to toy stores, and find something so cool. I buy it, play with it, then when my curiousity has been met, I find a deserving child, and give it to them.

What does your inner child want? A new doll, a cool car model to build, and get messy without getting in trouble, the skies the limit.

Was this good cap????


03/18/2010 07:36 AM  Top
cptblack
cptblack
 
Posts: 12381
VIP Member

Wow DonnaLynn. You picked up the ball and ran with it. New angles to look at for sure.
"Projecting the worst is a prescription for anxiety." Uppity

03/18/2010 05:23 PM  Top
Thelonius22
Thelonius22
 
Posts: 44
Member

First off, I love the doctor quote; reminds me of a Rodney Dangerfield joke: "I was so ugly, when I born the doctor looked at my mother and said 'I'm sorry; I did everything I could, but he still survived."

Secondly, I really love the elephant simile. It's very true. I think the only way to get rid of it is to make it rain and let the damned thing rust to the point where it can be broken. This sounds like a long process and it is. The best part is that it can be sped up with the right therapist and the right people in your life. Even more than that, you gotta bring the rain yourself: write out your feelings, yell into the void, laugh at them. Yes, laugh at them. Nothing humiliates and humbles someone more than laughter directed at them. A constant reminder that you have survived this; that you're not dead (even if you wish you were); you're not there anymore. They can't do anything to you ever again. You gotta make it rain. Rain laughter and tears down on the stake in the ground and watch it rust before your eyes.

In the meantime (even though, by your reference to elephants you've already read it) go to the PETA website to learn more about elephant cruelty and what we all can do to help.

http://circuses.com/ringling-whistleblower.asp


03/22/2010 06:20 PM  Top
cptblack
cptblack
 
Posts: 12381
VIP Member

This week has been insane. It was great because I had my youngest son here and he is just a bundle of energy and love. Then there was all the crap that came down in the appartment complex. And now I go into other rooms and feel like I'm as welcome as the Black Plague. And I keep finding more and more loopholes in my memories.
"Projecting the worst is a prescription for anxiety." Uppity

03/22/2010 07:21 PM  Top
HiddenButterfly
HiddenButterfly
 
Posts: 4609
Group Leader
I'm an Advocate

My doorstep is always open for you. Pull up a chair anytime. There is alway a pot of fresh coffee and doughnuts and cookies. Feel free to make yourself comfy and say whatever you want/need.

Brenda

Mothers tell your children
Be quick you must be strong
Life is full of wonder
Love is never wrong
Remember how they taught you
How much of it was fear
Refuse to hand it down
The legacy stops here

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.”

-Winston Churchill

03/22/2010 07:39 PM  Top
Philomela

cpt- While I am glad that you got to spend some quality time with your son, I am sorry that you are having some memory difficulties, etc. For what it's worth, you are ALWAYS welcome here.

03/24/2010 06:39 PM  Top
cptblack
cptblack
 
Posts: 12381
VIP Member

I'm in a better mood now. Partly from having a little quiet now that Bud went back to the G's. But my Behavioral Health Advisor told me the V.A. has started a plan to have the patient have some say in their treatment plan. So we went over my difficulties and goals to work toward and a plan. And she told me some memory loss is from being in a manic state. So I am feeling better.

Post edited by: cptblack, at: 03/24/2010 06:41 PM

"Projecting the worst is a prescription for anxiety." Uppity

03/25/2010 12:06 AM  Top
shamarie6
shamarie6
 
Posts: 2805
VIP Member
I'm an Advocate

You hang in there. Things will get better.Wink
My views & suggestions are from my own experience or from research that I have conducted on my own. They ARE NOT to be used as a replacement for a professional opinion, so please take them as just that.
FAITH:
Faith is seeing light with your heart
when your eyes see only darkness.

You never know how STRONG you are...
Until being strong is the ONLY choice you have.

You can't have patience with others until you can have patience with yourself.
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