I took about five years of classes in a technique known as DBT. It’s a cognitive therapy system designed for people Borderline Personality Disorder and PTSD. I don’t have the former but I have a complex case of the latter. I learned about Mindfulness. I worked on Distress Tolerance. I hammered away at Emotion Regulation. I picked at Interpersonal Effectiveness, which is still my Achilles heel in DBT.
It’s a great set of skills to boost you that 12% I mentioned before. They’re probably the easiest answer for me to give when I get asked how I’m doing it. I just rattle off my DBT skills, and how I implement them. So my 12% is at least an hour of walking a day, cycling an hour 4-5 times a week, rigorously enforced regular sleep, vitamins, self-cooked meals using minimally-processed foods, very little meat, no high fructose corn syrup ever, daily meditation, an ever more challenging and full schedule of socially, emotionally demanding activities, cleaning, constant regulation and restructuring of my inner dialogue, a deliberate facing-off against panic and taking opposite action to negative emotions: approaching when the desire is to flee in fear, gently addressing or gently avoiding when the desire is to rigidly verbally and mentally lash out in anger, deliberate visibility and healthy volume when the the desire is to hide in unwarranted shame, activity when the desire is to collapse in grief. And as they never did me any good, I got off the psychoactive medications. Getting off your meds is not something I recommend for everyone, or even for most people. But it continues to feel like the right choice for me.
But again, this litany of skills didn't actually affect much, until the Universe knocked me down and waited to see if I was finally going to shake it off and get back up.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Getting Back Up, VI: Hard Work, Changing Nothing
I’ve taken a MOUNTAIN of therapy. I’ve made a stack of amazing, earth shattering realizations about how I live my life. And they did nothing. At first. Seven years ago, I learned I self-sabotage. Not “I’m afraid of my own success so I can’t cope with it” self-sabotage. “I want to fail at life, destroy everything good in my life, and lay down to wait to die, to assert even the merest illusion of self-determination and will in a life where I feel out of control and in over my head” is more how it goes. A tiny, poisonous, but insanely influential part of me is done. Wants everything to fall away so I can lay down and let time sweep all memory of me away and let it sweep me from the Universe and the Universe from me. That realization left me in shock for three weeks. But it changed nothing. And there've been a steady stream of other equally momentous realizations along the way. They changed nothing either.
I’m a smart guy. Very. No, really. Very. And I’m beyond introspective. I’ve figured out a lot about how I function. For much of my life, it's what I've done most of with my time. But that information is conceptual. An intellectual eureka is not a revelation. It won’t change your life. I’ve had more than I can remember anymore. And they change nothing. They need years to percolate down into the subconscious and take actual HOLD someplace other than just in an intellectualization. They need to seep down and marinate your guts in the new truth they offer. Until you reek of it, and one day you have a whole body Eureka. That rumbles up from the gut, scours the heart clean in the pressure and shoots out the top of your head. And the only thing that will set off the final explosion is the Universe kicking you on your face, which you have no ability to dictate the timing of.
I’m a smart guy. Very. No, really. Very. And I’m beyond introspective. I’ve figured out a lot about how I function. For much of my life, it's what I've done most of with my time. But that information is conceptual. An intellectual eureka is not a revelation. It won’t change your life. I’ve had more than I can remember anymore. And they change nothing. They need years to percolate down into the subconscious and take actual HOLD someplace other than just in an intellectualization. They need to seep down and marinate your guts in the new truth they offer. Until you reek of it, and one day you have a whole body Eureka. That rumbles up from the gut, scours the heart clean in the pressure and shoots out the top of your head. And the only thing that will set off the final explosion is the Universe kicking you on your face, which you have no ability to dictate the timing of.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Getting Back Up, V: Luck, Departing
I lost my sense of purpose. Giving up my trust of the Universe, the Universe stopped directing me. It started dragging me on my face. And that trust on my part was replaced with rage. Rage at the Universe for hurting me, for hobbling me, for destroying my joy.
That rage, I couldn’t shake it off for much of the decade. I started to reframe, so slowly, but the desire to reframe takes years. The ability to reframe takes more. That reframing takes another few years to gain power before it’s ready for use. Part of that reframing was the subtle movement of the image of the Morrigan, overlaying over the Universe. Replacing the toxic, adversarial image I was carrying in my gut.
But even that wasn’t enough. Life had to KNOCK the wind out of my routine of avoidance before that reframing could finally fall into place and get working.
The Universe doesn’t always knock gently. For every gentle nudge in the right direction granted one person, another person makes one wrong move and pays with their life. And for every serendipity visited upon one, another finds misfortune they have no say in. Did I deserve the luck visited upon me? I don’t like the word “deserve”. I’m no more deserving than any of the people whose lives are a long furrow of uninterrupted misery. But I’m learning to trust that whatever misery, whatever reward I get, I’m supposed to do something with it. Not bask in its awesomeness. Not gloat about how deserving I am, or how much I did to earn it. But use it, live it, trust it, build on it, share it with others. And living it requires new learning, learning that requires me to learn how to balance all over again. There's no way to embark on that learning without falling down some. So when it’s time to learn something new—be it learning how to live with more compassion, or learning the next leg of my path, or learning a new skill, I know it’s going to mean the Universe will knock me on my face.
And it did. It took my car away from me. That’s when years of reframing could finally take hold. That’s when the trust started to creep back in. And that’s when the Universe started directing me again.
But the biggest change I could make was learning how to trust the Universe to make the big changes. And 99% of the rest of the work offered no improvement, no results. That too was a lesson in cultivating trust.
That rage, I couldn’t shake it off for much of the decade. I started to reframe, so slowly, but the desire to reframe takes years. The ability to reframe takes more. That reframing takes another few years to gain power before it’s ready for use. Part of that reframing was the subtle movement of the image of the Morrigan, overlaying over the Universe. Replacing the toxic, adversarial image I was carrying in my gut.
But even that wasn’t enough. Life had to KNOCK the wind out of my routine of avoidance before that reframing could finally fall into place and get working.
The Universe doesn’t always knock gently. For every gentle nudge in the right direction granted one person, another person makes one wrong move and pays with their life. And for every serendipity visited upon one, another finds misfortune they have no say in. Did I deserve the luck visited upon me? I don’t like the word “deserve”. I’m no more deserving than any of the people whose lives are a long furrow of uninterrupted misery. But I’m learning to trust that whatever misery, whatever reward I get, I’m supposed to do something with it. Not bask in its awesomeness. Not gloat about how deserving I am, or how much I did to earn it. But use it, live it, trust it, build on it, share it with others. And living it requires new learning, learning that requires me to learn how to balance all over again. There's no way to embark on that learning without falling down some. So when it’s time to learn something new—be it learning how to live with more compassion, or learning the next leg of my path, or learning a new skill, I know it’s going to mean the Universe will knock me on my face.
And it did. It took my car away from me. That’s when years of reframing could finally take hold. That’s when the trust started to creep back in. And that’s when the Universe started directing me again.
But the biggest change I could make was learning how to trust the Universe to make the big changes. And 99% of the rest of the work offered no improvement, no results. That too was a lesson in cultivating trust.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Getting Back Up, IV: Luck, When Trust Fades
It took 5 years for my social anxiety to start to wear down my joy Lindy Hopping. And another 5 to wear it away almost completely. But it happened.
After the first five years, my inner critic had found its footing again. And I stopped trusting. I stopped trusting the Universe to steer me where I needed to be. I was still getting steered about. We all are. But I started to get caught up in needing to plan, to fret, to weigh if I was being successful. I got a high paying, challenging job that made me feel like an adult. Ah, the fretting that job helped me bring to the fore! I fretted about home ownership, car ownership, marriage, parenthood, job advancement. We all do. But those are topics and that was an intensity that shut me down. I couldn’t keep up with it. And there was no where to retreat from that stuff—my inner critic was making short work of my joy in dance. I began to falter.
After the first five years, my inner critic had found its footing again. And I stopped trusting. I stopped trusting the Universe to steer me where I needed to be. I was still getting steered about. We all are. But I started to get caught up in needing to plan, to fret, to weigh if I was being successful. I got a high paying, challenging job that made me feel like an adult. Ah, the fretting that job helped me bring to the fore! I fretted about home ownership, car ownership, marriage, parenthood, job advancement. We all do. But those are topics and that was an intensity that shut me down. I couldn’t keep up with it. And there was no where to retreat from that stuff—my inner critic was making short work of my joy in dance. I began to falter.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Getting Back Up, III: Luck, Arriving
I freaked out and left college my senior year, without graduating. I fled to the Bay Area. I had no idea why I was going to school. I wasn’t feeling it. The entire reason I was there was conceptual, and had no basis in my drive or my will, just my belief that I was supposed to be there without a real sense of what I wanted to be there for.
I ran to San Francisco to spin my wheels. I applied for school again a few years later—the shoulds, oughts and musts caught up with me and I was getting restless. I had NO idea what I was doing with myself.
And that’s when the Universe planted a boot on my backside and knocked me onto my face. I got routed into a club where Lindy Hop was being danced. And the Universe grabbed hold of my heart and squeezed. THAT, my brain shouted at me in the most assured voice of authority. A whisper that rattled around in my gut and chest til it bellowed behind my ears. “I have to do THAT before I die.” Those exact words. I can still hear them. There was no debate. Had I not been there, I’d have never seen it, and I’d have never heard the voice. But the Universe put me there, so I found what I needed.
I ran to San Francisco to spin my wheels. I applied for school again a few years later—the shoulds, oughts and musts caught up with me and I was getting restless. I had NO idea what I was doing with myself.
And that’s when the Universe planted a boot on my backside and knocked me onto my face. I got routed into a club where Lindy Hop was being danced. And the Universe grabbed hold of my heart and squeezed. THAT, my brain shouted at me in the most assured voice of authority. A whisper that rattled around in my gut and chest til it bellowed behind my ears. “I have to do THAT before I die.” Those exact words. I can still hear them. There was no debate. Had I not been there, I’d have never seen it, and I’d have never heard the voice. But the Universe put me there, so I found what I needed.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Flourishing Past the Furthest Bounds of Learning
I volunteer four hours or so every Sunday at the local bike collective. I know nothing about bikes. They gave me a bike, I volunteered time to pay back for the bike I was given, then when my time was done, I just kept going.
Some days I feel like a mascot. I know nothing, but I'm eager to learn. But in doing so I frequently feel like I'm underfoot and slowing everyone down. But how else do I start, right?
In the time I've come in, they taught me how to use most of the tools, how to dismantle a bike for parts, how much of what's there is sorted, how to evaluate a few items to decide what to keep and what to toss (inner tubes, brake levers, pedals, and such stuff).
I've met a lot of the people who run it, over the two months I've been coming in. And I've gotten a bit of a rhythm there. So I've started to feel a little bit comfortable coming in. Yesterday's African dance class was so amazing and invigorating, this morning I was started to sink into a feeling of smug complacency, a sort of egotistical, safe self-satisfaction. Nothing major but it was building.
I opened the door today at noon and the place was already swamped. Patrons everywhere needing help. O and K, who are almost always there, were busy in the workshop. I'd never met the guy at the front desk before, and he was busy, so I started to walk back into the workshop to see what needed doing. I got barked at by C, the guy running the desk. "Hey, GUY! Yeah, just come on back to the front. Now."
I asked what needed doing, but no one had time for me. K finally told me if I needed something to do, the fridge really needed cleaning. I rode there thinking, "I'm going to work on BIKES!" Instead I was sponging up coffee grounds.
C kept trying to hook me up with patrons. "This kid needs help picking out a new frame for a good bike for him. Can you do that?" "Uh, no. I don't know how to do that yet." "Ok, well, can you fix this guy's tube with him? It needs patching." "I haven't learned patching yet, really. I know how to inspect them for leaks, is all." And so on. He tried to set me up about three or four times. I had to admit I knew next to nothing, several times.
And patrons kept coming up to me with questions. "Is this right? Will this part work for my bike? Can you tell me what's wrong here?" And time and again, I had to confess I was new, I still knew essentially nothing.
O eventually came up to me to ask if I'd make another pot of coffee. I don't drink coffee. I never have, really. I had to tell O that I really have never brewed a pot before. I cannot express how small and worthless I felt right then. I began to ponder leaving. "They don't have time for me today. I should just get out of the way."
But I knew that wasn't a possibility. So, aching inside, I stayed. I sat on the couch for about an hour and a half. But that was demoralizing. So I got up and loomed over C until he said, "A's about help a kid replace the u-brakes on his bike. Why don't you shadow him and see how it goes?" So I did.
It was interesting. Until C had to leave and he called A to the front room to take over at the desk. The kid A was helping, his bike was partly dismantled on the rack. A was gone. The kid turns to me and asks, "What do I do next?"
I've got to tell you, there's not much room for self-doubt, or self-pity when a 12 year old is looking to you to help him put his bike back together. So, I shrugged, asked O what was next. He outlined what needed doing, and left. I was left to direct the kid and do for him anything he couldn't manage. O stepped in for a few of the trickier bits, but for the most part I just had to muddle through and call on anything I did know to get us through. And we got through.
I was in a bad state much of the time. The Universe kicked me on my face. HARD. I stammered and fumbled with the tools. But, it was the best workshop I've been to so far. I just had the ego stomped right out of me, and when that was done, there was work to do. Humbled, I just did it and enjoyed the ludicrous impression of how impossible it all seemed, but got done anyway. I feel very good right now. Thank you, Universe, for the cold snap. I can't wait to go back next week.
Some days I feel like a mascot. I know nothing, but I'm eager to learn. But in doing so I frequently feel like I'm underfoot and slowing everyone down. But how else do I start, right?
In the time I've come in, they taught me how to use most of the tools, how to dismantle a bike for parts, how much of what's there is sorted, how to evaluate a few items to decide what to keep and what to toss (inner tubes, brake levers, pedals, and such stuff).
I've met a lot of the people who run it, over the two months I've been coming in. And I've gotten a bit of a rhythm there. So I've started to feel a little bit comfortable coming in. Yesterday's African dance class was so amazing and invigorating, this morning I was started to sink into a feeling of smug complacency, a sort of egotistical, safe self-satisfaction. Nothing major but it was building.
I opened the door today at noon and the place was already swamped. Patrons everywhere needing help. O and K, who are almost always there, were busy in the workshop. I'd never met the guy at the front desk before, and he was busy, so I started to walk back into the workshop to see what needed doing. I got barked at by C, the guy running the desk. "Hey, GUY! Yeah, just come on back to the front. Now."
I asked what needed doing, but no one had time for me. K finally told me if I needed something to do, the fridge really needed cleaning. I rode there thinking, "I'm going to work on BIKES!" Instead I was sponging up coffee grounds.
C kept trying to hook me up with patrons. "This kid needs help picking out a new frame for a good bike for him. Can you do that?" "Uh, no. I don't know how to do that yet." "Ok, well, can you fix this guy's tube with him? It needs patching." "I haven't learned patching yet, really. I know how to inspect them for leaks, is all." And so on. He tried to set me up about three or four times. I had to admit I knew next to nothing, several times.
And patrons kept coming up to me with questions. "Is this right? Will this part work for my bike? Can you tell me what's wrong here?" And time and again, I had to confess I was new, I still knew essentially nothing.
O eventually came up to me to ask if I'd make another pot of coffee. I don't drink coffee. I never have, really. I had to tell O that I really have never brewed a pot before. I cannot express how small and worthless I felt right then. I began to ponder leaving. "They don't have time for me today. I should just get out of the way."
But I knew that wasn't a possibility. So, aching inside, I stayed. I sat on the couch for about an hour and a half. But that was demoralizing. So I got up and loomed over C until he said, "A's about help a kid replace the u-brakes on his bike. Why don't you shadow him and see how it goes?" So I did.
It was interesting. Until C had to leave and he called A to the front room to take over at the desk. The kid A was helping, his bike was partly dismantled on the rack. A was gone. The kid turns to me and asks, "What do I do next?"
I've got to tell you, there's not much room for self-doubt, or self-pity when a 12 year old is looking to you to help him put his bike back together. So, I shrugged, asked O what was next. He outlined what needed doing, and left. I was left to direct the kid and do for him anything he couldn't manage. O stepped in for a few of the trickier bits, but for the most part I just had to muddle through and call on anything I did know to get us through. And we got through.
I was in a bad state much of the time. The Universe kicked me on my face. HARD. I stammered and fumbled with the tools. But, it was the best workshop I've been to so far. I just had the ego stomped right out of me, and when that was done, there was work to do. Humbled, I just did it and enjoyed the ludicrous impression of how impossible it all seemed, but got done anyway. I feel very good right now. Thank you, Universe, for the cold snap. I can't wait to go back next week.
Getting Back Up, II: Luck, Rising and Falling
The biggest aspect of the answer really would start with, “I didn’t do anything to bring this about. It just happened. I count myself embarassingly lucky.”
There’s so much you can do to take care of your peace of mind. I’ve learned a lot of techniques, I have a lot of tools in my toolbox. But those tools, if you use them all, and use them well, will boost you perhaps 12% up the peace of mind scale. If the bottom of normal functioning is at 60% and you’re at 49%, doing it all will get you functional. If you’re at 12%, getting up to 24% won’t do a thing. And at 12% you won’t have the confidence, the focus, the energy, the resilience to even put in that 12%.
I was at 12% for much of the last 10 years. I went to classes, to therapy, to coaching sessions, to teach me the skills, to hammer them home. Those skills are great. Even more than boosting you up, a lot of such skills will teach you how to keep from spiraling down. But spiraling down isn’t the issue when you’re already near the bottom. Without a boost, I wasn’t going to be able to use them much, and they weren’t going to do much for me.
After a decade life finally brought me up to 49%. The Universe kicked me into gear—the same Universe that let me sit and stew for a decade. Both were necessary; both left me grateful. Though it took the decade to find gratitude for being left to stew.
There’s so much you can do to take care of your peace of mind. I’ve learned a lot of techniques, I have a lot of tools in my toolbox. But those tools, if you use them all, and use them well, will boost you perhaps 12% up the peace of mind scale. If the bottom of normal functioning is at 60% and you’re at 49%, doing it all will get you functional. If you’re at 12%, getting up to 24% won’t do a thing. And at 12% you won’t have the confidence, the focus, the energy, the resilience to even put in that 12%.
I was at 12% for much of the last 10 years. I went to classes, to therapy, to coaching sessions, to teach me the skills, to hammer them home. Those skills are great. Even more than boosting you up, a lot of such skills will teach you how to keep from spiraling down. But spiraling down isn’t the issue when you’re already near the bottom. Without a boost, I wasn’t going to be able to use them much, and they weren’t going to do much for me.
After a decade life finally brought me up to 49%. The Universe kicked me into gear—the same Universe that let me sit and stew for a decade. Both were necessary; both left me grateful. Though it took the decade to find gratitude for being left to stew.
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