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Comment by aszantu | Hacker News Reader

Helps to reign in the inner dialogue. At some point, a soft, friendly voice was discovered. She'd tell me to be nicer to myself. Seemingly we're 3-4, maybe 5 ppl inside this skull. Lately she changed into a nice granny and I found that it would be nice if she became my dominant self.

The current dominant self is all about herself, addicted to gaming, distracted, annyoing and anxious, and yearns for the end of life when frustrated. I'd never noticed these things if I hadn't given them a voice.

goes like this:

I'm dumb, I'm worthless, everyone would be better w/o me

her voice: What happened?

current me: I can't do this, this should be easy, I want to be dead

her voice: That so? What's your fear with this?

current me: I could be seen as lazy, I'd rather be dead than be seen as lazy

her voice, ironic tone: seems rational

Then the voices just stop and I can refocus... it's really weird. Anyways. Journaling really helps!

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That was beautifully put. Thank you for that story.

I have also used analog sketchbooks and notebooks for a long time. Recent years it has been mostly text in Apple Notes. But I think my mental health requires me to start using paper notebooks and doodle more again.

I also love the tactile and aesthetic experience of paper and pen/pencil.

I read The Artist’s Way a long time ago that suggests you should start each day with writing two pages in flow (morning pages). I have some friends who are very hooked on this and I’m about to try that as well. It is really something with expressing thoughts regularly into words in physical space.

If this is a description of your own experience then I would very much recommend reading No Bad Parts by Richard C. Schwartz, if you haven't done so already. It will probably resonate with you and hopefully give you some tools to expand the process you're describing.

Absolutely. Internal Family Systems \ Voice Dialogue perspective enables this process to continue and deepen. I would say that IFS puts too much of an accent on trauma, healing, changing (it is therapeutic approach after all), where VD is (in my opinion) more allowing, more positive, less patologizing. It does not matter after all, the perspective of having these voices is key.

I was exactly the same. It really helped me during some of my darkest teenage years, but after few years, it just stopped. Sometimes i really missed it because i liked a lot the arguments we had. It was like someone smacked my head during various times and told me to stop with the non-senses.

That is beautiful and gentle. Thanks for sharing.

The hell you talking about.

Go get a notebook and a pen. Sit outside. Write about something that's on your mind from a different person's point of view. You'll discover what he's talking about.

This isn't unusual or new-age at all. Writing from a second point of view or imagined conversations as a tool for thinking goes back to at least Plato's Dialogues.

I seem to have very little on my mind, probably why I struggle to maintain journalling.

If you know you know. We all think differently.

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