I noted two of my favorite poems by Maya Angelou in the post My favorite author a few days ago, and in this post, I tell why. ‘Phenomenal Woman’ speaks to me because it celebrates being a black woman. It’s empowering. It’s haughty. It’s a reminder. It’s redeeming. It’s BOLD. It describes me.
Bloganuary Day 25 prompt: What’s a song or poem that speaks to you and why? There are many songs that speak to me, but too many to blog about quickly.
There are actually two lies I tell myself: 1) I have no control and 2) I can’t do something. These two lies cause lots of unhealthy anxiety in my life. Undergoing therapy helps me to dispell these lies, but the mind is tricky, and it’s an ongoing process.
Intellectually and spiritually, I know I’m equipped to handle many things. God has equipped me. I’m resilient as a result of the trauma I’ve experienced and the things I’ve achieved despite the trauma. However, my amygdala (primitive part of the brain) doesn’t always want me to forget the trauma. I get triggered, anxious, and fearful over things sometimes. Sometimes I know the triggers and sometimes I don’t.
I recommend the book ‘Rewire Your Anxious Brain’ by Catherine M. Patterson and Elizabeth M. Karle. My therapist mentioned it one session, and I bought and read the book.
The best investment I’ve made is participating in therapy, and it’s been almost 2 years. My therapist loves giving me homework, aka self-work, and much of that self-work helps me to tackle these lies.
I’m kidding when I say she loves to give it, but the fact is she can’t do the work for me. I can talk to her for years because she validates me and is pleasant to talk to, but if I don’t do the hard work of changing my patterns and thoughts that don’t serve me and practicing and incorporating what I’ve learned into my life, then what’s the point?
If you read the book I mentioned, then you’ll understand this self-work is helping me retrain the thoughts in my amygdala and cortex. In reality, the amygdala can’t really be retrained because it holds our oldest, deepest memories/thoughts, but we can introduce new patterns that change how the amygdala reacts.
I know it’s not rational to think these two lies, so one way I combat them is to state my personal POWER STATEMENTS from time to time as often as needed. Here are a few:
This is Day 9 of Bloganuary, and I’m enjoying this experience. Today’s prompt is to write about the most memorable gift you’ve received. A few weeks after I completed my last radiation treatment for breast cancer in early 2017, a dear friend of mine surprised me with a spa weekend. She drove from where she lives in Houston (about 2 hours from me) to pick me up, and we were off for a weekend of pampering.
I felt the care of that place from the beautiful surroundings, the delicious, responsibly sourced food, the pampering facial, manicure and pedicure, the dance activity, and our therapeutic time with the horses. It was the absolute best weekend (2 night stay) and just what I needed after a jarring 5 months of cancer diagnosis, many doctor’s appointments, 2 surgeries, and radiation treatment.
The time we spent catching up was special. We were both very busy, so I immensely enjoyed the time we shared. This post reminds me that I’m missing my friend. What are the odds that we both were born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and we both now live in Texas. We’ve known each other since elementary school and became friends in freshman year of high school. Life ebbs and flows and some friendships do the same. Hopefully, we’ll get to see each other this year.
Here are some photos I took to memorialize the amazing experience.
myenlightenedlife 