Saturday, October 9, 2021

 Saturday, October 9, 2021

 

     I had a great night's sleep. I'm usually a good sleeper, but it's even better when I take some magnesium before bed.  I noticed this morning, I had no leg, hip, nor back pain of late. I think this is because of the adjustments I'm making with my right hip, pulling my right abdominals over to the left and finishing it with a push to the left with the right glutes.  The muscles of the left hip and leg have been overstrained by my curved posture.  Now they can relax.  I still can't reach my left toes.  

     I ran into Vince and Julie on my morning walk. Johnson, a golden retriever, living on Kukuna, was at the gate. Elsa pulled over to check him out.  Neither bark anymore at the other. I don't think Johnson ever did. I can't say the same for my yapping dog. 

   While Vince didn't know Johnson's name, he had other information to share.  He remembered the young fellow who used to ride a hoverboard through the neighborhood.  Apparently, he'd stop by, pick up Johnson, take him for a walk, and then return him.  I knew the young man's name, John. We both wondered what had happened to him; we hadn't seen him around for a while. I knew where he lived and shared that information with Vince and Julie. John lived on a family compound with two houses.  I was concerned the family had lost the houses and was homeless. I changed my usual route to walk past their house.  While I drive past their house every time I drive to town, I haven't walked that route for at least a year.  I was encouraged by the clutter on one of the porches that the family was okay. Probably, John has gone his own way.

   Across the street from that family compound is a densely wooded property. Peering in from the fence makes you feel like you are looking in on a fairy tale.  While the canopy is dense, the ground is clear. Having a large flock of wild chickens on your property will do that.  They weed as they peck the ground for food.

   It was a good day to do laundry. On a clear day, you can dry forever.

   I had sessions with the M & W sisters.  M rereads the same stories from Gail Carpenter's material every day. When we started, it took her half an hour to read the first story. Now, she can read the first four in fifteen minutes. She had asked to read interesting stories in our last session. I thought to write a story with her using my cowriting technique.

    I pulled out the details of the story, the characters, and the main actions. Then I led M as we organized the events of the story in sequence.  As we worked on this, M got up and walked away from the monitor. I thought, "What . . .  ?" When I asked her for more details for the story, he couldn't remember what she had said in the first place. What??????? 

     I called her mom after the session and asked if this was an ongoing problem. Yes, M had trouble remembering things. Is this why she is repeating first grade? Yes. She walked away from the monitor because she was frightened by her inability to remember.

     I told the mom about my visualization to release primitive fears that have no relationship to our current reality. This visualization is based on the theory that children who could not conform to the expectations of the tribe in the era of hunter-gatherers 10,000 years ago had to be put down.  The tribe lived at a survival level; it did not have the luxury of carrying members that could not make contributions.  Someone who created an additional burden was out.  Parents who bore such children understood the consequences for their children and were filled with fear.  While we live in a world where we don't kill people because they cannot perform as normal people, our unconscious minds are programmed to respond as if we did.  

     I lead people in a visualization. I just described it to the mom.  I told her step one is to ask the prefrontal cortex if their child is in danger of being killed because of some deficit.  I could feel mom sliding back into the limbic system. I asked her if specific people in her child's life would kill her: me? Her classroom teacher? Friends? Neighbors? Grandparents?  Mom was able to hold her attention in the prefrontal cortex with the specific questions. Her answers were clearly no. She smiled at the thought; it was so ridiculous. 

   The second step is to imagine a "little you" in the area of the soft spot. Then turn that 'little you' so it is facing the back of the brain and imagine announcing to every cell in your brain that your child is in no danger of being killed.  She did it. I asked her if she felt more relaxed. Yes. That's the test to see if the exercise had meaning.  Mom said dad was even more frightened for M.

   I worked with W, the 5th-grade sister, before I spoke to mom about M. We continued reading 4th-grade material to build up automaticity and fluency.

    Later in the morning, I had a session with adolescent D.  He was in good spirits. I have been noticing an improved state of mind. His classroom teacher said she was seeing the same thing.

Adolescent D. worked hard applying the process I taught him. Blending is still a struggle for him; he can't hold on to the sounds.  He got tired; I took over.  He has been listening to the audiofile. He has he thinks he is grasping what others are saying better.

     Paulette had invited me to come up and visit and husk mac nuts while she cracked them. Paulette and preparing pounds of candied mac nuts as Christmas presents.  Mac nuts have a hard outer sheet, which Paulette cracked with a nutcracker that looked nothing like the one I had as a child.  The one we had was made of metal and U-shaped. You placed the nut in the crotch of the U and squeezed the two hands, crushing the shell between the two metal handles. Paulette was a gadget with a crank sitting on the table affixed to a plank of wood. When you move it from left to right, two metal bars come together, crushing the shell.  It is easier to use; it requires less effort.  

    Under that hard outer shell is another one.  That shell can be peeled off if it is still green. Once it matures, turning dark brown and hard, it's unmovable.  I sat chatting with Paulette as she cracked, and I husked. Since Mike, this is the first time I've been in a purely social situation when connecting to the person hasn't been the only objective. This was lovely. We could talk; we could not. 

    When I started husking, I thought, "I can't do this. I don't have the strength in my fingers." But I kept at it and got the knack of it. I learned more tricks as I went along.  Still, there were some that we barely cracked open. Paulette said those she sets out in the sun. The sun dries and shrinks the inner husks and out pops with sweet white meat of the nut.

    Adam came up carrying his one-year-old, Zion, otherwise known as the Zi-guy, and a chain saw. Judy and Paulette just bought a used car. They want to park one of the three cars they have for the moment under a tree. Adam was going to cut the tree back so the branches wouldn't be over the car, creating excellent perches for pooping birds.

     I had walked there, and I walked back home. Judy and Paulette only live two to three drives away. We live on one-acre properties; it's a greater distance than in a suburban area.

      I listened to Saturday NPR shows, bathed Elsa, and did some house cleaning. Her skin looks fantastic now, but she is still on the antibiotics. Let's see what happens once she's off.

    I finally dressed with a bit of makeup and made a possible final version of the Phase II video. I'll make at least two more tomorrow.

    I opened up a video TED recommended for me. It was a talk by Daniel Amen on the importance of having information about how problems manifest in the brain. So far, we were on the same page. I didn't know anyone was using neuroscience the way I was. This was exciting.  I could understand why I hadn't heard of him before.  I Googled Amen and neuroscience. I got my answer: he is shunned by the neuroscientific community for being a huckster. He showed brain images before and after. Unless he is outright lying, this says something.  However, his imaging costs $4000, and his 'cure' for whatever is wrong with the brain is some supplement, which also costs a fortune.  While I completely agree with him, the brain can be changed, he does not seem to be on the same page I am, after all. However, I look forward to reading his books. I may find out more information on how the brain works and doesn't 

     I'm getting fed up with Off Spring again. The individual stories have some interest, but the arc of the series is maddening. I tried to find out what happened later in the series. I'm beginning to think this series is like Lost or Manifest, maddening. There is no complete resolution.  Besides that, two out of three of the thirty-something 'off spring' are homeless, camping out with family members. The sustaining arc is the sexual frustration between the two main characters. There is only so much of this I can take. Judy said this is what Lost was like. – and then it just ended without resolving the main problem. People were furious.  I started watching Manifest. It looked interesting. Then realized it had a similar structure to Lost. No, no, no, and no. I have enough unresolved problems in my own life. I don't need the burdens of others for whom I can do nothing.  Given what has happened in the last two episodes, I can anticipate the upcoming problems. Yikes! This is bad.