Thank you to those who provided feedback and comments on ‘Bomb Girl – Chapter 5’ which I posted yesterday. They were just the tonic I needed after a fairly horrible day. Chapters 1-5 are available for those still willing to get caught up on the adventures of Ariana Hennessy, our eponymous hero. I’m planning to serialise the story, releasing a weekly chapter here on the blog.
Ariana’s tale is part of a bigger story arc which continues in my debut novel, ‘The Kirkwood Scott Chronicles: Skelly’s Square.’ It’s now available to read via Amazon in e book and paperback format. And if you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber you can read it for free! And there’s more. It’s sequel, Skelly’s Tower’ is well advanced and coming your way in 2020. Please continue to support my writing dream and thank you once more.
Black Thoughts 
I’m sorry that you had a bad day. Congratulations for making it through a day you would rather have not had happen. I’d like to share some things I have taken away from my Anger Management group therapies of which I have 9 weeks of sessions under my belt.
The first thing that struck me from group was when the counselor gave the thought experiment – “If I told you I was going to give you $10,000 and then when I gave it to you I kept $20 for myself, would you give back the remaining money out of anger?” Everyone in the class immediately responded something to the effect, “Of course not.” The counselor then went on that a triggering/traumatic experience/day is the same thing. When something happens, are you going to let those few moments allow you to give up the good in the rest of your day, week, month, year? The thought is to wrap your mind around that this series of “horrible making” events are only momentary and will pass. Rather than giving your energy to indulging the negativity, release yourself to enjoy the bounty that is also there.
Yesterday, I came to the class with a deep seated rage filling my being. I asked the counselor and the group what I could do to release something that is a part of who I am, that is triggered by the injustice and helplessness to change anything. One girl who has explained she has deep rage issues said that when the rage overwhelms her she has found that making a comfortable noise from your mouth and holding that tone until you have no more breath, always manages to calm her. She said taking the excess rage and channeling it through the noise you are making and getting all of it out until you can’t make any more noise feels as though it is releasing that which you can’t handle, leaving you in a better place when you take your next breath.
I talked with the group about how I was working to fill my mind with positive thoughts. The girl I mentioned above shared that it always pisses her off when someone tells her to be positive. I explained that when I say be positive, a better term for it could be “darkly positive”. For when I say be positive, I’m not at all advocating for pretending that things don’t suck. Rather, I’m advising to focus on the things that don’t suck.
I gave the example that I have literally suffered through a period of 3 years where food was not available and I lost 130 pounds starved and malnourished. Now, I have found that no matter what the triggering event is, I can look to my stocked kitchen and stable ability to get more and my comfortably full belly and know that things could be so much worse. And then I pointed when I look to food in that way, I begin to add in other details that are just as significant as food. Like the roof over my head, or the bed I get to crash into at night, or the people that care about me. Those very real things are always there providing for my happy even if during the triggering event I’m not actively using them.
My point is to focus on what makes you feel good in the moment to get you through the moments where things aren’t making you feel good.
I hope that today is finding you in a more positive spot and that you manage to release the baggage of yesterday’s negativity, freeing you to explore today’s blessings with a happy head and heart.
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Thank you. I’m in a better place today but I will take your advice on board in the event it happens today. I’m glad you are making progress in this area of your life.
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I’m so sorry you had a horrible day. I hope that you’re able to work through the emotions, and process what you’re going through. It’s important to remember that everyone deals with trauma differently, so don’t force yourself to conform to a time table. Take the time and space you need to heal.
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Thank you Joelle. Today has been better thankfully.
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Finally caught up on chapters 1-5 of Bomb Girl. It’s a great story. Looking forward to chapter 6. Hope things start to turn around for you and the family too.
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Thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed it. Chapter 6 will be posted later this week.
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Really glad you got feedback! What a blessing 🙂 Sometimes things like that are what we need on a bad day.
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Most definitely. Thank you.
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