What is this section about? Play along with me and you will understand.
Read and follow the instructions precisely. Reading ahead will spoil the experience.
Read and carry out steps 1 -3 before reading on:
Step 1: Relax into your seat, feet flat on the floor and take a few deep breaths. Think back to the last altercation you had with an individual; one that got ugly and a bit out of control. One that had an outcome you did not like. Try to think about what was said, felt and done.
Step 2: Once the memory is vivid in your mind, take note of how your body reacts to this re-experience. How is your breath, the tension in your body, your ability to let go of the thought?
Step 3: Open your eyes and shake off the experience. Stand up shake out any tension.
*************************************************************
Read and carry out steps 4-5:
Step 4: Sit back down, feet on the floor, and deep breaths. Now revisit the experience. This time however, change your input into the situation to create a different outcome. Keep it real, remembering that you can only change the other person by changing the action/ reaction equation.
Step 5: Take note of how your body is responding. Keep rolling the loop in your mind, and changing things until you feel yourself achieve a place of calm; breathe smooth body supple.
What the point?
This is one of the greatest gifts of being sentient beings; the power of reflection. The ability to not only resolve inner anxieties by changing thought – the basis of most therapy- but also the ability to mitigate future challenges by learning and adapting based on previous experience.
This is what A Sober Second Thought is all about. It is me taking a sober second look and inviting you to do the same. In a time where news is what gets to the airwaves first and truth is a perspective rather than a fact, reflection is becoming a more than necessary life-skill for those who wish to thrive or at least survive in the digital age.
Sure Legault’s xenophobia as a political platform is disturbing. But let’s face it, that is just a politician pandering. What is far more disturbing is the borderline bigotry that is creeping out of my friends and neighbours as a result. What was that old chest nut about getting the government we deserve?
That is not to say, this won’t get personal. It can’t be anything but and I will make no pretense of it. I write what I write for one of two reasons: 1) I am mulling over something and having a hard time making heads or tails of it. I write to figure out what I am really thinking/believing on the subject at that moment or 2) I have an experience that kicks off a thought storm about a subject I feel I have enough experience to speak on.
The goal of this page is not to find out what you think about me and my thoughts. Instead hopefully it will seed and spawn your own reflections on topics that shape our lives, spirits and communities. If nothing else I hope it will help stop the knee jerk reaction of believing the first thing we read/see/hear.
I would hope that I can do this with some humor, insight and sensitivity, but know that I value directness over hand-holding and truth over being liked. You can expect me to get my key board wedge in my mouth from time to time, but such is the risk of trying to figure shit out in a public form.
Diary of a Lost Black Woman 