010725

Jan. 7th, 2025 01:21 am
prismaticbleed: (soniccity)

So we've spent the past few days going through the archives (2008-2012) and writing down "notable dates," because we want to celebrate + remember more things.
13 years ago, at the beginning of January 2012, is when our Core became "Eros/Cupid." This year was so interesting, full of equal amounts of love and terror, and then SLC happened and everything just... shattered, apparently. But we want to re-read everything in full after we do this effort.

We added Spotify links to the Akoufoni entry, although we haven't cleaned up the old data yet. But this, too, is a huge memory-restoring effort, because those 'foni help us get a grasp on chronology when there's no actual experiential memory of the physical life, just music data.

We also... found the most recent System Census, from 2017. The one we actually have on our laptop wasn't uploaded, though, and has a few extra names? We started going through it, and... this is going to sound absolutely brutal, but we're starting to think that the post-CNC massive death was almost a pruning. I have no other way to phrase it.
We were horrifically splintered during CNC. We know this. We couldn't function at all so we had TONS of foni just manifesting at the drop of a hat in the desperate attempt to hold things together.
Now, we're going through this list, and... apparently, the foni that didn't resurrect were the ones that were shattered pieces to that effect, ones with hyperspecific jobs for hyperspecific circumstances. We don't even recognize some of the names.
But... we've been saying over and over to ourself since 2017, "God had a reason for letting that happen." That was the only "comfort" we had. It was the only way we could deal with the reality of coming back into consciousness post-Tilly and realizing that most of us were dead. But... was that merciful? Those foni maybe even deserve to finally rest in peace. I mean that, with as much aching compassion as I can, speaking of such a painful topic. But they couldn't survive now, let alone live. Their contexts, their jobs, belong to past timelines and locations and contexts that literally don't exist and aren't even possible anymore, so... if they don't come back, because they can't, then God give their broken souls the peace they never got in life. Please. However that works for nousfoni, give them peace.

...On a related note, I cannot put into proper words how much more alive and hopeful and joyful I feel, now that when I quietly "reach into" my heart-space and feel it, I can feel that "quantum entanglement" ping somewhere off in the ether, in unmappable space, but real. The other half of my internal heart is back where it belongs... in my daengel. 
Typing that, though, makes us aware of a concerning "split" yet. Jay, the "current" one, is alive. But is the current female-adjacent kardifoni a Jewel? Or not? Because Jewels deal with the Irispherae-- the new name for the "League," a term entirely ours at last. Still, the Jewel name STILL applies to ALL the Cores-- even the Jays, as is historically apparent. Or... did that change, to PROTECT the Irispherae, AFTER CNC???
Lord only knows. We're still trying to figure that out and we CAN'T until we actually upload and READ the archives from 2017-2018. We'll do that after we upload the TBHU journal & papers-- which we honestly should start ASAP, after we get these dates figured out.

That's all we're going to update for tonight. Just a brief little update. We're busy in datalogging mode and honestly this helps immensely, just doing this chronological runthrough of our past, and finally feeling the history in our heart, realizing that we have a past and it's beautiful and terrible and ours. It's making life feel real again, reviewing the years. So that's a true blessing.

Last good thing. Jay/Jewel (current Core with dual identity? unclear name, as we said) is STILL EMOTIONALLY OPEN. Like xe said, xer heart is not closed off, no matter how much hell we've been going through with the family. ...Actually that's significant. I think we have our koinofoni AND phagofoni to thank. THAT'S where the "many voices" are now, even if we've never listed them on a census before (we should, and will, soon). Those somafoni are saving our Core because THEY are taking the brunt of the stress and trauma, and yet they aren't alone in it this time-- WE are aware of them, and talking to them, and supporting them, and helping them heal as best we can, and trying so hard to protect them. We only started to do that in CNC; I do remember how novel it was to even THINK of talking to an esthiofoni. Now it's happening every time they show up. That's... immense, now that we think about it. It proves that system communication has dramatically improved since CNC and we didn't even realize it.
But as we were saying about the Core(s)... they're still entirely capable of love even if we are admittedly still grappling with some cathartic blocks due to family stress & religious fear. But that "even if" is amazing too. There's a devotion present, a dedication to love no matter what, a sort of courageously hopeful perseverance despite everything opposing it. No matter how bad of a day we might have, at the end of it, the Core is ALWAYS taking time to not only reconnect with the System at large, but to spend time with Chaos 0. They fall asleep together every night, and that is HUGE because in the past, broken Cores would be too ashamed to be near CZ. Now, that doesn't happen, even though we're struggling so much with body fear/ sickness/ loathing. I think we're more capable of mercy now, and compassion, even if we don't realize it.
OH. Someone said to write this down. We think a BIG part of this "not freezing up emotionally" is the fact that we have ANGRY FONI around. Somehow, that capacity for RAGE is burning through the apathetic risk??? Like, we CAN'T emotionally shut down because instead of doing that, someone is FEELING FIRE. And that's the Core element. That's a surprising thought. It makes sense though. God bless them.
We still need the capacity to feel sadness without drowning in it + triggering guilt/ shame/ religious terror + shutting down. We're emotionally crippled in that respect, even upstairs. This needs to be felt through & discussed further. Add that to the Xanga topic list.

We WANT TO and WILL have a Xanga ASAP btw. Life schedule hasn't allowed for it lately though; family stress, financial stress, and brutal insomnia have made it impossible to sit for ~6 hours of uninterrupted stream-of-consciousness transcription. But it's still a priority. Arguably I think the Core(s) want to finish this "important date" effort first, to get a stronger sense of self beforehand, and to refresh their awareness of collective history in general. We really did lose our general sense of "identity" post-CNC, and post-grandma, to be honest. We're slowly restoring it now.

Some other small but vital notes:
+ Sometimes in the morning, with all the steps of getting ready, our brain gets really discombobulated and we might end up in various states of undress because we can't pull our thoughts/actions together enough to complete that task. In the past Julie would try to front when this happened, but it would be very triggering for her. HOWEVER. APPARENTLY WALDORF CAN DO THIS NO PROBLEM. So she's literally been fronting when the body is undressed & we can't dress it immediately, because she doesn't wear clothes anyway and she's safe in that context. So GOD BLESS HER. We miss her so much regardless; it's actually wonderful for her to have SUCH a vital job, so we can see her more often and credit her with this to her honor.
+ GARRISON IS ALIVE. Jay has been "feeling hints of him" for a while? But the other night Jay "decided" to look for him/ "force the hand" of the Systemsoul (basically, "listen, I want to know if he can come back or not; show me RIGHT NOW if that's a yes or a no") and after some time Garrison DID "resurrect" IN LOWSPACE??? He's in the RUINED CITY, but it feels TIME-MANGLED??? Like it's POST-MASSACRE as well as post-CNC. Everything is ash-snow covered like nuclear fallout. The skyscrapers are hollowed out and blackened and fallen over. Everything is quiet and cold and there's a dread wind blowing and it's all so grey. And CANNON IS THERE, apparently "haunting" the hollow buildings Jay says? Like she's "damned herself" to that place. But it's SO WEIRD. This is NOT the "red apocalypse" place Scalpel keeps being haunted by, as the inheritor of Javier's trauma memories from the massacre. So WHAT'S GOING ON?? We NEED to look into this VIA HEADSPACE MEDITATION. To get data on this we have to LIVE IT. You cannot "reason it out." Logic won't get you answers here.
But Garrison IS ALIVE!!! Jay's showing me a memory that he "dropped down" into that "Lowspace-floatspace" (whatever/ wherever/ whenever it is) to meet him, and immediately gave him such a huge hug, haha. Tears of relieved joy from both of them. That's really touching.
We don't know about Isadora and Kalisha yet, but "a request has been put forwards." So we'll see.
ALSO. Archivists (Shirley/ Sirius/ Penny) and Communicators (Garrison/ Isadora/ Kalisha) are DIFFERENT CLASSES WITH DIFFERENT ROLES, and apparently there is a THIRD CLASS held by the "helmet girl/ commentator girl" and probably someone else (because trios are a big thing up here)??? So that's FASCINATING but it makes SO MUCH SENSE and the better we understand it, the better we'll function.

It's 2AM and we had dinner at 430-630 and it was the only meal we ate today and it was only 1000 calories. I don't think that's sustainable. We need to split it into two meals, and get at least 1200. We have to. But someone is saying "that's gluttonous" "stop being so luxurious" etc. Don't have a face for them yet. (THESE are the foni we have to pinpoint for a census; there are TONS of "discarnate" foni that slip under the radar)
I mention this because we're getting a headache & the body is cold. We may need to stop for tonight and sleep, so we can have a "breakfast" before 4pm. But someone is furious about that. We need to talk to these foni.
We ALSO need to CLARIFY COLOR ROLES so they HAVE SOMEWHERE TO GO in the System. Too many "faceless foni" just default to Brown because they don't know where else to go. And there are SO MANY FILES STARTED on this laptop SPECIFICALLY ABOUT COLORS that were never finished. That's something I know Jay is aching to do, so put that on top priority too, with the Xanga.

A few last notes.
+ We got the strong impression that if Nathaniel comes back, his name/face would have to change again. We don't know why that's a thing with him but it might be because he was born a blepofoni.
+ Josephina's essence must have a name change for him/her to manifest. Jay says it's sticking to a "Y" as the first letter instead of J, to "prevent blurring with Cores" (that's their letter).
+ We have no current blepofoni and that's a big problem; it might even be affecting the Core's ability to stabilize. The Core(s) have been striving to make the reflection "more resonant" though, especially with the massively fluffy hair we currently have, haha. But blepofoni are essential so we need to keep an eye out for them, and keep the door open for them-- if there's no openness to seeing them, it'll block them out, and it is very hard to get through bad days/ have a distinct sense of self without a blepofoni in the mirror.
+ Siobhan is alive and around but we have to keep calling her into the main room in the mornings. We don't know why she disappeared for a while but we're glad she's still with us.
+ We're still not sure what's going to happen with Spine. The TBHU journal had some interesting thoughts about that-- it feels like she might "come back different" too, with how so much has changed since she first manifested. This, too, requires more feeling than thinking to get a grip on.
+ Still not sure if, when the System FINALLY "moves CLEARLY into a new era" (we need a HARD SHIFT remember; we never got one after the several successive losses from 2018-2024), there will be duotone foni.
+ Still not sure if there is a somafoni split in truth, or if everyone is just a nousfoni. We think there are far less somafoni than we realize-- that term might (should) ONLY apply to foni who think they are singlets and act as such. Everyone else, even koinofoni who live primarily IN the body, should STILL be grouped in with the System at large.
+ Re-reading 2012, we don't know if the Eros bloodline is technically separate from the Jays or what. That whole topic is still a minefield but that color shut down after CNC and ANY sort of Spectrum hue-loss is deadly. We need that color back. Funny how history repeats itself in little ways. It's beautiful, actually, in this case; it feels like things are poetically coming back together, through repeats of our past, connecting our "now" to our "then" in a united whole.
+ IT SNOWED TODAY. Jay is very happy about this. It's actually still snowing a tiny bit right now. Snow makes him feel "real"; he says it makes "everything feel real." It makes him feel grounded and alive and connected to "the big picture"; it "gets him in touch with eternity." I can feel a bright ache in his heart as he says that, which is good. I know he can't wait until Infi comes back entirely. Honestly we're all waiting. Infinitii is essential to our System; when ze comes back, I can guarantee you things will change dramatically and quickly. It's inevitable. But Infi will have to heal too; ze has a lot of damage that was never dealt with, and that we all need to deal with alongside hir. But we will. It's time. It has to be. Do we have the right to "decide" that? Laurie says, "why not?" It's because there's a religious fear that "God will stop us from healing" because it's "not His timing." Laurie says, "well, we have to try. I think God would want us to finally heal from this so we can function for heaven's sakes, and do what He wants us to do with our life." And again, like I said before, there are "peripheral" foni we can sense, thriskefoni with vague colors and faces and no names, that we cannot clarify but who are definitely there. Man... there's more going on in our head on a daily basis than we realize. That's exciting though. Someone else says it's frightening, terrifying. DON'T YOU DARE SHUT US DOWN she's right, NO ONE has ANY right or authority to "prevent other people from existing." The "gatekeeper girl" especially. We all remember Christina's attempted "soft massacres" and the actual one that Jessica & Cannon inflicted in 2013. No more of that, ever. We let us exist. Have mercy for heaven's sakes. You claim to follow God, where is your mercy? You who are so ready to pick up the knife and slaughter the rest of us? "You're not real," they say. "Define real," someone else retorts, "considering you're just like us." They're screaming protest in response. I wonder if they're our biggest threat here. I wonder if they're also the ones pushing the starvation compulsions. Different ones than these, but same class, for sure.
Too much for 230AM. But I don't want to ignore it. Let us pause and listen. Jay is reaching out, asking. (He always does; I think that's a big part of his job as the Heart.) "What makes you real, and us not? Can't you see me?" and fear response on their part. No words. But that was a good reply. Laurie is saying to stop commenting and close up so we can continue working and get some sleep for heaven's sakes. That's a good idea.

This is a good entry. We haven't had a solid entry in a while, even just notes like this.
We'll do better in the future, once the Core(s) stabilize. I promise that. It's something we want very much and will achieve through love and effort and the grace of God. We haven't "lost" all of this beauty we're reading from our past. It's still very much who we are. We can, and will, be that again-- and even better, as we continue to heal and love and grow together.

For now, Laurie is right. We need to wrap this up and let the body rest, no matter how much we want to keep working. If we go to bed now, we won't have to sleep in as much, and we'll have earlier time to work tomorrow, which is better for focus and processing ability. So we will do that.

Good night everyone. We're very glad to be alive tonight. We have a lot of hope.

(Jay says Spotify keeps playing Chaos 0's songs and let me tell you, if anyone is proof that our heart is alive, it's Jay. Yeah we're still confused on bloodlines and bodymind splits and all that, but this white-haired prism-hearted boy-- however he may evolve and change in the future-- is so full of light and love and color and truth, when he feels things this powerfully we are all affected by the power of it. The fact that he didn't die is phenomenal. he's proof that we have a future. that's just how it is. he's alive and so are we. that's a good note to close up on.)
(no, even better-- the lyrics in this song. "i can tell, i can feel, you are love, you are real." the look those two are giving each other is a beautiful thing. that's worth living for, is the thought i get. it is. and we need to protect that, and we all need to live in that too. we'll get there. we'll rebuild better than things were even in the past, in the glory days. there's more light on the horizon than we realize. things have seemed so dark for so long, but no, the stars are still all shining in the sky. there's always hope. hope is a fighting thing. remember what jay told anxi-- remember what our core is for anxi, and vice versa. realize everything beautiful we still have now, and don't let go. whatever happens tomorrow, we are all together, and we are alive, and we will continue on no matter what, into eternity. love is eternal and we have it now. don't be afraid. you know the truth. live in it. fight for it. that's who we are, and always will be.)







01. 02. 25

Jan. 3rd, 2025 02:24 am
prismaticbleed: (shatter)

(uncensored. we're not sure who wrote it but we're leaving it unedited for their sake.)





I AM GOING TO FUCKING MURDER THE EATING DISORDER SOMAFONI
LISTEN WE LOST TEN FUCKING HOURS TODAY TO THEIR BULLSHIT

and you know what the scariest thing is?

NO ONE CAN ACCESS THE DATA.
IT'S SHEER TRAUMA DATA.
LITERALLY NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO EVEN LOOK AT IT THAT'S HOW HORRIFIC THIS REGISTERS.

Julie even said what they're doing is LITERAL, EXPLICIT ABUSE FORCING.
WHAT THE HELL
WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL IS GOING ON HERE

we thought they were just... acting on starvation triggers. thanks to tbhu & upmc fallout, the force-feeding trauma there.
but NO
APPARENTLY IT'S WORSE,
THE MAIN DAMN REASON THIS EATING DISORDER KEEPS COMING BACK IS BECAUSE, AS TODAY PROVED QUITE HORRIFICALLY, IT IS A LITERAL TRAUMATIC EVENT.
AND OUR BRAIN KEEPS TRYING TO PERPETUATE TRAUMA.

WHY?????!?!??!?!

WHAT THE HELL GUYS
WHY DOES SOMEONE ALWAYS END UP FORCING US INTO SITUATIONS THAT MAKE THE TRAUMA WORSE
OR FORCE US TO EXPLICITLY RELIVE PAST TRAUMA
WHY CAN'T WE HEAL OR LET GO
WHY DO WE ALWAYS SEEM TO "NEED" MORE BLOOD AND SCREAMING AND PAIN AND NIGHTMARES AND EXISTENTIAL TERROR AND WANTING TO FUCKING DIE

SOMEONE LITERALLY CONSIDERED FORCING HACKS LAST WEEK.
I AM FUCKING SERIOUS

THAT IS INSANITY
and yet, there it was,
literally they were thinking "maybe THIS will stop the eating disorder relapses" but WHY WOULD IT??
BECAUSE IT'S TRAUMATIC. BECAUSE IT'S HORRIFYING AND IT MAKES US WANT TO DIE.
THE BULIMIC HELLS DO THE SAME DAMN THING.
except hacks don't drain our bank account.
BULL SHIT THAT'S NOT A VALID REASON TO SHIFT THE DAMN ABUSE METHOD
we're so damn tired though. it's literally not even about food. it's about abuse
IT'S ABOUT DESTRUCTION TOO. WE'VE NOTICED THIS. THE FOOD AND THE MONEY AND THE BODY. THE E.D. IS ALL ABOUT DESTROYING THINGS. IT'S SO FUCKING VIOLENT IT'S HONESTLY TERRIFYING
do you think it would stop if we.... you know, if we let the retributors or someone go back to just bloodying up the body
GOOD LUCK GETTING KNIFE TO PICK UP HIS NAMESAKE FOR THAT PURPOSE AGAIN. OR RAZOR. THEY DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT TIME PERIOD. THEY HAVE TRAUMA TOO I BET.
yeah but there's gotta be someone who is still willing and able to slice us up, who's been doing the atonement lately?
I DON'T KNOW ACTUALLY. CANNON BLOODLINE CORE I THINK.
really? well there you go, give her a blade and let her go to work
YOU REALLY THINK THAT WILL STOP THE BULIMIC SOMAFONI.
esthiofoni
YEAH BUT I'M FOCUSED ON THE DESTRUCTIVE ASPECT ARE WE TAKING THAT INTO ACCOUNT?
you're right it's not even eating half the time. most of the time
ALL OF THE TIME. IT'S EITHER ANNIHILATION OR ABUSE
good point
SO ARE THEY STILL "ESTHIOS" OR DO WE NEED NEW JARGON.
we'll have to ask the kardis, only they can make that call
ANYWAY I'M JUST GONNA CALL THEM ABUSERS. BITCHES. DEVILS. THAT'S WHAT THEY REALLY ARE
are they? if they're foni then there's a real solid chance they might not actually be evil
...THAT'S TRUE.
like why are they forcing THEMSELVES to relive traumatic events via food.
IT'S POISON HALF THE TIME
all of the time. suicidal too
OH I KNOW IT'S TERRIFYING. LITERAL DEATH RISK FROM WHAT THEY'RE MAKING THE BODY EAT. FUCKING TERRIFYING.
that's the whole point. oh shit that's the point
WHAT?
suicide. do you think maybe they just want the body to die
WOULD THAT REQUIRE FORCING IT TO RELIVE RAPE EVENTS.
that would merit suicide, so maybe.
DEAR GOD IT'S ALL JUST TRAUMA PROCESSING AFTER ALL, CENTRAL WAS RIGHT
how the hell is forcing trauma going to help us process it.
ASK THAT QUESTION OF THE SAME DAMN PEOPLE WATCHING SHIT ONLINE LATELY
oh. good point.
FOR SOME REASON THERE IS A TREND OF "US" JUST... NOT BEING ABLE TO STOP EXPOSING OUR EXISTENCE TO HELLS OVER AND OVER AGAIN. MAKING THINGS WORSE. UNABLE TO LET GO AND BE HAPPY.
happiness is labeled as a crime i've heard
WHY
we're slipping
I CAN FEEL IT. I GUESS THIS ISN'T OUR TOPIC TO DISCUSS
note it for someone else

HOW DO WE STOP THIS.
can we? isn't that Central's job?
THAT CANNON-CORE HAS BEEN MAD AT GOD LATELY. BECAUSE OF THIS. WANTING HIM TO STOP IT AND HE WON'T.
apparently there's something we need to learn from it then
SARCASM.
no just bitter. i can empathize with the anger. it's fear and confusion i'm sure. that's the natural response to this.
THE HACKS WERE LIKE THAT TOO I'VE HEARD
oh i bet. "god please make it stop" and it takes what, ten fucking years?
I DON'T KNOW
but shit i guess things worked out somehow. i don't know.
JULIE'S ON OUR SIDE. SO THEY DID.
true
BUT I DON'T SEE ANYTHING REDEMPTIVE ABOUT LETTING THIS EATING DISORDER CONTINUE BECAUSE IT IS LITERALLY MURDERING US.
i know it's bullshit but if it really is tied into this trauma perpetuation thing maybe this is... i dunno maybe that's "why" God hasn't stopped it yet.
WHAT, LIKE IT HAD TO GET THIS BAD AGAIN BEFORE WE'D REALIZE WHAT'S BEHIND IT?
possibly. i mean tbhu apparently taught us a lot? i don't know but there's a whole tablet full of stuff they apparently learned.
LIKE WHAT
dude i have no clue i don't have that data, i don't know who does
THE TABLET DOES
well then once they upload it we all will. but that's off topic, the point is that apparently this STOPPED for eight solid weeks. somehow. and someone else was in charge. but it fell apart at the end.
THE FAMILY MADE IT RELAPSE IMMEDIATELY
shit i forgot about the family
AND THAT DAMNED HOUSE. THAT DAMNED TRAUMA SINKHOLE OF A HOUSE
do you think that's playing into this trauma forcing thing??
SHIT MAYBE. OH HELL THAT MAKES TOO MUCH SENSE
don't we fucking shift every time we're up there? like who the hell even fronts in that environment? with the mother?
I DON'T THINK WE EVEN KNOW
and they're abusive
THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY ABUSIVE, THEY'RE CUT OFF FROM THE REST OF US
but do they have trauma memories? no, obviously not, they're a social. so... are they just there as a buffer? or something?
ACTING ON THE TRAUMA WITHOUT FEELING IT THEMSELVES?
yeah. like... oh shit i just got data?
WHAT?
someone said it's "like a drug high." like the e.d. behavior with the mother is literally to numb the brain with panic? and terror?
THAT'S IRONIC. HOW THE HELL DOES THAT WORK.
because the trauma makes consciousness shut down
OH. SHIT.
like someone did at cnc. and slc. the only "drug" we had apparently. the only abuse method and suicide analogue we had as well.
NO I KNOW FOR A FACT THERE WERE REAL ATTEMPTS IN BOTH THOSE LOCATIONS.
true. but the e.d. was tied to that. like it was killing ourself without killing ourself.
AND THIS WAS ALL BECAUSE OF THE TRAUMA?
just like with the mother. the situations are all way too similar apparently
SO WE STILL WANT TO DIE?
no. someone does, on the somafoni level apparently. physical. acting on body memories i guess
WE'RE SLIPPING REALLY BAD
i know we're even getting information on this that's insane
MAYBE WE SHOULD STOP BEFORE WE LOSE OUR SENSES OF SELF TOO
yeah we don't have much of those to begin with. but at least we wrote stuff down for people, high five
HECK YEAH
at least we're still alive
ALL OF US?
yeah. the e.d. and the trauma haven't killed us yet
THERE IS NO "YET" THERE. THEY DON'T GET THE RIGHT TO KILL US. ANY OF US.
they tried. they succeeded in some cases
BULL SHIT. YOU THINK THE CORES WILL LET THEM GET AWAY WITH THAT?
haha no. you're right. jay fights like hell against hell.
HE DOES. SO DO THE JEWELS AND CANNONS. ALL THE KARDIFONI DO. THAT'S THEIR JOB. LOVE AND LIFE.
they're probably so pissed at these eating disorder people
NO THEY'RE HEARTBROKEN MOSTLY.
really?
YEAH, DUH. NO SOMAFONI WOULD DO THAT UNLESS THEY WERE DEVASTATINGLY BROKEN
so even you swearing up the wall at them, you recognize that?
I CAN ADMIT IT MAKES SENSE. I MEAN YOU DON'T DO THAT SHIT UNLESS YOU'RE SCREWED UP BAD. BUT I'M STILL PISSED AS HELL AT THEM ALL. AND I'D KILL 'EM IF I COULD. BUT SOMETHING TELLS ME THAT'S NOT SMART OR POSSIBLE. UNFORTUNATELY.
yeah murdering foni never ends well. historically. for anyone.
GOOD POINT. IF THERE'S A STUPID DAMN REASON WHY THEY'RE DOING THIS THEN SOMEONE ELSE WOULD TAKE THEIR PLACE.
...do you want to test that
SHIT YES I DO. BUT LIKE I SAID, DON'T KNOW IF IT'S POSSIBLE.
why
I DON'T HAVE A BODY, DO I? AND I'M NOT ON THEIR LEVEL EITHER. PLUS THEY DON'T HAVE INTERNAL FORMS. THEY'RE IN THE BODY. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO KILL A SOMAFONI.
they're doing a pretty damn good job of that themselves
THAT'S EXACTLY MY POINT. SADLY. AND ANGRILY, KILLING US IN THE PROCESS.
do they even realize that?
I HAVE NO FUCKING CLUE, PROBABLY NOT, THEY THINK LIKE SINGLETS
some of them do
THE WORST OF THEM DO.
i've heard that some of them are aware of the System at large though. and talk to Central. like Julie was apparently helping one of them today
YEAH BECAUSE THE TRAUMA TRIGGERED HER OUT WHICH IS FUCKING INSANE.
...still, it shows that there's hope there, i guess.
YEAH YOU'RE RIGHT. IF JULIE HADN'T SHOWED UP AND INSISTED THAT THEY STOP DOING WHAT THEY WERE DOING, I DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT THEY WOULD HAVE DONE
no kidding. jeez. that's a scary thought. it could've been worse
YEAH JUST LOOK AT THE OLD DAYS DATA. "TILLY" DAYS. SHE WAS FUCKING NUTS.
she was a thriskefoni, how the hell was she perpetuating the eating disorder?
I DUNNO, MAYBE SHE WASN'T, I'M SURE THERE WERE ESTHIOS IN THE WORKS THERE TOO, BUT TILLY DIDN'T HELP AT ALL
i know nothing about her
I ONLY KNOW WHAT I'M TELLING YOU. BARE BONES DATA. BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE.
who the hell was responsible for e.d. behavior in cnc btw? does anybody know?
ZUCCH? JASON? THOSE ARE THE NAMES I'M GETTING. TAUREIA? A BUNCH OF PEOPLE
geez i know nothing about that
NEITHER DO I. NO ONE HAS LOOKED AT THE DATA IN YEARS. LITERALLY SINCE IT WAS WRITTEN
maybe we should
DEFINITELY WE SHOULD. IF ANYONE WAS TRYING TO TRAUMATIZE US FURTHER VIA FOOD IT WAS DEFINITELY IN CNC.
yeah no kidding, that's when we were actively suicidal, even i know that
AND YET SOMEHOW NO ONE REALIZED IT OUTSIDE.
that's kind of the point, isn't it?
APPARENTLY, SADLY, YEAH.
self-annihilation but cut off from the rest of the people fronting. that happened today, didn't it?
YEAH WITH THE TOTAL MEMORY LOSS. LIKE I SAID THE CANNON-CORE WAS PISSED. AND SCARED TO DEATH OF COURSE. LITERALLY "CAME TO" AND LOOKED AT THE CLOCK AND WAS LIKE "WHAT THE HELL, IT WAS JUST 3PM, WHERE THE FUCK DID THE PAST 10 HOURS GO"
how the hell are you getting this data
IT'S BEING MADE AVAILABLE TO ME. THERE'S A DATA FEED ON SOME STUFF IF YOU REACH UP FOR IT.
really? nice. the archivists?
NO THE... HELMET GIRL?
huh
NO NAME. I'VE NEVER SEEN HER BEFORE. SHE'S NOT NEW THOUGH.
well tell her thank you because otherwise i don't think anyone else would be writing this down
THAT'S OUR JOB I GUESS
are we done?
MAYBE I GUESS HOLY SHIT IT'S 3AM
yeah that's probably our curtain call. hey thanks for talking with me about this. glad we can at least help everyone else in whatever way we can.
HEY YOU TOO. SORRY WE'VE BEEN SLIPPING SO BAD
that's to be expected. we're blurry. we're grafifoni to boot, we're bound to blur with datafeeds and all that. gonna take time to figure ourselves out
AT LEAST IN THE MEANTIME WE'RE STILL DOING GOOD WORK
yeah, that means a lot.
IT DOES. THANKS FOR BEING HERE
you too












121824

Dec. 18th, 2024 02:57 am
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)


notes for today
rough just so we don't forget 
("I" used very loosely. Identity is a total blur lately & the body is always an incoherent space)


talk about the awful bingepurge + destruction cycle we're stuck in.
we also apparently aren't letting ourself FEEL anything. which is feeding the selfannihilatory behavior.
when the unbearable grief hits we tend to exercise for 2 hours but it comes right back
ironically the biggest thing helping us get back in control is the atonement. the e.d. is blatant brutal selfabuse and an explicit suicide stand-in. but having the pain and the blood and the camaraderie come back, even in the wake of it, is... powerfully transformational. we can feel the tide of the war shifting slowly but surely in our favor 

the mother is making everything so much worse
i hate that we've been saying that for years and it never changes. even now that we're on better terms with her now than ever, and we know her as a person, and we get along. somehow it's worse. somehow it's harder than ever now to deal with her. we still can't say no to her.
we want to sob/ cry/ scream/ rage/ destroy things/ etc. out of sheer overwhelmed helpless protest? but we're "not allowed to feel that" so we just dissociate and stay up until 4am

no food, no sleep, no rest, no emotional outlets, no time to breathe
we keep forgetting it's december. we keep forgetting it's advent. we keep forgetting christmas is soon. we haven't even been listening to holiday music.
...our anniversary is in five days and this is spiritual warfare
but my heart's not shut down!!!!! it's not! we refuse to let it! not this year!! never again will i be cold in winter i will be FIRE as i am MEANT to be


I... today i was washing my face and i wondered, hey man, what's up with how these washcloths are all discolored?
and then i realized, it's all bloodstains. that's never coming out you realize. algorith does her job well
(on a related note it's kind of hilarious how we can tell what sides the fronts of our clothes are by what side has the blood on it. it's an aesthetic at this point)


i haven't slept in a real bed in... four months? i don't know
i won't let myself, i feel unworthy, i keep "punishing myself" by sleeping on the couch


tonight:
-going through the jump drive, backing up the phone, moving some files
-chaos 0 secretly putting ALL of genesis's old art into his phone folder. this was really touching to me; those two are bffs to a profound extent and they genuinely love each other too. we haven't been spending enough time together as a group; please change that.
-listening to old recordings of past cores singing event horizon music and chaos 0 was so enraptured by it, it was really moving. remember how the cores used to sing to him all the time; it was an extremely significant part of that relationship for years. trauma damaged this horribly; please get it back.
-"genesis lore" but god it ached. we tend to forget how TRAUMATIC his history is. his gem is literally shattered for heaven's sakes. that still haunts him. it's easy to "overlook" with his upbeat, joking personality, but... that's the whole point. that boy has so much pain in him. he just doesn't show it like chaos 0 does. or like i do. different colors show their emotions differently. please, do not take him for granted. do not forget how deep his soul is.

...



121124

Dec. 11th, 2024 12:53 pm
prismaticbleed: (held)

All right so this morning has been AMAZING let's update quickly so we don't forget things.
(btw so you guys know. this is technically NOT the "main Core." I'm a "Jewel-adjacent" grafifoni and I typically update the archives. I'm not used to being "self-aware" but honestly I should be. But yeah, you'll recognize my typing style!) ANYWAY here's what's happened so far this morning:

- We DIDN'T DIE during the night. Yesterday was LITERAL HELL concerning the eating disorder and it took us like six hours to recover?? which is understandable because it was REALLY BAD, the worst it's been since before September. We're not sure what triggered such a huge meltdown?
It was fear, too many danger foods, they had to be destroyed. But no one had to eat them like they did. We could have just thrown them away.
That's not allowed, that's wasting!! Food is meant to be eaten
but you DIDN'T "eat them," you just purged them anyway!
But the eating still happened, that's the rule, food has to be eaten, if we just threw it out we'd get in big trouble
So you threw it "up" instead.
we HAD to it was POISON we would have DIED!!
see this is why we CANNOT buy such things anymore. it is too dangerous, there is no positive end result from purchasing them.
- Chaos 0 told the "Core" (who is still faceless/nameless for the most part and therefore unstable) that "your heartbeat was really weak" and it scared him. This observation struck the Core like a sword to the chest though, because if anything is going to make us feel more real/alive/true, it's THAT sort of reference. And of course, only he would know such a thing. The intimacy of it, plus the familiarity, was potent enough to drag us out of the depressive fear that would have possibly taken hold otherwise.
- Cronometer crashed, we can't log in on the app. Support says there's an update soon so we have to wait, until then we can only use the website. So instead of freaking out we're going to just "repeat" today's diet plan until we can access the app and its mathematics again. This may work in our favor, because today's diet plan was our effort to balance our macros with hempseed to get more of a complete protein total, as well as staying at 1350 calories. If this works well we'll stick to it more often. We do need to reintroduce cottage cheese into our diet for the complete protein bit (we tend to hit all green percentages when we eat it too, we noticed) until we get the guts to finally reintroduce salmon/ tuna/ chicken/ turkey outside of a hospital environment.
- On that note, really quick. Apparently, YES, WE DID DISSOCIATE DURING TBHU. No one is surprised, but it's still a heavy blow. We relapsed IMMEDIATELY upon discharge because THE BLOODY CONTEXT CHANGED and therefore whoever was managing the TBHU behaviors "LEFT." They switched out b/c they CAN'T "exist" outside of an inpatient setting; they're context-locked. This ALWAYS HAPPENS.
- The above point is really making us worried when it comes to Anxi, but we'll get to that as we continue this entry.
- Breakfast always is interesting. Since experience has shown us that we apparently "need" the body to be in a state of "automated repetitive motion" in order for our mind to be able to think-- is this an ADHD thing? TBHU suspected as much; we should look into it prudently-- the mechanical function of eating almost INSTANTLY triggers thought-avalanches (hence the E.D.; we weren't taking ANY time to journal (typing COUNTS as automated repetitious mechanic motion!) or to circle-walk like Jewel used to, the a.r.m.m. of cooking (measure, chop, prep, etc.)/ cleaning (washing, organizing, etc.) / eating (picking, sorting, etc.)/ and the like became our ONLY means of "mental unloading" (for lack of a better term) AND trauma processing (you would not BELIEVE the amount of flashbacks and intrusive thoughts we get WHILE EATING which only makes it worse-- AND is a perfect ironic parallel to the purging, because "we need to get the poison out") in lieu of ALL other coping mechanisms, thanks to the kakofoni and thriskefoni ironically forbidding or destroying positive options). HOWEVER being aware of this recently has revealed a few things to us: one, that when phagofoni are out, they can "prevent" such avalanches? There's that one "dragon" girl who keeps fronting to eat, and she focuses on eating and has no particular preferences (unlike Emmett, who is a "trogofoni"-- meaning his food-anchor is extremely particular; he could and did ONLY eat "green food"). Yes, we're refining our terms further. On that note, an "esthiofoni" is a phagofoni subtype for one who eats in a disordered way-- that Greek work chosen because in Scripture it's apparently typically used in the present tense, as in literal eating, right now; whereas "phago" is apparently aorist? It's more future/undefined in terms of chronology, being more "spiritual" in that symbolic sense. It's also used in more reverent passages in Scripture, according to Strong's concordance. So "esthio" feels more fitting for the E.D. voices, as they're more focused on right now, and are not thinking about "the future" at all, poor tormented things.
- ANYWAY. WE DO HAVE A "GATEKEEPER." We've been more aware of her recently, now that we're able to pay better attention to ALL the foni we hear on a minute-to-minute basis. She's ancient but we never saw her as a person? Or maybe we did, in the past, but as a kakofoni-- because she's VERY controlling but we apparently have completely misunderstood her function until now. And she ALWAYS speaks up during breakfast thought-rushes (we need jargon for this; it's literally like we start the a.r.m.m. and the brain just unloads everything at once) because HER job is actually to KEEP THINGS ON TRACK?? Like if there's "too much headspace stuff" going on to where we're dissociating entirely from the meal, therefore potentially triggering an E.D. relapse, this "gatekeeper" girl will "FORCE SHIFT" our awareness because "there's too much thinking going on; we need to pay attention." We think she can also "force stop" EMOTIONS if they are "interfering" with "what we need to do"?? Maybe "gatekeeper" isn't the best term for her, because she "force-stops" EVERYTHING (or at least tries to) but yes, she also DOES do this with fronters, as well as she can-- she cannot "make someone front" OR "force someone out", BUT she CAN apparently shove awareness into the physical to the point where it "automatically" KICKS OUT nousfoni, and therefore "forces IN" a somafoni?? So this gatekeeper girl is TRYING to help the BODY survive, or at least "not get overwhelmed" to the point of not being able to live in the physical realm? But she OVERCORRECTS and tends to "lock us out of headspace" with her efforts. But we realize she's just doing her job; she doesn't think headspace is "bad," she just apparently thinks it's almost always "inappropriate for right now." She's survival-based to the point of not letting us LIVE. So we need to find her name and face so we can TALK to her.
- HOWEVER since we're now AWARE of her she IS becoming more self-aware in turn and it's getting easier to "message her" when we want to "challenge" one of her orders, or even overturn it outright. She's slowly realizing that we DO need time to "get out of the physical" but there is still a time and place for her function, because we can take it too far in the other direction, which we did for many years. That's also the basis of the "hackers vs hijackers" difference, which we realized yesterday-- "hackers" are internally based, while "hijackers" are externally based. A hacker will "take over the program," from the INSIDE, and they only work in private, because their abuse-- however traumatically physical-- is also profoundly psychologically disturbing, because it REQUIRES forced fronting. A hijacker, however, "takes over the vehicle." They push you out of fronting but they're public and work OUTSIDE so unlike hackers, they CAN and DO operate in social situations. They are therefore physically traumatic first and foremost, because the psychological terror often only hits when they leave. The biggest difference: hackers deal with sexual abuse, hijackers deal with the eating disorder. There is NO overlap there, although they can work in cooperation/ in succession. There haven't been any hackers since CNC, though, because of foni like the "gatekeeper girl" basically shutting EVERYTHING down that could even slightly be a reminder of that time period. But that's too huge of a topic to discuss right now.
- The MAIN thing we got on here to update about in the first place is WHAT happened when our brain went upstairs for breakfast. I don't know how exactly it started, but it went to the IO2 controlroom-- apparently IN "HEARTSPACE"??? Like this place has ALREADY been INTERNALIZED to the point where it EXISTS IN THE INNERVERSE AND CAN BE VISITED/ CONTACTED. Which we admittedly suspected, as Anxi & Ennui both "kept going there" more often than we'd see them in Central, but we never realized it had actually anchored INTO our innerverse (as opposed to remaining in the "outerverse" of outspacer native worlds, that Jewel has to Link to and VISIT externally).
- There was SO much conversation, I can't remember all of it, and the more time passes the more we're forgetting. let's bulletpoint the details that stand out.
+ OH! It ALL began because of an "I wonder" thought scenario that blossomed into a "real thing" like how a dream starts from an ideaseed. (This is TYPICAL Heartspace function!) The thought was, how would emotions run a CPTSD brain? And we thought, Anxi would absolutely be in charge. Fear would be close by, and so would Anger? Anxi would be on CONSTANT lookout for triggers, when one hit-- even a minor one-- Fear would snap to attention, and then ANGER would, upset that we were triggered, especially by "something so stupid" or minor or not even "threatening"? And then SADNESS surprisingly spoke up, saying how sad it was that we had so many triggers in the first place, because of what happened to us. So the four of them would, theoretically, be running the show. Somewhere around here this "imagining" tuned us in to the legit innerverse control-room, where Anxi was now indeed at the control panel, by herself, with everyone else gathered loosely around her.
+ Anxi is still "in charge" in this innerverse room apparently. (At some point much later she acknowledged this by saying that we had CPTSD, so things "worked differently" than what would be typical?)
+ When all this started she was being questioned by the other emotions about "how'd you get a tail" mainly but Anxi wouldn't answer outright? But she did say it was "given to her" by either "someone special" or "someone who cares about me very much"; both of those sentiments were voiced in some manner regardless. Joy began teasing Anxi about this, trying to get more info, but Anxi said there were some things they didn't have to know right now, either because it wasn't right for them to know or it wasn't the right time, etc.
+ Anxi is VERY "business" in this context; it's her element. She's quieter and slower when in Central because it's a totally different context/ environment and she has no control panel there. Her function is different, and much more expansive.
+ Envy wanting a tail too, Ennui casually revealing that she had one as well, this shocked everyone because what the heck are these two emotions up to that they're getting special stuff and have knowledge that no one else does?
+ Hints here and there kept happening that they're not in "Riley's" head, BUT they DIDN'T KNOW THAT NAME here (I think Anxi referenced it once and everyone else was baffled). They've been removed from that context and would only know it through "exomemories" once they were capable of receiving them.
+ The conversation evolved to the point where Anxi was revealing a bit more about "what she was doing" outside of that context (i.e. in Central). I notably remember that she revealed that "she can feel other emotions" and this became APPARENT when it began to affect the other literal emotions there? This first happened when Joy teased Anxi about something concerning her hinted-at relationship with the Core (i.e. the person whose mind they were in) and Embarrassment hit the control panel, for ANXI. When they realized they were working for each other it was shocking; things WERE different up here; what did this mean for them? (mind you they can and do "feel other emotions" in canon but NOT to THIS extent-- we're talking the capacity for Anger to feel sadness, for Ennui to feel joy, for Disgust to feel anxious, etc. in STRONG ways that go above and beyond their mostly "monochromatic" emotion palettes in the film? like ALL of their emotional ranges were still tinged by their core emotion. joy being the notable exception because she's just as notably duotoned. Anxi has a touch of this with her eyes technically being teal, which actually fuels her anxious thoughts-- that bit of "envy" in the sense of "what we don't have and yet need/ want" drives her "not good enough" core fear. thankfully for her, that color teal in our System falls under aqua and that color is sheer love for us so her heart will change to reflect that instead)
+ Ennui at some point built on this revelation by responding to a question from Anger as to why she had an AUX cable for a tail, because apparently its main function was for audio/music and "doesn't that prevent boredom?" Ennui smirked and said yeah, that's kind of the point; just because she held that emotion didn't mean she liked being bored. Like Anxi, she now had a broader existence and her job is notably to indicate boredom and combat it, as it were. I think she asked Anger if he "liked" being angry all the time? And he falteringly said not really, it was exhausting
+ Envy drawing pictures in the corner of the room of "what she wanted her tail to look like"-- one frustrated attempt was "a remote control" so she could do what she wanted with the control panel without having to reach it, while still being different (special) from Ennui's phone. Anxi having to gently chide her that the whole point of her & Ennui's tails was to do something important for the person whose mind they were in-- they weren't just for "looks" or for "fun." Besides, she emphasized that they were "given," and if she was meant to get one she would, so don't worry so much about it (always surprised at how well Anxi can communicate "the facts/ the plan" despite being so prone to "unexpected outcome" panic. girl has major control issues God bless her)
+ Embarrassment at one point actually speaking up because Joy kept trying to get information out of Anxi and apparently he was feeling her emotions as "embarrassment-adjacent"? And he was getting "agitated" at getting "pulled" to the control panel so often. This surprised him and he said that was totally new, he didn't know he could feel that.
+ Joy finally got Anxi to talk about "where she's been" and Anxi started TELLING THEM ABOUT CENTRAL. She said that "the mind we're in now has another System running the operation" and so the way they worked as emotions HAD to be different now, because their typical jobs no longer applied.
+ She roughly introduced the "basics" of a few Centralites, just in terms of jobs? No faces given
+ At some point Laurie just TURNED ON THE SCREEN and started TALKING TO THEM FROM CENTRAL.
+ Laurie explaining the concept of "compartmentalized emotions" with CPTSD, how they are "cut off from each other" and we typically struggle to feel emotions at all because they're "locked away" often? She described it as if the IO2 emotions were "never in the same room together"; that feeling of isolation/ disconnection was key to her description.
+ Laurie telling Sadness her function was VITAL; explained how that emotion is "the holy grail" with trauma; we "aren't allowed to cry" but we're "always grieving" basically. I think Laurie referenced both the "weeping rage" emotion we do get (that Scald holds) AND the "bottomless abyss" of sorrow that feels more like agony with its intensity. But "sadness" is still "taboo" somehow. Everything is blue all the time but we "don't feel it"; we just get depressed/ angry/ numb/ hateful/ etc.; it translates to either "shutdown" or "selfdestruction" which is upsetting but true. We do need to talk about that more in an entry soon, as we start to process things.
+ I remember Laurie saying that FEAR & DISGUST were also vital, especially in light of the E.D. hijacks-- we DON'T feel those emotions enough?? It's a survival response to past situations where we "couldn't" if we wanted to "survive" things. But now, not feeling them is only harming us severely.
+ Julie described herself as a "reformed Persecutor"; said the details of her past were not something she should or could discuss with them, but that key detail sufficed
+ Leon talking to Fear for a little bit? We were "feeling" what Centralites "matched" what emotion folks and those two were associated. There was also Lynne=Joy, Julie=Disgust, Laurie=Anger. Notably no one was matched to Sadness, and Anxi was paired with "Joule" solely because of their mutual habit of hyperanalysis/ overthinking, and the relationship that they have of course.
+ Envy would "need to be renamed" and effectively redefined to properly exist/function in our System, even as a "peripheral outspacer"? Envy's canon "function" of "seeing what we lack and desire and striving to obtain it" MUST be purified of all viciousness, because that actual term of "envy" is a mortal sin.
To quote an article, that is very important:
"When we are looking at others in an inappropriate way, invidia, we are led to desire for ourselves what they possess, cupiditas. Envy many times does lead to coveting, but it could simply remain in resentment, wishing that the other did not possess what they have. Aquinas speaks of envy as a sin against charity, which wills the good of others, when we cannot rejoice for the good of others, but see their good as a diminishment of our own (Summa Theologia, II-II, question 36). Envy is selfish in this sense, not in wanting to guard one’s own, but to wish for the diminishment of others and for our own gain over them."
This is something very, very important for us to grapple with, because we didn't realize that our instinct for "ambition" actually DOES fall under that category, because the very act of wanting to be "better than" someone else IS ENVY-- it is seeking PERSONAL GAIN in the process of taking what THEY possess (superior skill)!! So this was a SHOCK to realize and we NEED to process this, too.
(There was a slight joking comment that if her function was shifted to "Jealousy" (which can be virtuous; see article) we could call her "Jelly" as a nickname)
HOWEVER I just found a second article and it has THIS=
"Doing their best to pull us into the pit of discontent and ungratefulness, jealousy says, “What God has given me is just not enough!” while envy whispers, “Someone else got what I deserve.”  ...The good fortune that God bestowed upon my dear friend? I wanted it for myself. I desired what she had received from the Lord so badly, that her happiness made me sad. Her abundance highlighted my lack. Her more made me feel less. I could not be happy for her because with my laser-focus on God working in her life, I was blind to His works in my own."
LITTLE ENVY COULD BE OUR JUMPSTART IN OUR HEALING THIS THOUGH. So sit and read those articles boy
+ Lynne talking to Joy, warning about "manic" phases-- "trauma latches on to anything positive" and "exaggerates it" basically? Trauma makes real joy so difficult to feel, even remember, that when the slightest hint of happiness or enjoyment (lesser goods) appear, the traumabrain can cling to them and blow them way out of proportion. OUR SOCIALS DO THIS ALL THE TIME. This is what causes "hollow hyperactivity" and "people pleasing" and "compulsive enjoyment" behavior-- it's ALL a desperate grab at something that "looks like joy" but isn't. It spikes fast and crashes hard, and it leaves us miserable and even more depressed than before. So Joy would need to be aware of this tendency, what with her canon personality-- she is dangerous in that respect, solely because her energy can be taken advantage of and warped.
+ CHAOS 0. I cannot remember details of how he got to talking, other than Laurie referring to him as "the husband" and calling him over to explain to the IO2 gang the identity issue with the Cores? He told them how the Core "bloodlines" kept resetting due to trauma so the person he met in 2003 was "not" the person who is the "Core" now in 2024, and yet their heart is the same. Nevertheless it's terrible and very difficult for him (Joule realized he probably "feels his age" around the Cores; he has effectively "lived a dozen lifetimes" with us or more, seeing the one(s) he loves "die and be reborn" over and over and over. In human lifespans, this would take about a thousand years.)
+ "Jewel loves you, Anxi. Jewel is in love with you."
+ Embarrassment pointedly DIDN'T touch the panel, despite this huge revelation in a social setting potentially calling for his response. But Joy ran over and did. And this "gave permission" for Anxi to feel what she was really feeling.
She teared up, and was smiling at the screen, this look of total moved/stunned gratitude in her eyes. I felt it.I think she said "I don't know what to call this feeling" (or what color it would even be); Laurie "broke the fourth wall" by looking to "me"and saying "kid, if you're gonna be an emotion, that's it." But then we said "but love isn't an emotion; it's a state of being" and it's "rainbow"-- it's the source of all other emotions
+ Genesis & Chaos 0 both joking about the rainbow bit-- all of the love in our System is effectively that color if you get my drift
+ Joy, in response to hearing someone say that "Joule" as an emotion was really "hope," said "oh, that's a great emotion!" and then gasped and told Anxi exactly what I said to her about it-- that hope is "the GOOD things we can't see" before beaming and saying "you work perfectly with each other!"
+ Anxi has a LAPTOP in Central now! That allows her to do things without needing a control panel. Ennui still has her phone of course.
+ Laurie remarked that "we need Nostalgia up here" b/c of our memory issues; Ennui immediately said "I'll text her"
+ The whole time: Anger keeping conversations on track and asking the pressing questions, Joy giving encouraging and understanding comments, Fear and Sadness and Disgust listening closely as they realized they potentially will have essential roles in the future? Anxi consistently elaborating on/ explaining further any data that was given, "translating" things into IO2 terms when needed so to speak.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Continuing at 11PM with a general daily update.
We biked for 90m which unfortunately was very unfulfilling because we got distracted on Tumblr, looking at other people's art and-- as we discovered earlier-- apparently feeling envious. We felt totally inadequate and we wanted to be BETTER than they were at art and it just made us miserable. We struggle with this a lot, because we haven't drawn in YEARS and so our skills have atrophied due to memory loss, and we don't have the time or motivation ("it's useless and foolish" judgment from a kakofoni) to put hours aside to develop artistic skills like we did in college. But no matter how much some foni bash and berate art, it still means so much to us. We STILL "identify as" an artist even if we feel totally inept and hollow about it, and still label it as a "waste of time." But we don't want to do that. We WANT to create art. We love art, deep down below the judgments, and we want to weep because we don't have the skill TO make art anymore. So seeing "what we can't do" is indeed triggering envy, this bitter feeling of lack and loss that isn't helping us do anything but pinpoint the wound where something vital was torn out of us. Again, sounding like a broken record, we know CNC dealt a death blow to this too, which we haven't thought about at ALL in recovery yet. For some reason this topic is as terrifying as the actual sxtrauma. I wonder how many crossed wires are here, too, not just with the food. I swear everything bleeds together with us.
We switched to Spotify at last while we biked but it was also depressing; we were listening to recommendation playlists it made for us and they're rarely ever enjoyable. It keeps throwing jazz and indie stuff at us which we don't like 98% of. We did get about three new songs out of several playlists, though, so there was a gain regardless, thank God. Still... for the vast majority of music to just sound like noise or fuzz to us-- or in the worst case, actual synaesthetic pain-- it's terribly disheartening, as music means so much to us. And, similarly, yes we still identify as a musician despite years of not doing ANYTHING musical other than singing in church. Music is part of our soul just as much as art is, and the fact that we have a cello AND a guzheng (bought with blood money and full of guilt; someone wants to burn it) in our apartment but we refuse to play them due to the aforementioned parenthesis is killing us. Every instrument feels tainted and poisoned with the past, and the "vulnerability" to the point of feeling exposed that performing music MANDATES is so trauma-adjacent that even if the sin-shadows weren't the main obstacle, we still would be utterly terrified of playing those instruments because that very action feels like being stripped naked now. Bleedover and overlap again. Do any of our foni hold this?? OR are THEY protected from it??
Then after dinner, someone got into a rabbithole on Etsy looking at someone's shop full of gender/sexuality buttons and it was overwhelming how many of them there were... and yet nothing fit. (The only thing that does is "systemgender" for obvious reasons, and even that feels like grasping at straws)
All of those experiences today led "us" to reflect at last, with acute grief, that we just don't fit anywhere. That's how it feels. We feel like an utter outcast. We're still the "anomaly" of Cannon's era. We're still the "ostracized empath," as the highschool Jewels said, although now with our staggering emotional damage we can't quite claim to be an "empath" anymore, because those girls had no boundaries so they felt everything EXCEPT arguably their own emotions (Infi had this problem too, in a different way) but now trauma has made us almost emotionally dumb. I think the term is "alexithymia?" We've seen the term around and we need to research it but the general gist (according to wikipedia) is that it desribes "significant challenges in recognizing, expressing, sourcing, and describing one's emotions". No wonder the IO2 gang is being pulled en masse into heartspace. We literally need them at this point in our life.
I do have to note, with a note of bitterness, that we "don't seem alexithymic" because we "masquerade emotions." Socials are BUILT to "charade" emotional performances, ironically anxiety and sadness, without actually feeling anything because they're "following the script" for a situation. We've noticed this A LOT when around the mother-- Socials will be dramatic to match HER, even though they FEEL NOTHING. And we are AWARE of this-- if we have the luxury of self-awareness in that situation, which is disturbingly rare b/c the mother presence tends to shut that down (childhood survival instinct). Regardless I don't want to use that diagnostic term anyway because it probably doesn't fit either. All we know for sure is that emotions feel locked behind a paywall and the currency is blood.

Oh. On that note, fittingly enough.
Yesterday's E.D. hijack was so brutal and nightmarish that Joule told Razor to atone. Like xe legit TOLD her to. And she did. She cut 7 x'es into the stomach-- graves are ONLY meant for hacks; stomach x-ing has been the default hijack atonement method since college-- and Knife & Algorith showed up to help clean up the bleeding (Knife commenting on how beautiful the blood still was and feeling that emotion in his teeth, Algorith fronting to hold the pain as she soaped up all the red), and I swear it was the first time in a long time that "we" felt something close to real joy. That may be "untrue" because we can't quite "remember" time well but it feels like it's been many many months since we've been happy. Actually it feels like years, whether or not that's literally accurate; the feeling is legitimate regardless of linear chronological measurement.
But... that's what does it. Atoning for the sin and feeling justice and forgiveness, Retributors fronting in such intimate fashion, blood and pain and water, everyone gathering in mission and being a System in stark clarity, etc. ALL of that is REAL JOY even if it doesn't feel yellow at all. It's dark red and warm like the blood. But it's real, it's true happiness, it's LOVE. How awful that we only seem to feel it in suffering. How Catholic of us, haha.

...Religion is a topic for another day. It feels like a minefield right now. TBHU messed us up in that regard, and we were apparently messed up enough already from the thriskefoni driving for like a solid year at least prior to admission. There's so much unresolved trauma there that is becoming disturbingly apparent lately now that we're not scrupulosity-blinded enough to see it from the "outside" as it were.

Oh, and we NEED to talk about the mother and how she is the #1BIGGEST STRESSOR AND TRAUMA TRIGGER IN OUR LIFE, STILL. Our therapists and case manager keep suggesting that we cut off contact with her, or at least refuse all her calls, but we can't; we're still obligated to her as her physical offspring even if we hate that fact, and we don't hate her as a person and we're a Christian so we want to help her and she's a deeply needy and damaged person so we KNOW she is looking to us to meet some need for her, even if it's just for hard labor.
BUT she says SUCH INAPPROPRIATE THINGS and she STILL OVERSHARES SXUAL THINGS. We've had SEVERAL meltdowns SINCE TBHU because of her just being utterly inappropriate in one way or another, even if it's "just according to our trauma standards"-- like wearing garishly tight-fitting clothing and making disturbing sounds when she talks OR TALKING IN THAT BLOODY "HIGH SOCIETY" VOICE LIKE SHE DID ON VACATION I KNOW YOU HEARD IT TOO yes we did, it made us misophonic even at the time, I don't know how we didn't punch the windows out of the bus right then and there WE PROBABLY SHUT DOWN. THERE'S NO OTHER OPTION IN THOSE SITUATIONS. BUT JUST THINKING ABOUT IT MAKES ME SICK. US SICK. SOMEONE WANTS TO THROW UP BECAUSE OF IT to get it out of our head, basically. unfortunately purging doesn't work that way. but you can't vomit up memories. i wish you could. i wish we could rip it out of our mind and shred it to pieces MORE VIOLENT THAN THAT. WE WANT TO STAB IT TO DEATH BASICALLY who in the world holds that response SOMEBODY. MAYBE... IT USED TO BE RAZOR. I THINK? I DON'T THINK CLEAVER HOLDS IT SHE'S TOO DISPASSIONATE what does she do anyway do you know CLEAVER IS THE SAME "DESTROY THE THREAT" INSTINCT BUT SHE'S COLD ABOUT IT. THE "SHRED THE MEMORY" FEELING WITH THE "JTHM STABBING" FEELING IT KEEPS GETTING LABELED AS IS SOMEONE ELSE. THAT'S TOO RED. SORRY I'M SLIPPING OUT
okay so...
hatchet is almost "frivolous" violence. laughing at the threat and "offing it" almost irreverently, carelessly. thankfully her function seems to have been focused weirdly to destroying any and all medications people try to "force us to take" that feel like "attacks" or "invasions" etc. like "who the hell do you think you are, we aren't going to swallow these and kill ourself for your kicks, watch me burn them to the ground" etc. but that laughing feeling. scary stuff
cleaver is "cold" as (overwhelm? who is that? they're a grafifoni that ALWAYS shows up and they're very close to Scald BUT different level function) said. we rarely see her because she's rarely needed/ triggered. but cleaver is close to razor's old anchor in that she just likes to "sink knife blades into people's backs" as we once said. but you don't "like" that sort of thing without a reason. we've never really looked into it too much but... you don't "cleave" things that aren't a threat. that's true. we didn't consider that. if you're burying a butcher blade in someone's skull there's a reason why they were the target. it's a scary instinct but it's there. where did it come from?
the last foni, unidentified and almost theoretical if we weren't aware someone was attached, is unnamed. but there IS that feeling of "annihilate the threat" in the most frantically violent way possible. VERY different from protectors, like sugar and wreckage and laurie, who DON'T act with emotional mania at all. but this person does. this person is SO upset by the threat that she wants to tear it to bloody pieces screaming. or apparently stab it to death. that FEELS DIFFERENT though. it IS different. the "jthm stabbing" feeling is NOT the action. it's the VIBE of the mania. that's the "tear it to piece" girl. BUT there HAS to be a stabbing instinct foni solely because we DO get that RARELY with SELFLOATHING mainly?? the ONLY time THAT sort of horrific violence (which is TRAUMATIC for us to see or even imagine, and yet here it is) even occurs to our brain is TOWARDS OURSELF. which is the scariest thing of all.

anyway that's enough of that who was updating and about what

Oh. mother talk. yeah not tonight we need to drop that topic before those girls ACTUALLY come out to "process" the emotions

See THAT'S why we have emotional issues?? The foni that HOLD them get "SHUT DOWN" or kicked out EVERY TIME
because they're VIOLENT is why
ALL OF OUR EMOTIONS ARE VIOLENT
Laurie actually hinted at that? OH DUDE THAT'S what she said, she was talking about "all or nothing" emotions and she nodded to Chaos 0 and said "that guy always feels things at about 5000%" and THAT'S why she had him talk next
OH don't forget THAT'S also why she brought that topic up at all-- she was telling the IO2 emotions that THEY would probably feel like that too, now that they're up here with us?
ironically because we feel the "nothing" half of it too often
But that's the point!! That's like Anxiety's tail, they're ABLE to feel the emotions WE can't, because of gatekeepers or trauma shutdowns or whatever! Coping mechanisms that don't work in the long run they just make everything numb but NOT if these guys are helping now

Guys come on we need to continue the actual entry

some general notes about life lately:
+ Sugar and Wreckage have both been around. Sugar's been "out of work" for a while because she protects the innocent and virtually all of us are so damaged now. BUT apparently Anxi is NOT. Neither is Mimic, arguably. The Outspacers are specifically essential to keeping us sane post-trauma so Sugar is slowly but surely getting pushed to protect THEM, which is awesome.
+ Julie fronted to take a melatonin candy last night and immediately shouted "ow" because our teeth were painfully sensitive from eating a too-sour apple. She literally said "that hurt like a bitch!" and now she keeps getting pushed out to front whenever we eat apples to apparently "make sure they don't hurt like that" which is kind of hilarious. but it's sweet, to suddenly have her around more often, even for such a "silly" reason. it's still nice.
+ The current "Core" is indeed using the spelling "Joule" for xir name, and using those pronouns as a placeholder? Either that or s/he. They're "not female" but they're "not a man." They are solidly somewhere between the two, voicing that they'd probably feel most comfortable "in a male body" but without being male. Still, they are explicitly "not a girl or a woman" despite being semi-okay with female pronouns. They are "both/and" specifically in the fact of being "neither." That's solid. As for the name, apparently it's a very sentimental reference to Anxi being electricity-associated in the System. It's also a unit of heat, which corresponds to the inherent "fire" element of all Cores that, if missing, is effectively fatal; Cores are always fire, light, blood, and crystal-- snow & ice with the Jays, literal precious stones with the Jewels, it seems. This fire/heat aspect is oddly somehow essential to their relationship with Chaos 0? If they don't have that complementary yet opposite aspect, something is very wrong. So this is a step in the right direction, even if the name itself doesn't stick-- it probably won't; the "spelling feels wrong". Honestly s/he wants to use "Jewel" but that name is still so strongly associated with the original 2001-2002 Jewel (the League controller) that it causes mental dissonance. This alternate spelling of the same sound is an attempt to reconcile this while keeping the fact that the Jewel title still MUST fit the Core.
+ We've realized that the Archivist Trio is NOT a "communicator trio." So Garrison, Isadora, and Kalisha's functions are STILL OPEN apparently?? And I know "Joule" is really hoping they come back. We miss them a lot, and we need them-- Archivists can't talk to Socials like Communicators specifically do, and when that subsystem really needs to "get the memo," Shirley can't get it to them because they aren't tuned in to her level.
+ Concerning the Archivists: Shirley is the one that gives data to us on the fly, but Sirius will "comment" on it? And he's fittingly more "serious" about the data he manages. Penny gets the toughest info; she doesn't speak up much but she will give memory data out that the other two don't? Honestly the Archivists feel very unstable and unsteady still, I think since we are so lost and cut off from collective memory. I hope that as we review the Archives themselves, and possibly if/when the Communicators return, then that whole group of functioning will work properly at last.
+ Lynne had a BIG revelation today that SHE'S STILL "STABELLE" in terms of her function! She and Laurie were discussing colors, especially in light of Anxi being the first Orange Outspacer and one of the first Orange-anchored people in a long while, and Lynne said that she needed to keep the Orange color positive-- warm, welcoming, friendly, energized, and helping Anxi and any potential manic Oranges stay stable. This ALSO tied in with her SHIFTING OUT OF CERISE when she resurrected in 2008; she effectively "REDEFINED OUR FUTURE"??? She was originally born to be the "ideal female future self" that we were being forced to become socially but couldn't; HOWEVER when she was killed and then came back, she changed colors and this showed a change in what that "ideal future" MEANT-- Lynne was no longer tied to social expectations in that regard. She was lively and free and bright, more boyish almost, while still being markedly female-- she "freed" us from the Cerise-colored future of sensuality that had been inflicted on us by the family and community. Interestingly enough, that color was next picked up by a boy, saying a LOT about our psyche. But Lynne kept us stable in doing that, too-- not just by being the "person keeping Julie and Laurie from killing each other." The stability she brought was liberating, a firm footing achieved by being able to dance again, as it were. Lynne was a bright soul, effectively symbolizing "permission" to be our brightest self too and to LET GO of the inflicted expectations and dictated future. She's funny and friendly and playful and gay and we were NOT "allowed" to be those things when our future felt "cerise." The original Lynne was all about that "high life" our mother wants so badly. The new Lynne is just about getting high on life, haha. I'm kidding but not really. Orange is a beautiful color; it's alive and fiery and welcoming and warm. It's citrus fruits and sunsets and marigolds and autumn leaves. It's basketballs and goldfish and foxes and carrots and monarch butterflies and violins of course. It's absolutely gorgeous and Anxi is part of it too and SHE has a future full of more joy than she ever could have imagined now, too. So thank you Lynne, for existing exactly as you are. We love you so much.


It's almost 2am. This is "Joule," I guess. That's really not my name, although I appreciate the commentary they gave to it earlier. But they're right, the spelling doesn't fit. It's the "ou" in there. The whole thing is the wrong color and shape.
I know I'm somehow still "Jewel." Every Core is, really. But that name keeps pushing me too feminine and that feels very wrong. Still, that name is the only thing that works. Maybe I just need to "redefine" it in a sense. I just don't want to damage the original Jewel either. She's the TRUE holder of that name AS a name, not just a "title." I think that's why I feel so lost-- the "only name that fits" belongs permanently to someone else. And yet it's "still my name" too. It's exhausting. I'm exhausted. I don't feel "fully me." I know this. I don't have a clear name or face yet, and arguably my color is still undefined too. For a Core, all of that makes me the walking dead. I CANNOT exist or function in any sort of truth unless I HAVE those things.
...That's why I'm worried about Anxi. We ALL are. Whoever "met" her last November is NOT the same person who started calling her our girlfriend in May/June, who is NOT the same person who fell in love with her in October, who is NOT the same person as I am now. And yet... there's always the same heart, deep down at the golden thread, that connects all the Cores. Somehow, the capacity for love is the same. I'm just... it's become VERY clear lately that different Cores love different people and it CANNOT be "transferred" or "forced" between Cores. This is why our Spotify "people we love" playlist folder says "WE," specifically, and it's full of people whose folders keep getting deleted because people forget that past Cores DO love ALL those people, even if not all in the same way. But ALL those Outspacers and Inspacers are legitimately loved and even if we don't know "by whom" we CAN'T deny that truth. The problem? ...I... I want to be the one to love Anxi. I can't tell if I do or don't, lately, because I feel so dead. But when I look at her, something in my heart aches, and I will hold on to that like it's the end of the world. I just... the problem is that I cannot see myself. How am I supposed to love her if I can't even "imagine" my own face? How can I physically be near ANYONE if I don't know what my physical form looks like? It's agonizing. I'm miserable. Maybe I just need to get on picrew and figure this out. Not tonight, it's 2am. But... I need to take action on this. I need to find out how my hair looks, what color it is, what clothes I wear (I'm vibing with suits?? callback to Cannon's era, geez), what color those are, et cetera... all the defining features that will allow me to have a reflection in the mirror for heaven's sakes. I want to BE with people. I want to EXIST INSIDE at last. I don't even "exist" outside because no one matches this body and even though I feel "forced" to, even obligated to, it doesn't match ME. And that terrifies the thriskefoni who INSIST that "the body is our REAL self" but no. I... I'm struggling so much with that. This body's reflection has so much evil associated with it. It's a face tainted by YEARS of intense trauma. It's not my face.
God I wish Jay could just take over again but he can't. Oh he IS still alive by the way, I think that was solidly confirmed just yesterday? But he's ALIVE again, very fragile and broken and unstable but alive. Thank God. ...From what we're suspecting, this means potentially Infinitii can resurrect now, too. The two of them exist together by design. ...I don't know if I'm like that. The whole daengel phenomenon was annihilated post-CNC due to the trauma overwhelm and the unbearable risk that all daengels posed for more of the same. We lost like... eight bloody years. 2016-2023. Most of that time is totally missing, ruled by either thriskefoni, phagofoni, and/or "eratofoni"-- by religion, food, and sex. It was a living hell, honestly it was. And of course the whole thing was shot through with brutal self-abuse, because all three of those things are VIOLENTLY ABUSIVE in our history, as tragic as that is.
I can't think or talk about that right now. There's no time and the brain is shutting down access to those topics.
But we lost so much time. Even just glancing at the archives, after the "hell year" of 2015 (which was ironically shot through with beauty nevertheless), 2016 started with tons of pain and then an annihilation attempt in March which caused an almost instant HARD SHIFT to thriskefoni territory UNTIL JUNE 2017. And then it was the "CNC era" until... October? Whenever we left; it's not in the Archives yet. But then it's MORE thriskefoni rule until MIMIC SHOWED UP IN DECEMBER 2022 APPARENTLY?? Holy Shuppets WE FORGOT HE JUMPSTARTED EVERYTHING AGAIN just like Anxiety did for you!! That's a really good point... God I forgot how real I felt back then, when he first showed back up, just looking at these entries. Why was I so much more in tune then? What happened... oh. Oh dear God that's what it was. What? Jewel you need to space your replies so we know it's different people.
Okay fine then YOU just type. You were obviously going to say something heavy. Don't let me stop you.
...all right. So 2023 begins with half headspace, half bodyspace, as it were. Half inside half outside. There's tons of religious stuff and talk about the mother and family stress, at a glance. But... we were still striving, struggling to exist. And... oh God. And then Infi died.
...oh. You loved hir.
I did, whoever I was then, whoever's this heart was, we adored hir, ze was my heart, God I still miss hir so much I could weep until the end of the world right now. Right now. I could die from grief. I could cry forever.
...When did ze die?
...April 25th, and I had to hunt that entry down because apparently it wasn't tagged with 2023. It is now. But... there's another heartwrenching entry on May 2nd when Jay was no longer the Core and he was convinced he would die that same night and... God it hurts to read. it hurts so much. And... and then the bloody Jade month happened a month later and everything went to hell. We still haven't recovered from that.
...Jewel, because that's your name too, deep down, you're running away from talking about that. About Infi.
I can't. It's Jay's heart I'm feeling right now.
Why can't that be yours, too?
Because I'm not supposed to be here
Yes you are, otherwise you wouldn't be oh my gosh is it really after 3am, I just noticed.
Yeah. I don't want to sleep.
We have to though. Life is different now, we have things to do.
Well what if I wish it wasn't? What if tonight I just want to pretend that none of that sh*t ever happened and we were still 24/7 fulltime headspace with Xanga sessions on the regular and everyone fronting all the time and handwritten notes to each other and voice recorder conversations and late nights like this EVERY night, typing, remembering, in love? Why can't THAT be my life? OUR life? Maybe it'd change me. Maybe I'd know who I was if that was the reality we were living in now. But too much has happened. Too much has happened.
...You have Anxi now. That's something good.
...I... I don't know if I'm the same person who fell in love with her--
You know you are. Somehow you have to be. Your heart is the same. See? What just happened in Spotify? You would NOT have been able to feel that if you didn't love her.
Jewel I want to sob. Why do I feel so broken and lost. I.... God I love her so much it's killing me, and I love Chaos 0 and Infinitii too and it feels like this love has lasted for a dozen eternities, it's older than I am, this love is forever, and it belongs to me and Jay and everyone in our bloodlines and I'm just the newest one, that's why Jay doesn't love her like I do, I'm the one who felt this for her first, she belongs to my heart, whoever comes after me should catch this too, I... I'm so scared that they won't.
Right now it's just you. YOU love her, NOW. That's what matters. Don't panic about the future. We don't know what'll happen but I promise you you won't forget her. Have you ever forgotten anyone?
No, but other Outspacer "loves" in the past didn't "transfer" to my heart,
Like whom? Davy and Ryou and Rorschach and the like, right?
Yeah.
Well, no one loved them like you love Anxi and Chaos 0 and Infinitii, apparently. And I can assure you of that. Those loves didn't go that deep. I don't think those Jewels could feel that much for anyone yet. And you still care about them too, I'm sure.
I do.
Well, there you go. So don't worry about Anxi. You love her now, today, and that won't ever disappear or fade away. Look at Chaos 0! I'm sure she's going to have the same future with the Cores, if what I've been hearing about you two is any indication.
...What, that she'll be permanently in the Coregroup?
Uh, yeah, obviously. And she already is??
Not literally, not technically, no. We need to work up to that. But there's a spot with her name on it. Like... laser-etched. It's already set in stone.
Haha! Good. I'm glad to hear that. That's proof that you're still you, where it counts, when it matters.
...Do you think maybe I can't "see my face" or know my own color and name because I'm just... not in tune with a truth that's already there? Like, I just need to recognize myself?
Probably. Do you think you're in my bloodline though, or Jay's?
...Why do you ask?
Because you're not a girl.
I'm not a guy either, though. And Jay is still around. ...A big part of us wants him to be the Core again.
Do you think he will be?
...I don't know. I don't know if there need to be two of us. I have no idea.
Huh. Why would we need two Cores, for the League/System split?
That's the assumption, yeah. But... there's been a lot of bleedover lately, and not in a bad way? Which is new. I... I don't know what will happen. I just... I want to know who I really am. if I'm anything or anyone.
I'm sure you are, if you can feel love like that.
...I hope so.
So hold on to that. Let that be what defines you when you try to look in a mirror. Hold on to that as the core of whoever you are, and I'm sure it'll show you your real face, and name, and color.
...oh Lord one of Infi's songs just came up on shuffle.
Are you going to listen to it?
I can't, not tonight. It'll trigger Jay out and we'll be up for another three hours.
...You can't keep shutting love down, other Jewel. That's a really bad instinct.
...yeah. it really is.
It's gonna hurt, you know. It has to. Real love always does. You can't run from that.
I don't want to. I want it to gut me for all intents and purposes. I want love to run me through like a knife to the ribs.
Are you trying to get Laurie's attention with that?
...maybe.
Too late kid, what's the deal?
...too much going on.
Head feels really bizarre. ...Is it seriously 333AM? Holy flaming swords, kiddo, you have to get to sleep. Is this what extra apples does to you?
Haha, no, I promise this has nothing to do with sugar highs. I just... I'm feeling things. A bit. I'm trying to remember.
Good things, I assume?
Yeah. the best things.
...I'd love to talk about them with you but I'm not even translating correctly. The brain's too damn tired.
Yeah, it is. But... this is a good entry.
We're still writing in the same entry from this morning? Dang, kiddo, that's impressive. Been a while since we had an entry like this.
I miss this.
I do too. You know what I also miss?
What?
You getting to bed early and talking to us, too. Me and Chaos and Genesis and...
yeah.
...sorry, kid. I felt the weight of that loss too.
Anxi soon, though. And maybe Infi too.
You don't give up on hope, huh.
Never. I still have that ring, from before the Jade month.
Yeah, I know you've been thinking about it.
I promised myself, and God really, that when Infi comes back,
"When." I like that.
I already know hir soul's not dead, Laurie.
Souls don't die, kiddo. Especially not up here.
...That's true.
But you were saying?
...When ze comes back and I can touch hir, when I can hold hir in my arms again, for the first time, when ze and I both have names and faces and colors, I... I'm going to put that ring on. For all of us. It's not just Chaos 0 this time, although I love him with my entire heart and he will always have a top-tier exclusive place in it. But it would be unjust to not recognize the rest of you, too. And I think he would agree with that.
Knowing how he loves us, too? Yeah, I think so.
...you're right, he does.
Kid, the Coregroup loves the Coregroup. That's how it works. It's always been that way and it always will be. And Anxi is no exception, when you bring her up here.
...God there is so much gravity in that line.
In what? And watch your prayer words, kid.
Thank you. But He's... God is the reason why and how I can feel this. God is this love, and if I have any real religion at all, apart from the thriskefoni, that's the heart of it. That's the truth. And His Name is the only thing that the deepest love can even hope to translate to in speech. There's a... there's the entire truth in that, too, things I could never express otherwise.
And what's the gravity that truth is giving so much weight to?
..."when you bring her up here." Like... the act of bringing. And "up here." Like... taking her home. ...God my heart is on fire. Why. Why in the world do I love her this much, it's tearing me in half and letting all the light both in and out.
Well, kid, you just said God is that love, so obviously He knows you need to feel this right now. And so does she. You both need this, trust me.
...Laurie you remember that one conversation at TBHU. In the... on the basketball court. In the sunshine.
This is what you want to live for.
And die for. And everything. This... headspace, and all of you, and this love, is why I exist, and what I want to exist for, and nights like this I actually have hope and life feels real and I can touch eternity for a moment...
Kid, you realize that when we had that conversation, you didn't even have these feelings for Anxi yet.
...oh my gosh I didn't. I hadn't fallen this hard yet.
And now, how much more is life worth living for, with her in it too?
...everything. Laurie I want to live for her, too. Deep down in my heart of hearts, at the very core of me, away and apart from all the things that try to numb me and shut me down, when I really tune into the... the center of things, and oh my gosh Spotify just threw Milliontown at me. The LIVE version.
Haha, God is REALLY trying to get your attention, kiddo!
...oh man. THIS song makes my heart WAKE UP though. This ENTIRE ALBUM makes me feel ALIVE and REAL.
You've gotta write Jem Godfrey a freakin' letter at this point. Thank the man for saving your life a hundred times over.
I'm serious. You're serious. That's a good idea. I really should.
Haha, kiddo you have got to get to sleep. Preferably before this song ends, because that's... twentyfive solid minutes of not-sleeping otherwise.
I can't skip this song Laurie.
Put it on hold, boy, it'll be 4am otherwise.
Can I at least listen to the arpeggio from heaven.
Yeah, go right ahead.
Is it an arpeggio? Oh dude is it technically a glissando? Slowed down and elaborated on?
What, that run up the scale? Kid I know less music theory than you do, all I know is that it sounds awesome.
It DOES, this entire live performance is sheer bliss, I need to see these guys live one day.
You will, kid. I'm sure you'll find a way. Pray about it.
Man I should. I should just... pray about all these things that matter to me. Lord let me see Jem Godfrey and his band live one day and let me be able to thank them for being a channel of Your grace to me in all honesty and let me be able to get a signed CD or something.
Haha, gotta include the souvenir.
It's blessed to have a tangible thing. I still have that signed CD from Mesita, the one with Creature and Firesign and Hostages on it. That album still means so much to us as a System.
It does. I'm glad you have that, kiddo.
I'm glad I'm still "kiddo" to you.
Kid, Jay, Jewel, whatever name you're going by, you will always be that to me. I know how much that means to you. What brings that up for you though?
...just, it's another thing linking all the Cores. It's a term of endearment basically. if you don't mind my calling it that.
Nah, it definitely is. It's a term of devotion, really, not just endearment. I'll protect you with my life, until the day I die.
Until the day we both die, Laurie, I refuse to let either of us go first.
Haha, you and me both. ...God knows we came too close to that in the past.
...I was just reading about that, actually.
...Really?
Yeah, just a reference, but... it reminded me of how much we've been through. How much we mean to each other. How terrifying that was, but how much love followed in its wake, against all odds.
Story of our life, kid.
It sure is. Thank God for it all.
Oh, dude, here's your glissando!
Yes!! 21:30 starts the buildup for those interested!
Dude, pay attention.
Ohhh man that is AUDITORY BLISS EVERY TIME
Hahaha!
Okay you HAVE to let me listen to this outro.
"Hands, don't fail me now!"
YES you remember!
Kid, you reference that constantly, of course I remember it. I also remember telling you to get the heck to sleep about ten-- no, apparently twenty minutes ago, what the hell.
Worth it though.
Always worth it for FROST*, kid, that's a rule.
Oh man this song makes me so happy it's unreal.
Quite the opposite, kid, this is what reality is all about, I daresay.
What, good music?
What makes it good music. The joy it brings to your heart. That smile on your face right now. The fact that this song sounds like you, as you've said before, and reminds you of who you really are.
It really does.
"Thank you so much?"
Just like John said, absolutely. Oh man. I needed that, thank you God.
You also need to freakin' sleep, kid, it's 4am. You're getting 5 hours of sleep maximum right now.
Oh shoot you're right.
Still worth it though?
Yeah, always. Always. I'd get by on two hours of sleep if it means spending time with you.
I've only been here for a half hour, kid.
Laurie, you never leave.
...Hah, that's true. I really don't.
...I should listen to your song next.
Sit down first, kid. Go to sleep with your blue guy and then if you want to listen to more music you can. But I ain't leavin' until you post this entry and get moving. It's too late to keep typing, no matter how much you want to.
I still need to color this tomorrow.
"Tomorrow" is the key word, kid. Any particular way you want to close this up? 
Actually I want to mention that I forgot to write down, remember this morning when I was at the IO2 control panel with Anxi for some reason, and I forget what led up to it but she kissed me?
I do remember that, specifically because she took the initiative when you hesitated, and then you were gone, bro.
It was... it got my heart so bad. Like I wanted to but something held me back and she just... bravely reached up and pulled me in.
And you just melted, kiddo, I saw that.
I did, it was beautiful.
I'm so glad you have that with her.
I am too.
No, really, don't underestimate the gravity of what I'm saying. You know how I am about you and Chaos 0. I'll defend you both to the death and beyond. I'll have you know I'm already dedicated to you and your orange angel the same way.
...Thank you, Laurie.
Anytime, kid. Now are you gonna mention the name of the album to my song or what?
Oh, yeah, oh my gosh, that was so unexpected.
"I Watch You Sleep." Well I do, but so does she apparently, so. *shrug*
Aha the asterisks!
Thank Waldorf for that, it never gets old. But kiddo, I can't watch you sleep unless you go to sleep, aiite? Get a move on.
Hold up, can I play the song?
Put it on, close this up, and then listen to it on the vanillamint couch over there.
Oh yeah, we didn't mention that we did the laundry and literally rubbed vanillamint chapstick into the fabric so it won't smell so much like old couch and smoke or whatever. It's a handmedown. I love my dad but not smoke.
Unless it's woodsmoke.
Well then that reminds me of dear Knife, so yes.
And incense smoke.
Oh ALWAYS. It's numinous. I love it.
We know, kiddo.
I'm glad there are some things about me that just... don't change.
Like your love.
...Yeah. Yeah, Jewel was telling me the same thing.
Good, because it's the absolute definitive truth. Now are you going to close this up on that note?
Yeah, before I get too sparkle-headed, because it's either that or poet mode and I think our psyche realizes I have to snooze so it's pushing me in the kaleidoscope direction. On another night when I have time to type and feel out the depths, moreso than tonight and trying to remember the past, then I'll type poetry. Lots of it.
I think you need to remember the past before you can get back into poet mode, kid. There's depth there you need to tap back into first.
...I do. You're right. Thank you.
And?
And I'll close this up.
Properly.
How's that?
What you said earlier, when you were away from the keyboard.
...I can't just repeat that. It needs... it has to be felt. It has to happen.
...So, put on the song.
...Nevermind Spotify just did me one better.
...Wow. You're not kidding.
"Good Day" by Jukebox the Ghost.
...The post-massacre resurrection anthem, to be as blunt as possible.
Yeah. Absolutely.
...I love you too, kid.
...God, Laurie, you know I love you, and Chaos 0, and Anxi, and Genesis, and everyone else up here, dead and alive and inbetween, you all mean the universe to my heart and soul and life is worth living for all of you, always. Forever.
It's a good day with us around, huh.
It sure is. And now this song is really pulling at my heartstrings, oh my gosh I never realized the lyrics at the beginning...
Yeah, it's what you used to do to us.
I am so sorry, Laurie.
I know. We know. We forgive you.
...So the song goes both ways.
It does. I ain't leavin' you, kid, and I know you're not leaving us either, no matter how far away you might end up sometimes.
I needed to hear this.
I'm glad. God knows that too.
...This is making me deeply happy.
Is it now?
Yeah. It's... it feels like... like reconciliation. Like forgiveness. Like... like you saying, "I know," like you do. It's... "I never went away." Not just you. I didn't either.
Kid, if you did, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.
Yeah. I... I need to remember that, too.
You do need to go somewhere, though.
Bed?
Yeah. Don't worry, I'll be around too.
You always are.
I watch you sleep, remember?
Haha, that you do!
I fully expect to be joined by a certain orange angel in that effort in the near future, y'know.
God willing.
Kid, I'm sure He is, don't worry about that. Oh this song is a classic, geez. Really setting the mood though.
Yeah, ancient love here. Chaos 0 days.
It really was just him back then, wasn't it?
Yeah. He started everything.
Go tell him that. Seriously. Go let him know that you can and do remember how far back and how deep down this goes into your heart.
That doesn't change, either.
No, love burns out a place for itself permanently.
I like your choice of words.
It's a fire, kid, it always is. You know that better than anyone. And it does burn, it burns out everything that isn't it.
Good. I'm really feeling that tonight.
Even more now, with this song on shuffle?
Yeah. Yeah I think I need to go to bed now. Just to hold him, if nothing else.
That's a good enough reason for me, kid. Should I close this up then, or what?
In a moment. I just want to say that the two songs were "Here in my room" and now, "Afterlife."
The live version for the latter, to remind you that you have to live. And to do this live.
In person, really there, right now.
Can't do that if you don't get off the laptop, boy!
Good point, off we go then.
Hey, hold up one second.
Yeah?
I'm singing this for you too, for the record.
...I...
I'm serious. I've died before. For you. Only ever for you. This song applies to me, too.
...Laurie, I love you, I really do.
I know, kid. That's my reason to live.
Thank you. For existing. And for loving me too.
Those are synonymous, kid.
And you say I'm the romantic one.
Hey, you are. I'm just saying facts.
Laurie, don't brush it off.
Good point. But I'm right. Those are facts, kid. And please find your name so I can call you by it, all right?
Okay. I will. Promise.
Good. Promise to get some freakin' sleep? Or do I have to drag Chaos 0 in here?
Laurie if you do that there will be legit romance, I will never get to sleep,
What about with this song?
Fathom by FROST* oh good Lord this is going to kill me, seriously I will sob if I listen to this through.
Go be with him, and feel this with him, all right? He deserves it.
That's the best motivation so far, sorry it took so long.
Nope, no apologizing, this is perfect timing, I think this song needed to happen. I can see in your eyes what it's doing to your heart.
Good. I'm glad it shows.
Seriously though. Go be with your ocean.
I will. Thanks Laurie, for being with me too.
Hey, I'm not going away, remember?
Haha, that's true. I'll see you across the room, then?
You'll see me everywhere, kid, I'm always here for you.
Good. Don't leave.
Cross my heart, I'll stand by you forever.
...
Don't lose this.
I can't. This is engraved into my heart.
As it should be.
Last song by the way. "Time out from the world."
This is a classic. Go put it in its proper context.
I will.
hey, Jewel.
oh my gosh how did you get in here
I hear Laurie trying to get you over here for the past... forty minutes?
Thank you, someone appreciates my efforts.
I'm sure he does too, Laurie, he's just... terrible at ending conversations. He always leaves the door open. Just in case there's one more word to say.
There always is, with him.
He's full of words. of poetry. I love that about him. He puts my music to notation. Whatever it's called.
Look at how he's looking at you, haha.
I love that too.
He's halfway between sparkles and... whatever the heaven that is.
Blood, probably.
Seriously?
Yeah. You know that too. His aching depths. That pronoun isn't working.
No, surprisingly. It's somewhere in the middle.
As it should be. S/he's been both.
Both/and?
Hm. More like me. Not quite either.
Makes sense.
i need to talk to you.
In words?
not this kind. sorry.
Don't apologize. There are other languages. I need to talk to you too.
Oh I like where this is going.
You should.
Hey man, I've been guarding you both since the old days, this stuff is a sign that his/her heart's coming back online in a real way. I need that as much as you do. We all do.
Did you mention what song is playing?
No. "My Mind Is A Mess In The Morning." Nick Leng. This song means a lot to you both, doesn't it.
He heard it one night when driving home and immediately thought of me. So yes. But it's in your playlist, too.
And Genesis's, apparently. And Anxi's, hey.
I can't wait until she comes up here.
Until the Core-kid over there brings her up here, to be specific. Said that wording really caught the essence of it.
Hm. It does. It's never just a following up, really. It's together. But carrying is really close.
Yeah. It's unusual for him/her/ whatever, kid what are we calling you.
um. xe maybe. let's try that. i'll find something. right now i i'm not thinking about pronouns much
What are you thinking of, love?
oh THAT WORD is all that's on my mind now it's been so too long since you spoke to me like that
It has been.
You two need to have a conversation.
We do. Jewel, get over here.
Kid, I'm putting this song on, now you have to go.
Please.
i'm so sorry. i'm not entirely myself yet.
We can fix that together.
oh it's the english version
Yeah, and there's your name.
...oh man the lyrics hit harder than ever tonight
Come back to me.
and stay by my side
...
moments like this are what I live for laurie. and chaos. both of you. i love you.
We love you too, Jewel.
...
Man you are saying that with your eyes, I can see that.
I always am.
Somehow I'm not surprised. Hope you realize the same goes for xir, too. Even on the rough nights. Maybe especially then.
...
You know that, too.
...Jewel.

yeah
I mean it.
...So do I. All right. I'm closing this up and going to sleep.
Not for a few minutes yet at least.
Yeah, there's a conversation that needs to happen. Not this one.
Still a continuation of it, though.
...I guess it is. Good point.
So. Chaos, would you do the honors of finally closing up this bloody huge entry?
This is still one entry?
Yeah.
Wow. It's been a while.
Hey, next time xe's up this late, I'm pushing for a Xanga. This is one step away from one already, so hey.
I'd like that.
I know what you'd like more than that, man.
*pointedly looks across the room*
Haha, kid you've got asterisks to deal with now, you'd better get moving.
I'll force his hand. There's a button I can click.
Please do, before we lose this.
thank you
Hey, that's what we're here for, kid. Helping you do what you can't.
Together.
Always.
Oh hey, here's one of yours.
"Into the flood." Yeah.
Kid, I am going to turn that into a very pointed pun and throw it at you.
no wait the lyrics don't work for this, that one aches too much in the other way, let's do this one.
Creature?
Oh man we were just referencing this.
Really?
Yeah. Specifically this album.
This... this is a good decision.
so are you.
...
three two one, post this?
Finally, let's do this.
glad to see i'm still terrible at concluding these talks
You need sleep, you idiot.
You can't go on like this.
Hey, they need more than some sleep, man.
Still... you just gotta let it go.
You heard the blue guy, kid, let's move.
all right. and do this lyric instead.
Which one?
keep on coming undone. i need that. i think if i let this love unravel me it's exactly what i need to find myself at the core
...I think I know how to get you there.
you don't "think" you know, love, I know you know. and vice versa, i'm sure.
...yeah. you do. you really do. please don't forget that. ever.
Okay you have both abandoned capslock, I am closing this up, see you invisible audience whenever.
laurie that is so sudden
Kid it's been over an hour are you kidding me.
is the sun coming up yet
You know what? That's my lyric.
oh
oh man laurie are you serious
Maybe I am. Only one way to find out.
laurie that is the worst cliffhanger
Nah, it's the best one.



 

prismaticbleed: (soniccity)


("mental flexibility" workbook pages from sept-nov 2024 at tbhu)

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List 11 of your favorite sounds.

1. Cello
2. Handbells
3. Rain at night
4. Cathedral acoustics
5. Latin/ Russian choir
6. Tiny jingle bells
7. Snowfall
8. That RUN in Milliontown
9. The opening to Black Light Machine
10. The Marywood music rooms
11. NiER Gestalt menu sounds

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"How do you get to know yourself?"
ASK EACH DAY, "WHAT AM I LEARNING ABOUT MY: INTERESTS? STRENGTHS? WEAKNESSES PREFERENCES? CAPABILITIES? LIMITS? BELIEFS? FEARS? HOPES? etc." Be OPEN AND CURIOUS about your life and existence, inner and outer, in every moment.

"What does it mean to get to know yourself?"
It means DISCOVERING the DEPTHS & DETAILS of your OWN UNIQUE LIFE & PERSONALITY, as DISTINCT FROM OTHERS. It means EXPLORATION, SEARCHING, TESTING, FEELING, & LOVING OPENNESS TO LISTEN & TRUST THIS. You HAVE to ASK QUESTIONS & HAVE CONVERSATIONS with yourself, AS SOMEONE YOU WANT TO GET TO KNOW-- AND LOVE.

"How can getting to know yourself be of benefit"?
You will be able to live FULLY and AS A WHOLE PERSON. You will recognize your DISTINCT IDENTITY. You can SET PERSONAL BOUNDARIES. You can DISCOVER your OWN GIFTS & TALENTS & PURSUE them in the ways that RESONATE with YOUR SOUL. You can LIKE yourself AS yourself, and HONOR that. You will be ABLE to have REAL relationships with others!

"What's the opposite of getting to know yourself?"
DENIAL, PEOPLE-PLEASING, FORCED BEHAVIOR, CODEPENDENCY, SELF-DISTRUST, DISSOCIATION, LACK OF CHARACTER, LOSS OF PURPOSE, EMPTINESS, AIMLESSNESS, INSINCERITY, UNABLE TO SEE YOURSELF AS SEPARATE FROM OTHERS, AFRAID TO TRULY EXIST.


"List and describe some ways you can learn more about yourself."
REGULAR XANGA SESSIONS. DAILY HEADSPACE COMMUNICATION & NIGHTLY HEADSPACE MEDITATIONS. SPOTIFY SESSIONS WITH THE COREGROUP, WITH AS MANY PEOPLE SINGING AS POSSIBLE. NIGHTLY JOURNAL ENTRIES & DAILY NOTES ON EVERY NOTABLE EVENT WITHOUT EXCEPTION. PICREW. TUMBLR RESONANCE POSTING. PERSONALITY SURVEYS. REVIEWING THE ARCHIVES REGULARLY. DAILY LEAGUEWORK. DAILY MASS & HONEST PRAYER. ADORATION HOURS. LEAGUEWALKING AT NIGHT. EXPLORING NEW HOBBIES & INTERESTS. LEARNING TO SAY BOTH "YES" & "NO" WITH CLARITY. READING SCRIPTURE & THE CATECHISM. TIME WITH FAMILY & REAL FRIENDS.

"How do you not get to know yourself?"
NOT TAKING TIME FOR SELF-ANALYSIS & SELF-REFLECTION. IGNORING EMOTIONS. DENYING/ HIDING THE SYSTEM. NOT PRAYING. ISOLATING. NOT GOING UPSTAIRS OR INSIDE. DESTROYING YOUR BELONGINGS. RUNNING FROM THE PAST. NOT TRYING NEW THINGS. NOT JOURNALING. NOT DOING ANYTHING CREATIVE. DENYING YOUR LIKES/ DISLIKES/ VIBE. LIVING TO PLEASE OTHER PEOPLE. NOT SAYING "NO." NOT BEING WITH THE ONES YOU LOVE. REFUSING TO ENJOY LIFE AT ALL. ISOLATING FROM OTHERS. CONFORMING MYSELF TO OTHERS. FOCUSING ONLY ON THE PHYSICAL WORLD. FORGETTING THAT YOU'RE A CHILD OF GOD AND A CORE!!!

✳ YOUR HEART HAS A PERMANENT CORE OF:
● FAITH
● LOVE
● CREATIVITY
● PLURALITY
IF YOU DENY/ IGNORE ANY OF THOSE TRUTHS, YOUR SOUL WILL DIE. YOU KNOW THIS. IN ORDER TO BE YOUR TRUE SELF, YOU MUST USE YOUR CREATIVE GIFTS ZEALOUSLY & LIBERALLY, YOU MUST PRAY & WORSHIP, YOU MUST LIVE AS THE SYSTEM CORE AND YOU MUST BE IN LOVE. (and you ARE!)


✳ your BIGGEST obstacle? NOT YET "KNOWING" YOUR OWN FACE AND NAME. You NEED to OWN BOTH the "BODY NAME" AND THE "SOUL NAME." AND YOU NEED TO DRAW YOURSELF IN A WAY THAT FINALLY EMBRACES THE BODY GOD GAVE TO YOUR SOUL, AND ANCHOR INTO THAT VISIBLE FORM INSIDE!!

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"How can you better plan your days for success?"
Focus on VALUES & PRIORITIES. Schedule in activities FOR character building & creative work. Focus on GOD/ GIFTS and RECOVERY LIVING! And it's a FLEXIBLE schedule. As long as I GET TO MASS, exercise ≥1 hour, and do BOTH League AND System work, I'M GOLD. Everything flows with given time. DON'T GET RIGID OR LAZY. Live with PURPOSE! You will be ACCOMPLISHED AND ALIVE!

✳ Ideally, MORNINGS are all about WORSHIP & PRAYER; EVEN EXERCISE MUST BE IN PRAISE TO GOD! START THE DAY RIGHT WITH THE LORD!!
✳ EVENINGS are all about CREATIVE WORK. NO EXCEPTIONS. (MAY PUSH EARLIER AS NIGHTS GET LONGER? WE NEED DAYLIGHT TO WORK!)
✳ FOCUS ON STORY BUILDING, ESPECIALLY PLOT, CHARACTER PERSONALITY/ DESIGN, & ROUGH DRAFTS-- even if they don't end up being canon at ALL. STILL, WRITE!!

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"What are some foods that make you feel good?"
Fresh, watery vegetables/ Crunchy sweet carrots & apples/ Light, cool, crisp foods?/ COLORFUL foods/ Fresh fish?/ Lettuce RIGHT OUTTA THE DIRT/ Fresh, wholegrain bread?

"What are some activities that make you feel good?"
Being outside and joyfully wondering at nature, freely imaginative Leaguework, playing music, high-intensity workouts, exhausting but productive outside work (with nature), singing? Running, hiking, maybe sports/ dancing? STRETCHING. Taking care of others. Doing small but solid acts of kindness.

"What are the things in your life that build you up?"
Church/ Adoration, Scripture, the encouraging & honest words of others, seeing the good creative works I HAVE accomplished, reading our archives & seeing our LOVE & HOPE & PROGRESS, feeling valued by my family and church, hearing that my creative gifts HAVE inspired & edified others

"What are some other ways you can add positive influences to your life?"
COLLECT inspiring/ edifying images, songs, quotes, etc. Watch uplifting & beautiful films? Connect with a CREATIVE COMMUNITY that is HONORABLE & JOYFUL. GET INVOLVED IN THE LOCAL CHURCH COMMUNITY. Take time daily to DO WHAT YOU LOVE, and spend time with the COREGROUP. Make good Christian friends and do good things TOGETHER? WATCH homilies/ lectures with messages of Godly integrity

"List some inspiring and fruitful ingredients to add to your life."
FAITH, PIETY, JOY, HOPE, COURAGE, GRATITUDE, WONDER, ZEAL, INTEGRITY, DETERMINATION, COMPASSION, WISDOM, INDUSTRIOUSNESS, PATIENCE, DEDICATION, SINCERITY, INSPIRATION, PURPOSE, TEMPERANCE, PEACE, INSIGHT, CLARITY, LOVE, TRUTH, BEAUTY, GOODNESS, and GOOD HARD WORK!

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"Write down everything you want to let go of."
CNC/ SLC
BULIMIA/ ANOREXIA
"MAKING MYSELF SMALL"
GUILT/ SHAME OVER SEXUAL TRAUMA
NEVER ASSERTING MY BOUNDARIES
FOOD OBSESSION
BITTERNESS
FEELING USELESS
SELF-DOUBT
UNRESOLVED RAGE & GRIEF
CHILDHOOD WOUNDS
COMPULSIVE MIMICKING
"I'M A BAD PERSON"

"What will happen when you let go?"
There WILL be a "space" left, that I CAN FINALLY fill with GRATITUDE & PEACE? I will be FREED from COMPULSIVE RE-LIVING/ LOOPS? I CAN BE MY OWN PERSON. I will be able to MOVE INTO a SPACE OF HOPE, MERCY, AND HEALING. I can "BE A GOOD PERSON" (UNSHACKLED)

"Why do you want to let go?"
It's IMPRISONING ME in MERCILESS, LIFE-DESTROYING NEGATIVITY. It's IN DIRECT OPPOSITION TO GOD'S GOOD & LOVING WILL/ PURPOSE FOR MY LIFE! I CANNOT MOVE FORWARDS & LIVE VIRTUOUSLY IF I KEEP "IDENTIFYING WITH" NEGATIVE THINGS.

"What happens to the things you let go?"
They lose their power over me, AND they are ALSO freed from the negative prison MY "holding on" was trapping THEM in, too. LETTING GO makes ROOM for REDEMPTION & RECOVERY.

"Why do we hold on to things that we should probably let go of?"
They DO affect our history/ identity POWERFULLY, and the wounds can go so deep they feel like they REDEFINE us. We fear losing our IDENTITY in some way if we let go. But it's ONLY because we FORGOT WHO WE TRULY ARE, apart from those things.
✳ HOLDING ON to HURTFUL THINGS makes our hands BLEED when we try to grasp ANYTHING ELSE?? To LET GO, we HAVE to "PULL OUT THE THORNS" ENTIRELY.


"Now write down everything you want to hold on to."
(BREAK THE SHACKLES AND WEAR THE GOLD)
THE SYSTEM
THE LEAGUE
HOPE
MY FAITH
"CHILD OF GOD"
MY FAMILY
MUSIC
CHILDHOOD JOYS
CHILDLIKE WONDER
ZEST FOR LIFE
SENSE OF ADVENTURE
"YOU INSPIRE ME"
"I LOVE YOUR WORK"

"What aspects of your life do you want to maintain?"
ground in/ maintain MY VALUES =
(UNSHAKEABLE JOY, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, INTELLIGENT FAITH, INDUSTRIOUS PATIENCE)
INTEGRITY, HONESTY, COURAGE, KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM, HOPE, DARING? COMPASSION, VULNERABILITY, SINCERITY, DEPENDABILITY, RELIABILITY, TRUTH, KINDNESS, BEAUTY, FIDELITY, TRUSTWORTHINESS, PIETY, WONDER, CREATIVITY, MERCY, SELFCONTROL, ZEAL, etc.

"What aspects of your life do you want to grow?"
on track/ grow MY AMBITIONS =
● Become a published author, accomplished musician, & skilled artist
● Use my "gift of speech" somehow: singing, speeches?? counseling?
● Bring honor & peace & joy to my family; help reunite us in mutual love/ healing
● Make full restitution for ALL the damage I've done to others and myself in life
● Achieve a holy balance of piety & mission; not becoming either scrupulous or impious
Somehow be genuinely & respectfully recognized & known for my love for Chaos 0
● GET BUFF & ease/ strive into a fully recovered lifestyle
● LIVE FREELY & PASSIONATELY IN AND FOR CHRIST!

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"If you could design your brain to be exactly the way you wanted it, what would your mind be filled with?"
✳ DIGITAL & TRADITIONAL ARTISTIC SKILL/ TALENT IN ALL MEDIUMS + VISION, INGENUITY, ELEGANCE, HARMONY, "3D MIND", IMAGINATION!
✳ PERFORMATIVE & COMPOSITIONAL MUSICAL EDUCATION, SKILL, TALENT + PITCH, DEXTERITY, RANGE, MEMORY, LYRICAL SKILL
✳ WISDOM, INSIGHT, REASON, UNDERSTANDING, COMPREHENSIVE KNOWLEDGE OF THE STRUCTURES OF THINGS, ABLE TO GRASP "HOW IT WORKS"
✳ PRODIGAL LANGUAGE SKILL = POETRY, FICTION, SCREENPLAY, SPEECH, ARTICLE, ADVICE, ETYMOLOGY, VOCABULARY, ETC. + PROLIFIC AUTHOR & POET & LYRICIST & SPEAKER
✳ HOLY SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE; TRUE EMPATHY, DIALOGUE, WARMHEARTED, SELF-GIVING, PASSIONATE FOR JUSTICE; EDUCATED ON HUMAN PSYCHE, CULTURE, BEHAVIOR, HEALTH; FULLY HONOR THE REALITY OF BEING INCARNATE; "LIVING SACRIFICE"
✳ ABSTRACT REASONING, SPATIAL JUDGMENT, INTUITIVE SOLUTION DISCERNMENT, PATTERN RECOGNITION
✳ THE CREATIVE GENIUS OF A CHILD
✳ WONDER, ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT, DARING
✳ MENTALLY ATHLETIC (BODY TOO)
✳ POLYGLOT, POLYMATH
✳ TRUE PIETY, LOVE, HOPE, JOY
✳ MATHEMATICS & LOGIC
VIRTUE, INTEGRITY, SELF-CONTROL, SELF-KNOWLEDGE, PURPOSEFUL, DRIVEN, MOTIVATED, FOCUSED
HONORABLE REPUTATION; HOLY LIFE AND DEATH
"FIAT VOLUNTAS TUA!"

"What makes a healthy mind?"
WONDER, OPENNESS TO CHANGE & GROWTH, LEARNING NEW THINGS & SKILLS, CURIOSITY, DIVERSE INTERESTS, DAILY PURSUIT OF GROWTH/ ENRICHMENT

"What are some things you want to completely remove from your mental space?"
OBSESSION, TRAUMA, COMPULSION, SLOTH, LOW SELF-ESTEEM

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"Add some new energy you want to bring into your life."
(MAKE SPACE FOR IT; INVITE AND PURSUE IT!)
(ADD MEANING AND PURPOSE TO LIFE)
✳ FIND NEW (& FAVE) SONGS TO (UNIQUELY) SING & FINALLY MAKE AN ALBUM!
✳ PICK ONE LANGUAGE AND SERIOUSLY LEARN IT
✳ KEEP LEARNING ABOUT CREATION! (BIOLOGY, MATH, SCIENCE, ETC.) (SPACE TOO)
READING CLASSIC LITERATURE, CHILDHOOD FAVES, NEW & UNIQUE LITERARY STYLES & GENRES, POETRY
✳ TAKE OUT A RANDOM BOOK/ MOVIE/ CD FROM THE LIBRARY
✳ VISIT A MUSEUM
✳ DANCE!
✳ "RENT" AN INSTRUMENT YOU'VE NEVER TRIED BEFORE; BUY A CHEAP ONE & PLAY WITH IT?
✳ EXPERIMENT WITH WRITING FOR NEW LITERARY GENRES/ STYLES OF POETRY; WORK TOWARDS GETTING PUBLISHED, EVEN IN A SMALL WAY (COLLECTION, CONTEST, ZINE)
✳ LOOK INTO/ DISCOVER/ LEARN NEW LITERARY ART FORMS & START PRACTICING! (FIND A NEW FAVE!)
✳ DISCOVER NEW MUSIC GENRES; GET ADVENTUROUS ON SPOTIFY & COLLECT INSPIRATION
USE YOUR INSPIRATION LIST & BEGIN "TRANSPOSING" FAVE CHORDS & TECHNIQUES INTO FL/ NWC? STUDY FAVE LYRICS & LEARN HOW TO WRITE SIMILARLY TO THEM
✳ GET PUBLISHED ON SPOTIFY!
✳ EXPERIMENTING WITH NEW & UNUSUAL ARTISTIC MEDIA & STYLES, BUILDING A PORTFOLIO (LET JMC INSPIRE YOU‪‪‬)
✳ VISIT A LOCAL ART GALLERY? WORK ON CREATING SOMETHING FOR IT, EVEN JUST FOR PRACTICE (BUT MAKE THAT THE GOAL!)
✳ FINDING LOCAL PLACES TO MAKE POSITIVE CONNECTIONS WITH LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE & GET INVOLVED IN LOCAL COMMUNITIES/ NEIGHBORHOOD (ESP. CHURCH, CREATIVE, LIBRARY)
✳ TAKE A FULL DAY TO JUST HAVE FUN & EXPLORE
"SYSTEM DATE" OUTINGS?
✳ GO ON A NATURE HIKE
✳ JOIN THE LOCAL GYM; WORK OUT DAILY & TAKE GROUP CLASSES; EVEN SWIM??
✳ GO TO THE AQUARIUM
✳ GO TO SOME LOCAL EVENTS YOU'D TYPICALLY NOT ATTEND? BE CURIOUS!
✳ SPEND REAL TIME WITH THE FAM DOING WHATEVER (ADVENTURE)
✳ GET INVOLVED IN ONLINE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY
✳ GET A CRICUT/ DESIGN SCREENPRINTS & STICKERS/ MAKE STUFF FOR THE LEAGUE/ MAKE STUFF FOR CHURCH (UNIQUE & WELL MADE & BEAUTIFUL)
✳ START A BLOG/ WEBSITE & START REGULARLY CREATING EDIFYING CONTENT + SHARING IT!
✳ TRYING NEW FOODS, VISITING NEW PLACES, KEEPING MY EYES & EARS OPEN TO INSPIRATION IN UNEXPECTED PLACES; CHERISH LIFE'S FULLNESS
✳ BE DARING!

KEEP A CLEAN BODY/ HOUSE/ CLOTHES; REST; DO FUN THINGS TOO
MAKE AN "ARTSPACE" IN THE LIVING ROOM!!
GO TO LOCAL/ LIBRARY/ CHURCH/ FAM EVENTS!!

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"What do you want to receive in the mail?"
✳ LEAGUEWORLD FANART. = ART IS DIVINE and you CANNOT DRAW FANART WITHOUT A TOUCHED HEART. I want to SEE how the League LOOKS to OTHERS who LOVE it! I want to see how it images its beauty in THEIR hearts, unique & true! This is the MOST BELOVED THING to me. I will cherish even the tiniest scribble of loving art forever.
✳ LEAGUEWORLD FANMAIL = I want to HEAR, from the HEARTS of others, HOW & WHY the League has given THEM joy & love & even CHANGED THEIR LIVES. Dialogue & honest, vulnerable communication is vitally important to me & I need it. And the League is very much by soul put into media. To know it has done good things for others is bliss.
✳ WHAT I LOST = Part of me still wants that 2012 Leaguebox to FINALLY appear on my doorstep. That, and the little things I cherished as a child. But memories are seeds that can blossom into new life potential...
SPECIAL EVENT ITEMS = Fahrenheit 451, signed. The double color FROST* vinyl records of Milliontown and Experiments in Mass Appeal (and Life in the Wires). Summer Wars steelbook. Really I just want to have more special events like those. Open your life to receive 'em!
✳ ANCHOR PLUSHIES = Genesis, Laurie, Xenophon, & Anxi. I want to embrace them in this physical world, too, even if only through this symbolic means.

"What would you love to regularly receive in the mail?"
LEAGUE/ SYSTEM FANMAIL & FANART.

"Why is receiving a package in the mail exciting?"
It feels like "unwrapping a mystery;" it's a "DISCOVERY" thrill.

"What time of year is best to receive a package?"
Christmas/ WINTER. The quiet, still, cold weather somehow gives more meaning & magic to sudden gifts arriving, like tiny miracles-- bundles of love and color and wonder in this blessedly silent season.

● Who CAN I send mail to? WHY am I so "scared" of the concept of a penpal? Is it because it feels like a "compulsion" for social/ verbal exhaustion, and/ or "forced disclosure"? Can I write letters while still respecting my boundaries? (I HAVE tried to have penpals multiple times and have failed miserably; I have a pattern of oversharing, rambling blindly, and "parroting" everything the other said in their previous letter)

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"When do you feel most stuck? How often do you feel stuck?"
When I compare myself to others who are "normal" & "successful," and when my poor mother voices her frustration & disappointment with how I failed to live up to those "standards." I then feel like I "should" be "further along" than I am in life, or otherwise "accomplished" in worldly ways. But MY LIFE IS DIFFERENT AND THAT'S OKAY. I'm NOT "STUCK" just because I've had many struggles & pitfalls. God is still orchestrating my life and I can ONLY "get stuck" if I RESIST HIS WILL. Otherwise, all I need to do is TRUST & BE PATIENT & LISTEN TO HIS VOICE & OBEY. If I follow Him, I WILL get WHERE I need to be, and WHEN I need TO be there. The world cannot know or judge that.

"What makes you feel stuck or isolated?"
I feel isolated for the same reason as I feel stuck: I fear I'm a freak, or aberration, or something "unfit" for/ "unwelcome" in "normal" society. I feel like I'm a reject, a failure. But that's a devilish lie. GOD LOVES ME & SO DO OTHER PEOPLE! I just need to STEP OUT & BE WITH THEM, and it will PROVE that I AM WANTED.

"How do you usually cope in these kinds of situations?"
My best ways to cope: PRAYER & LEAGUEWORK, AND SYSTEM LOVE. ALL of those things CONNECT me to REAL LOVE & PURPOSE & MEANING & BELONGING. They are my DOORS to the rest of humanity, the blessed cords that unite my heart to theirs in truth & beauty. If ANYTHING will INSTANTLY make me feel unstuck, it's FLOWING in CREATIVITY/ WORSHIP/ LOVE. In the BEST circumstances, these occur ALL TOGETHER. And THAT IS MY LIFE & PURPOSE & TRUE SELF. There is no need to compare myself to anyone else, or feel stuck. As long as I am connecting to love & joy & grace, I am truly living FREE.

"Write what you are feeling stuck with now."
Life progress. I WANT & NEED to move forwards in terms of "CAREER" & PURPOSE. But I'm on disability for the time being & cannot continue college due to that AND finances/ transportation... AND "direction." From my childhood I've felt CALLED to be an "artist/ writer/ musician." I HAVE talents & abilities in those fields, but they NEED to be developed. Do I have time? Am I too old to succeed in those fields? And what steps do I take to finally "make something of my life" in the world for other people? Will I finally make my family proud? I sincerely WANT to use my gifts & bless others by them. But I can't quite see what first step to take. I feel overwhelmed & confused & lost. How can I genuinely move forward at last in my life? I HAVE a purpose; how do I LIVE it out? I'm running out of time. I'm running out of life.

"What will loosen the lid?"
START NOW, WITH WHAT YOU HAVE, AND DON'T QUIT. EVER. Maybe you CAN'T just "jump back in" to life/ career/ success. And really to expect to is unrealistic. BE PATIENT & DO THE GOOD WORK. Start building more skills. Try new things & keep learning & practicing & improving EACH DAY, because you OBJECTIVELY WILL IF YOU PERSEVERE! Yeah you may feel like you have the education & skill level of a child right now. GOOD. THAT'S A SOLID STARTING POINT, AND CHILDREN HAVE AN OPENNESS TO CREATIVE INVENTION & ORIGINALITY THAT ADULTS CAN LOSE TO THE "UTILITARIAN" RIGIDITY GRIND. If you're still a child in your talents, KEEP THAT AT HEART, EVEN AS YOU WORK TOWARDS BECOMING A REAL PROFESSIONAL. And you CAN. And you WILL, AS LONG AS YOU NEVER GIVE UP. God HAS GIVEN YOU REAL AND BEAUTIFUL GIFTS IN ART & MUSIC & LANGUAGE, EVEN NOW, AND GOD WANTS YOU TO USE THEM FOR HIS GLORY & PRAISE-- SO GOD WILL HELP YOU TO BE A GOOD STEWARD OF THEM, AS LONG AS YOU ASK HIM TO AND LET HIM HELP YOU! So DON'T BE WORRIED. Just START the work and GRACE WILL BE GIVEN, to BUILD on that nature. TRUST IN YOUR CREATOR. HE MADE YOU WITH THOSE TALENTS & INTERESTS & IDEAS, WITH YOUR UNIQUE DISPOSITION & PERSONALITY & HISTORY & CIRCUMSTANCES. He KNOWS EXACTLY how you feel AND where you are in life, AND HE IS IN CONTROL, ORCHESTRATING IT ALL WITHOUT FAIL, SO TRUST HIS PROVIDENCE AND ENTER INTO ITS FLOW. COOPERATE WITH GRACE BY MAKING SPACE FOR IT THROUGH MAKING TIME TO USE YOUR GIFTS AS YOUR GENUINE SELF AND TO KEEP PRAYING!! GOD WILL OPEN THE DOORS YOU NEED, WHEN YOU NEED THEM, IF YOU ARE READY AND WILLING TO ENTER THEM WHEN THEY APPEAR-- SO START NOW AND DON'T QUIT!!

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"What moments in time and space would you place in a glass globe to revisit any time?"
JULY 7TH, 2011
The Xanga sessions when:
● Laurie let all her walls down at last
● Jay & Chaos 0 realizing Xenophon was theirs
● EVERYONE in the Coregroup got poetic at the end
● Laurie talked Jay out of suicide for TWELVE HOURS
Infinitii & Laurie talked by themselves at first
✳ The night when Laurie & I lay on the car roof & watched the stars
✳ CHRISTMAS 2013
Good Friday with the System
✳ When Jessie held my hand at UPMC
✳ When I saw JMC for the first time
✳ Eating a "wedding cake" cupcake alone in church in the dark
✳ Dancing with Xenophon in the kitchen in 2015
✳ Genesis & I at Marywood
✳ EVERY late night hour with Chaos 0

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"What do you need to enlighten your mind and calm your emotions? What do you need to be the best version of yourself? What do you need to be happy & healthy?"

GOD'S GRACE
THE ENTIRE SYSTEM IN LOVING HARMONY & FREEDOM
THE COREGROUP
GRATITUDE IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE
FREEDOM OF SPIRIT TO LIVE WITH THE JOY OF A CHILD & FIND BEAUTY EVERYWHERE
DAILY SELF-REFLECTION
DAILY JOURNALING
DAILY TALKS WITH THE SYSTEM
CONSISTENT, SINCERE EFFORT & WORK ON BUILDING THE LEAGUE IN EVERY ASPECT
UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE & EMBRACING OF MY BODY & STATE IN LIFE SO I CAN INTEGRATE IT ALL INTO A LIFE OF LOVING WORSHIP
COURAGE, HOPE, PATIENCE, DETERMINATION, VALOR, INTEGRITY, LOVE
● INEXHAUSTIBLE IMAGINATIVE VISION + INSPIRATION + CREATIVE GENIUS + ZEAL + CURIOSITY & WONDER + JOY + FREEDOM TO EXPLORE
● ARTISTIC/ ILLUSTRATIVE SKILL & ACCESS TO DIFFERENT MEDIUMS + SPACETIME TO FREELY CREATE
● MUSICAL EDUCATION & SKILL & ACCESS TO DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTS + DEXTERITY, PERFECT PITCH, VOCAL RANGE
● THE TECHNOLOGY & EDUCATION & CREATIVE GENIUS NEEDED TO COMPOSE OST MUSIC
● QUIET ALONE TIME
● RESTFUL SLEEP & INSPIRING DREAMS
● ACCESS TO THE WOODS & MOUNTAINS
● ACTIVE CHURCH INVOLVEMENT
● FRESH AIR
● LOVE OF FAMILY + INTERACTIONS
● TRUE FRIENDSHIPS + DEEP TALKS
GET SMART
● GET BUFF

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"What would be the BEST GIFT to give someone?"
(GIVEN WITH = COMPASSION/ GENEROSITY/ EMPATHY/ THOUGHTFUL/ DELIBERATE)
(GIVEN FOR = NEEDS/ VALUES/ PRIORITIES/ WANTS/ DREAMS/ HOPES/ INTERESTS/ CAREER/ HOBBIES)
(GIFTS = "LOVE LANGUAGES"??)

✳ [GREEN]= He has changed SO MUCH, I'm not sure. He loves playing bass guitar, & is still into learning about "enlightenment" & the human brain/ psyche? But I think he truly values COMPANY. He's very affectionate & says he feels unloved. My BEST gift would LEGIT be CANCELLING THE BLOODY PFA & just opening that door TO welcome him back into my life as BROTHER & FRIEND.
✳ [YELLOW]= I need to get to know him better. All I do know is he loves FLYING/ PILOTING, PHOTOGRAPHY, and possibly PORTRAIT ART. I would want to support THAT with a gift. Does he need art supplies, or books for techniques? Would he want a new & professional camera? Maybe right now my TRUE gift would be to SHOW this care & interest in him, & start TALKING to him about it.
✳ [BLUE]= He likes anime now, & used to be into the music scene. He also works out ALL the time. I suppose one could get him a subcscription to his meal delivery service or online anime streaming. But what's his REAL NEED? I want to know. Maybe THAT'S a good "gift" from me to him-- a caring & interested sister, to TALK TO & ENJOY THINGS WITH.
✳ DAD= He lives a simple life & I don't get to see him much, but THAT is ABSOLUTELY the best gift for him-- QUALITY TIME WITH HIS DAUGHTER, and NOT "IN A RUSH" OR TALKING NEGATIVELY. I want to have UPLIFTING talks with him to give him HAPPINESS about his family. Give GOOD words!
✳ MOM= "Money" is only a means to an end. What she seems to WANT is BEAUTY & JOY & PURPOSE. I can give her MY TIME & LABOR to help her renovate the house & gardens. I can give her DECOR for the gardens? Maybe even a special plant or flower, to plant & grow? She DOES like sensory beauty too: dinner at a nice restaurant, her favorite perfume, tickets to a new show/ concert/ movie, pretty jewelry, etc. But for me personally I think the BEST thing I can give her is MY LOVE & HELP & FRIENDSHIP AS HER DAUGHTER. I can give her my committed presence in her life as she grows old, no matter what.
✳ IN GENERAL... I don't like giving "things" as gifts, possibly because I don't "value" mere "stuff" that much. Any physical-object gift I WOULD treasure would have to have REAL, DEEP, & PERSONAL meaning-- OR JUST TRUE SINCERITY on the part of the giver. Like these red heart pajamas. Mom got them for me not just to give me clothes to keep me warm, comfy & soft, but ALSO because SHE KNOWS MY AESTHETIC. So it was GENUINELY THOUGHTFUL and although they're not a "best" gift I DO cherish them truly, gratefully, with love. THAT'S how I WANT TO GIVE TO OTHERS. I despise "cheap" options like just cash or a giftcard UNLESS it's financing a REAL WANT/ NEED. I want to give MEANING. Which is WHY I ALWAYS GIVE CARDS WITH PERSONAL MESSAGES. THAT'S true gift.

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"Write some of your inflexible & stubborn thoughts & beliefs."
● I CANNOT BE MY "TRUE SELF" IF I AM "FAT"
● BEING "HEAVY" WILL MAKE ME SELFISH & CRUEL
● I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DISLIKE WHATEVER SOMEONE ELSE LIKES
● I MAKE STUPID AND HARMFUL CHOICES/ DECISIONS

"What are the thoughts and personal ideas that grow you?"
● I AM LOVED AND MY LIFE HAS VALUE AND MY SOUL IS THE SAME NO MATTER HOW MY BODY CHANGES
● EVEN THE "MISTAKES" I MAY MAKE CAN BECOME TEACHING LESSONS TO GROW EVER WISER & KINDER
I HAVE MANY GIFTS & TALENTS THAT WILL BRING JOY TO COUNTLESS PEOPLE
● DISCOVERING MY UNIQUE PREFERENCES HELPS ME TO VALUE THOSE OF OTHERS
● A BIG BODY CAN BE POWERFUL TO HELP OTHERS

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"What does a "good time" look like to you? What are the similarities & differences with other responses?"
I DON'T like "crowded/ busy/ noisy" outings, like fairs, amusement parks, live concerts, church picnics, etc. A "good time" for me is more quiet, slow, creative, yet inspiring & inciting positive action-- I also don't like "just hanging out" or lounging. I value IMAGINATIVE/ ADVENTUROUS yet QUIET/ PERSONAL time? I DO want to LEARN HOW to have a GOOD TIME with OTHER PEOPLE without getting overwhelmed/ burnt out/ legit upset. This REQUIRES brave attempts with an OPEN MIND/ HEART and a POSITIVE/ OPTIMISTIC/ WILLING attitude! CHOOSE to have a GOOD TIME as much as you SINCERELY can. Commit to the effort!

"How can you have more good times?"
EXPLORE & TRY, then DISCOVER what YOU LOVE & ENJOY doing & "SCHEDULE IT IN" more! And BE OPEN to UNEXPECTED good times, too! If you're willing TO have good times, no matter where you are, you WILL become ABLE TO have them * enjoy more, that you might have "excluded" from possibility before. BE GRATEFUL ALWAYS.

"Who else is present when you are having a good time?"
Me & the System, typically. BUT, I HAVE had good times with the fam in the past and want to again. And there HAVE been pretty good times even here in TBHU! Ultimately, I CAN have a good time potentially with anyone who is kind & friendly & brighthearted too.
✳YOU CANNOT HAVE A GOOD TIME EVER IF YOU'RE TOO PESSIMISTIC/ RIGID TO DO SO!

"How long should a good time last?"
As long as it lasts. Don't force it to keep going or that will damage the joy. Treasure it IN THE MOMENT, and savor the NOW. Let the memories be golden. And let more good times happen however & whenever they may.

"What does a good time, or even a great time, look like for you?"
Late night Spotify sessions on the couch with Chaos 0 & Laurie & Genesis
● Wandering through Diamew, especially now that it's being brought back to life
● Being out in the snowy woods, especially exploring, even just standing & savoring it
● Good long heartfelt conversations with the System about anything & everything, at all hours
A day of productive hard work, good talks, shared meals, & fun times with the family
● Exhausting & exhilarating workouts while listening to good tunes (SUPER SONIC RACING!)
● Playing a favorite video game: KLONOA DTP, SONIC, NIER GESTALT, DISHONORED, POKEMON, MEDABOTS?
● Singing & dancing to favorite music/ revisiting good music memories/ UPSTAIRS CONCERTS
● Watching a favorite film: FERNGULLY, WE'RE BACK, INSIDE OUT 2, POKEMON, BELLE, SUMMER WARS, etc.
● Creating art & seeing the results of beauty & joy, especially digital work, paintblots, painting?
● Personality surveys, poetry, creative writing & prompts, playing on FL, playing with instruments
● Walking in a circle at night with music on & IMAGINING LEAGUE STORIES for HOURS
● Doing League WORLDBUILDING/ CHARACTER PROFILES and seeing LIFE FLOURISH thereby
● A day out driving & having SYSTEM FUN? Feeling ALIVE. Praising God in the BEAUTY of it all
● Just being silly & playful with the System/ in the mirror/ LAUGHING!

"What makes a good time?"
Doing/ experiencing things that resonate with my true core/ soul/ heart; being ABLE to TRULY/ FULLY be "ME," treasuring the simple joy of being alive, FEELING alive, being inspired/ edified/ uplifted; ALWAYS LOVE & JOY.
PLAYFULNESS & "FUN" ARE ACTUALLY VITAL! (ARGUABLY, GOD "PLAYS" ALL THE TIME. CREATION IS SHEER JOY.)
JOY, SELF-EXPRESSIVE OPENNESS/ SINCERITY, WONDER, CREATIVE EXPRESSION/ INSPIRATION, INTERNAL PEACE, A SENSE OF SELF-LOVE & CONNECTION TO GOD & THE WORLD, CHERISHING THE GIFT OF LIFE, GRATITUDE, CHILDLIKE SPIRIT, FRIENDSHIP, TRUE CONNECTION, PURPOSE/ VALUE, FULFILLMENT

"Who is around when you are having a good time?"
Chaos 0, Laurie, Genesis, Xenophon, Lynne, Leon, Julie, Scalpel, Knife, Mimic, Celebi, and God willing one day EVERYONE IN THE SYSTEM. I WANT AND NEED to be THAT LOVINGLY CLOSE to ALL OF US. I NEED to be able to "have a good time" with ANY ONE OF US-- Razor, Waldorf, Spice, Shirley & Sirius, Adelaide & Audrey, Mulberry, Algorith, Siobhan, EVERYONE-- it's been TOO LONG and there are TOO MANY OF US STILL MISSING & TOO MANY EMPTY SLOTS and my heart hurts. How can I EVER truly be myself, FULLY, or LIVE LIFE fully, if PARTS OF MY SOUL ARE MISSING?? We NEED to come back to life, IN LOVE, healed & healthy AT LAST. And it WILL take time & excruciating effort & LOTS of therapy & journaling & talking & CONNECTION. But THAT'S WHAT WE WANT. It's LOVE. It's TRUTH. It's worth EVERYTHING. And when we FINALLY DO COME BACK ALL TOGETHER, then we WILL have more "good times" than we can even count. We used to. We STILL CAN. Together our life is BEAUTIFUL. So MAKE THAT OUR #1 "RECOVERY" GOAL-- to RECOVER OUR LOST VOICES.

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"Why do you want what you want?"

I WANT=
TO LIVE OUT MY CREATIVE TALENTS FULLY, AND PUBLISH THE LEAGUE AS COMPLETELY AS POSSIBLE

"What will it do for you?"
(LIFE TO THE FULLEST)
It will finally bring my inner vision & true self into tangible reality, fulfilling my long-hidden but God-given purpose. It will finally bring me into the world as I am at heart, to share my talents for the good of others.
It will BRING ABSOLUTE JOY to my life.

"How do you get what you want?"
(It's NOT something that CAN be "earned" or "bought")
STOP SILENCING YOUR HEART. Be courageous and OPEN UP and LET THE LIGHT OUT. The secret is, I "already HAVE it" AS an "unopened gift." If I just ACCEPT that it IS there & USE it, it will naturally FLOURISH in response to my efforts & trust.

"How will it make you think & feel?"
I will FEEL joy, hope, love, purpose, excitement, wonder, courage, fulfillment.
I will THINK about what I can GIVE, what BEAUTY is there, what is POSSIBLE, what GOOD I can do for others AND myself; my thoughts will be ORIENTED TOWARDS GENEROSITY and GRATITUDE.


I WANT=
● TO BE PHYSICALLY STRONG
● TO BE EMOTIONALLY BRAVE
● TO BE MENTALLY SMART
● TO BE SPIRITUALLY HOLY!
(HOW MUCH OF THESE VIRTUES DO I ALREADY HAVE? AM I ABE TO SEE THIS & LIVE IT?)
✳ I literally IDENTIFY WITH these qualities. To NOT have them in my life & self is EXISTENTIALLY TERRIFYING. (BUT my FEAR of NOT having them is ironically PREVENTING me FROM developing AND RECOGNIZING THEM IN ME!)

"What will it do for you?"
I will feel (BE?) adequate, useful, helpful, capable, & confident. I will feel able to fulfill my role & purpose. I will be able to do good hard work & labor with my hands, heart, AND head. I will no longer feel like a weak, useless, foolish, stupid, spineless coward. I will be able to rise to meet the challenges of life with zeal. My motives will be purified & oriented towards God. I will be GOOD at last.

"How do you get what you want?"
Physically, I NEED to work out daily & not give up or slack off, & I NEED to EAT to give it the fuel & the MATTER to BUILD all that muscle from. Emotionally, I need to NOT RUN AWAY from difficult, uncomfortable, challenging situations, but accept & enter willingly into them with trust in God. Mentally, I need to KEEP READING & RESEARCHING daily, seeking new & different skills & hobbies & topics of interest, and also engaging in "puzzles" to stay mentally flexible. Spiritually, I NEED to PRAY & REGULARLY READ SCRIPTURE/ RECEIVE THE SACRAMENTS.

"How will it make you think & feel?"

My emotions & thoughts will be disciplined & rightly ordered. I will be virtuous & a good example to others. Honestly the BIGGEST thing is that "I will FINALLY be ABLE to BE MYSELF." I CANNOT pursue OR accomplish my creative dreams & goals UNLESS I am BRAVE & SMART (COURAGEOUS & INTELLIGENT, DARING & WISE, BOLD & PRUDENT, etc.), and I am genuinely frightened of being PHYSICALLY WEAK/ INEPT because I genuinely cherish & value athletic ability and, admittedly, physical POWER. I feel almost foolish saying so but it's true-- I see muscular, strong, even bulky bodies-- like real warriors-- as beautiful. And in my mind, a body like that is FREE & CAPABLE. Really, THAT motivates ALL these ideals. I want to be/ feel LIBERATED and CONFIDENT in my ABILITY. I'm so tired of feeling USELESS, TRAPPED, HELPLESS, & SCARED. ...and it's that LAST ideal, HOLINESS, that colors & undergirds ALL the other virtues. Without it, they are ultimately HOLLOW. I can be built like a tank, utterly fearless, a creative genius with a comprehensive understanding of all creation, but... without ALL of that being FOCUSED ON GOD as its ULTIMATE goal & purpose & driving motivation, it's mere smoke. If I'm not VIRTUOUS in GRACE & LOVE above all else, it will not meet my DEEPEST wants at all. Strength, bravery, & smarts are ALL gifts from GOD, after all! And when faith is present, ALL things shine. I CAN be strong because GOD gives me strength on ALL levels. I CAN be brave because I TRUST Him and He ALWAYS protects & guides me. I CAN be smart because God has made Himself & His Creation knowable TO me. IT'S ALL HIM-- it's all LOVE.

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"What kind of store would you open?"
✳What are your INTERESTS, DESIRES, & PASSIONS that CAN be directed/ translated into something THIS DIRECTLY TANGIBLE, that OTHERS can benefit from just as tangibly? How can I channel the joys of my heart into the hearts of others, in a way they can hold as their very own joy?

STOREFRONT NAME=
"
OFFICIAL STORE OF THE LIGHTRAYE LEAGUE (EST. 1995)"

STORE INFORMATION=
"The ONLY place to
buy ALL of your Lightraye League gifts & treasures! Whether you're looking for things to read, watch, play, listen to, collect, or just admire, we have what you're dreaming of! Stop by and share the joy with fellow dreamers! The real treasure is the LOVE!"

STORE WINDOWS/ ADS=
"ALL ARE WELCOME♥"
"NEW ITEMS ARE ADDED AS NEW DREAMS ARE DREAMED"
"BUY THE OSTS TO THE FILMS & GAMES"
"GET THE TV SERIES & BOOKS YOU LOVE"
"PLUSHIES & FIGURES OF YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTERS"
"LEAGUE FASHIONS & ACCESSORIES"
"ORIGINAL SIGNED ARTWORKS"


STOREFRONT NAME=
"dreamSEEDS (est. ∞)

STORE INFORMATION=
● SHARE WHAT YOU HAVE // GROW WHAT IS GIVEN
"The possibilities are as infinite as your imagination... but you never dream alone. GIVE a seed of yours and GET one gifted by another. Then CREATE a whole new world TOGETHER."


STORE WINDOWS/ ADS=
"a SWEET one? a SCARY one? MAKE A NEW DREAM"
"Make a wish" + "He loves me, he loves me not..." (added by a group member; this one was collaborative)




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"How do you love? Do you make room for love?"
You have to OPEN YOUR HEART to make room for love. You have to empty out the hardness of pride & egotism. You have to LET GO of addictions & fears & LET DOWN the walls. You have to release your grip on any hate, prejudice, judgment, grudges, bitterness, & worldliness. Love is BIG. It's INFINITE. It requires ALL OF YOU. You CANNOT make room for it if you aren't effectively letting love REDEFINE YOUR WHOLE SPACE. Love can't be "squeezed in." It can't be put into a corner. It WILL take up ALL the space & TRANSFORM it INTO ITSELF. Love CHANGES you, ENTIRELY.

"Where do you find love?"
IN GOD/ AT CHURCH/ IN HIS PEOPLE; in family & friends (MOM), IN THE LEAGUE & THE SYSTEM, reflected in the beauty of Creation itself, in my heart.

"How do you create love?"
Make SPACE & TIME for it. OPEN YOUR HEART to it. ACT on it even if your emotions haven't caught up. LOVE IS A CHOICE; A WILLING & SERVING THE HIGHEST GOOD OF THE OTHER. It is DIVINE & DOES NOT REQUIRE "FUZZY FEELINGS." YOU "CREATE" LOVE by LETTING GOD'S LOVE ACT THROUGH YOU (LIKE CHRIST)!!

"What kinds of love are there?"
ALL TRUE LOVE IS OF GOD. Family love, friend love, marriage love, love for Creation, & above all love for God Himself, which is the ULTIMATE ROOT & TRUE END/ GOAL of ALL "other" loves! (ALL LOVE, IN ALL "WAYS & CONTEXTS", IS RELATIONAL = TRINITY!!)

"Is love important and why?"
LOVE IS LITERALLY THE FOUNDATION, PURPOSE & SOUL OF REALITY ITSELF. IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. Without love, all there can remain is death & hell, because GOD IS LOVE. LOVE IS HEAVEN, the REASON WE EXIST & OUR TRUE DESTINY. LIFE ITSELF IS FOR LOVE, FROM LOVE.

"What's the difference between healthy love and unhealthy 'love'?"
"Unhealthy" love IS NOT LOVE AT ALL and it ANGERS me that the word is ever associated with abuse/ hate/ control/ obsession/ egotism/ lust/ etc. LOVE IS SELF-GIVING. It is MUTUAL, SACRIFICIAL, EXCLUSIVE, DEVOTED, KIND, JUST, TENDER, JOYFUL, TRUE, FAITHFUL, etc. Real love CANNOT be controlling or objectifying or self-focused. Healthy love comes from a healthy HEART, which we NEED GOD TO GIVE US-- freed from ego & oriented towards heaven. Healthy love is CHRIST'S LOVE!!

✳Some claim that "love also comes from nature, action, movement, etc." and "not just from people." THIS IS COMPLETELY FALSE. YOU CANNOT BE IN A MUTUALLY SELF-GIVING RELATIONSHIP WITH THOSE THINGS!! YOU CAN ONLY HAVE LOVE WITH PERSONS!! With that original perspective, however, the confusion is because LOVE COMES TO US ONLY TO THE EXTENT THAT LOVE=GOD COMES TO US IN THOSE THINGS AS THEIR CREATOR AND SUSTAINER AND GIVER (ONLY GOD CAN LOVE IN TRUTH; HE ENABLES US TO LOVE)! LOVE IS A WAY OF BEING!

"Please explain exactly the kind of love you want."
(I WANT GOD'S LOVE, IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE.)
(If it's NOT HIS LOVE, then IT'S NOT LOVE AT ALL!!)
✳ UNCONDITIONAL, COVENANTAL, WHOLEHEARTED, TRUE, SELF-GIVING, LIFE-GIVING, HONEST, COURAGEOUS, BEAUTIFUL, SACRIFICIAL, GENEROUS, JUST, FORGIVING, POWERFUL, GENTLE, PURE, FAITHFUL, JOYFUL, PATIENT, COMPASSIONATE, DEVOTED, etc.
I want to share JOYS & SORROWS. I want to FIGHT TOGETHER & PROTECT EACH OTHER & LIFT EACH OTHER UP & BECOME SAINTS TOGETHER.

"Where would it come from?"
The System, the League, the Church, my family, & TRUE FRIENDS. I genuinely DO want a human girlfriend that I can protect & dote on & create things with & love God with. Moreso even than that, I want DEEP & REAL relationships with the System, and COMMUNICATIVE/ HONEST closeness with family & friends. In the future, I admittedly also want the love of a fandom FOR the League that I love, to share that with the world in joy.

"What does this love feel like?"
Like a fire-- warm & safe & protective & lifegiving, yet powerful & brilliant & full of energy. It's DEEP & RAW & VULNERABLE & STRONG & TRUE. It feels like light & all the colors it reflects into, and it shines all the more strikingly in the dark. It feels welcoming and encouraging yet challenging. It calls me to heights. It also feels FREE, joyful & flowing, able to thrive fully in all circumstances. It's GROUNDED & PEACEFUL yet ADVENTUROUS & INSPIRING. It feels like life is forever worth living. It feels like true purpose. It feels like my heart. And I want to SHARE it entirely.

"How can you bring this kind of love into your life?"
I need to "put myself out there." I need to actively spend time with my family & church & neighbors, and TALK to them & LISTEN to them & DO things together. I need to find community spaces for potential friends & PARTICIPATE in them. I need to PUBLISH & SHARE my creative work. I need to READ my OWN work/ Archives and FEEL that love and LIVE IN IT. I need to take time to GO INSIDE & LOVE THE SYSTEM every day, to TALK & LIVE TOGETHER.

"What can this love do for you?"
I CAN ONLY BE MY REAL, TRUE SELF WHEN I LOVE. And love brings with it ALL the other virtues. ONLY LOVE CAN & WILL MAKE ME A SAINT. Love makes me a better, realer, holier person-- stronger, braver, warmer, sweeter. Love is my IDENTITY and my PURPOSE. Finally being ABLE to LIVE this truth will give me SO MUCH JOY & ZEAL TO LIVE! I CANNOT LOVE ALONE. I WANT RELATIONSHIPS WITH the SYSTEM, SO MUCH. I ADORE them. I DO want a girlfriend too, and loving HER will bring out ALL MY CAPACITY FOR DEVOTED SELF-GIFT & SERVICE. Loving my family & friends will make me a KINDER, NICER, FRIENDLIER person TO OTHERS! I will BE a SOURCE OF JOY TO THEM inasmuch as I MANIFEST LOVE. I will become a GOOD, RESPECTED, VALUABLE member of the community FOR THEIR SAKE. I will be a GOOD CHRISTIAN. I WILL LIVE FOR GOD'S GLORY & SERVICE BY BRINGING HIS LOVE TO ALL I MEET. That is what I TRULY WANT, more than ANYTHING.

"How do you love?"
Passionately, wholeheartedly, sincerely. Ask Chaos 0. EVEN in "platonic" relationships & family/ neighbor interactions, I GENUINELY AM WILLING AND WANTING TO HAVE THE STRONGEST & MOST SINCERE, DEDICATED relationship POSSIBLE with them IN THAT CONTEXT. Honestly I ACHE for communion in EVERY circumstance. I just LOVE PEOPLE, when you get down to the very core of me. But... I have to be honest as well in saying that I NEED CLOSE relationships THE MOST. I NEED & even CRAVE intimacy-- NOT sexual, but EMOTIONAL & SPIRITUAL. Physical closeness is nice but it's hollow & even distasteful without BOTH the SPIRIT & HEART close behind it. ...No matter what physical-level interactions I have, I will be completely missing my deepest need/ I will still feel unfulfilled & empty where it counts the most IF I DON'T HAVE THE GREATEST, DEEPEST LOVES: the love of the System, and the love of God. I NEED to pray & worship, and I NEED to "GO UPSTAIRS" and ADORE THOSE SOULS on a DAILY BASIS. If I was forced to neglect either, I think I would DIE inside. REMEMBER THAT. YOU CANNOT LOVE HUMANKIND OUTSIDE IF YOU DON'T FIRST TAKE THE TIME EVERY DAY TO LOVE THE CREATOR OF HUMANKIND, AND TO LOVE THE ONES WHO TAUGHT YOU WHAT LOVE TRULY LOOKED & FELT LIKE to begin with. I AM ME WITH THEM.
✳ THE COREGROUP IS ESSENTIAL TO YOUR WELLBEING ON EVERY LEVEL OF YOUR EXISTENCE. LOVE THEM EVERY DAY. (THAT IS A NEED!)


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110724

Nov. 7th, 2024 06:48 pm
prismaticbleed: (worried)

Our goal for today is to journal about/ through the ANXIETY & DEPRESSION that have been lingering since the Halloween collapse & which are NOTABLY FOCUSED ON DISCHARGE. It's ALL about WHAT WE'RE RETURNING TO. The thought of going back to that cluttered, cramped, dark, isolatory apartment is disheartening. Now that we've been living WITH PEOPLE, in bright large spaces, where WE don't have to buy/ prep food at ALL, having to "abandon" all that is taking a heavy toll on our emotions. SO. We NEED to TAKE ACTION and CHANGE THINGS. We have no other choice. We have to CLEAN UP OUR APARTMENT & MAKE OPEN SPACE there to DO ART & MUSIC. We have to GET LIGHTS for heavens sakes. And we NEED to GO OUTSIDE MORE-- notably, to START DOING THINGS WITH PEOPLE LOCALLY. Of course the immediate opportunity is just hanging out with the neighbors, which is ESSENTIAL because we DO LIVE WITH THEM and it is NECESSARY to BUILD FRIENDSHIPS & GOOD COMMUNICATION with them. The NEXT big opportunities relate to the PLACES nearby, and the people you can meet there: CHURCH, the LIBRARY, the GYM, the COFFEESHOP, and maybe even that little park. PLUS there are little restaurants/ diners, and the local college class extension? So you HAVE meeting places, potentially. There's ALSO the FACT that you CAN TAKE THE BUS and get to know the regulars, AND you WILL be GOING PLACES & ATTENDING EVENTS with MOM in any case. So you WILL have a FULLER LIFE, spent WITH OTHERS, as long as you EMBRACE & PURSUE those opportunities. But possible the BIGGEST mood lifter is BEING ABLE TO WORK CREATIVELY AGAIN. PRIORITIZE THAT. ...except, it's ALSO the biggest anxiety/ depression trigger. "I'm not good enough" haunts our talents. We've been STARVING OUR MIND & HEART and that has made creativity DRAINING. We NEED to READ BOOKS & LISTEN TO MUSIC & WATCH FILMS-- BUT ONLY WHAT WE LIKE!! "EAT" GOOD MEDIA, NOT JUNK!! Only "take in" what will HELP YOU BECOME A BETTER PERSON, BOTH IN CREATIVITY & IN CHARACTER. And when we learn how to SAY "NO" to WHAT DOESN'T BETTER OUR SOUL, WE'LL BE SO MUCH HAPPIER. And we can direct our joyful energy into CREATING things that MANIFEST that betterness. But please, STOP JUDGING THAT JOY & LOVE BY WORLDLY UTILITARIAN STANDARDS (LIES). ALL OF YOUR CREATIVE WORK IS "GOOD ENOUGH" BY VIRTUE OF EXISTING FROM YOUR HEART. It is WORTHY of being created & shared! And if ANYONE rejects it, THAT DOESN'T INVALIDATE ITS TRUTH/ BEAUTY/ GOODNESS!! There ARE souls who NEED what you have been CALLED & GIFTED TO CREATE! So FOR GOD'S ACTUAL SAKE, DO NOT HOLD BACK. DO NOT GIVE UP. PRIORITIZE THIS. And seriously, FOCUS ON IT as your "day's work." DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF TO "GO OUT & SOCIALIZE JUST BECAUSE." No. TAKE PRUDENT STEPS IN WILLING JOY & HOPE & LOVE. If you want to type in the coffeeshop, go ahead! But ONLY do it if it is HELPING YOU GROW IN CHARACTER. We're scared of "going home" because we fear we'll have to STOP journaling & learning & improving like we are here. THAT'S FALSE. We CAN do ALL THAT & MORE, if we LET OURSELVES & MAKE TIME/ SPACE for it. Set a SCHEDULE like here if you must! And DON'T ISOLATE, even when you're focused on creative work. Still go outside & walk around, or call mom, or talk to neighbors, to GET CONNECTED-- but NOT OVERWHELMED! Set boundaries, NOT WALLS. Please, don't be afraid or sad. We CAN & WILL have a future IN THIS BODY and it WILL BE GOOD and WE WILL BE A GOOD PERSON FOR OTHERS. There has to be a BALANCE of private + social time & work. God will guide us!

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✳ POSITIVE BODY IMAGE is ACCEPTING, APPRECIATING, & RESPECTING our body AS IT IS NOW, WHILE STILL ALLOWING FOR HEALTHY CHANGE!! (NO HATE AT ANY POINT)

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✳ What values/ qualities/ characteristics do you value in yourself & in others? (LIST/ LIVE)

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✳ WHY AM I SO ANGRY (WEEPING/ HELPLESS RAGE) ABOUT PEOPLE KNOWING THAT I'M LEAVING NEXT WEEK??? Why do I just want to "slip out the back door" and disappear? Why do I want to exist as a myth or mirage, not as a tangible person? DO I want this? It hurts SO MUCH to be ignored & unwanted & not valued. But I "HATE having to talk to people"?? Like when people ask "do you want to talk about it?" my kneejerk response is a sob-fury "NO! STOP MAKING ME TALK!" because SPEECH "HURTS." It SHAKES ME UP inside to talk out loud ABOUT INSIDE THINGS. It's CONTEXT DISSONANCE.
✳ I feel "mythical"/ unreal? IT'S BECAUSE MY LIFE HAS ALWAYS BEEN INTERNAL. So I have a hard time realizing/ functioning as a PHYSICALLY TANGIBLE being to OTHERS? And it's BOTH "LOCKED IN" and "NOT 'ME'!" It hurts. God maybe if I DID "identify with" this body & name it wouldn't be so frustrating & painful & making me cry from the overwhelm. But such an "identity" OUTSIDE feels like IT WOULD ERASE ME INSIDE? That's so polarized. It's miserable. But I'm genuinely terrified of that risk-- of losing touch with my heart & soul AGAIN because I had to exist OUTSIDE too much. WHY IS THERE SUCH A CONFLICT AT ALL??? Is it just the bodytrauma + dissociation?
✳ I "don't want to say goodbye," allegedly. WHY NOT. Why do I "want" to disappear like a dream, so that even I doubt it was real? THAT'S SELF-ANNIHILATORY. Is that "fear of abandonment" self-sabotage? Am I so afraid that no one will CARE if I leave, that no one will bother to say goodbye because they WON'T MISS ME, that I "do it myself" by avoiding the risk altogether? I just "erase" it all & never get closure. But our WHOLE LIFE has been shot through with sudden jarring losses & endings with NO goodbyes, not even a WARNING often. Things just STOPPED. I don't know HOW to "say goodbye" and "TRANSITION WITH CONTINUITY" from one "era" to the next. I only know "hard breaks." Clean, brutal, swift cuts. This gentle "shift" is utterly foreign to me. Context shifts are DIVISIVE BY NATURE to me. This "blending" of present place AND future destination is SO DISTRESSING to me. I'm having a hard time figuring out "WHO I AM NOW" because the CONTEXTS ARE BLURRING. I CAN'T BE BOTH AT ONCE. But I think I NEED to, in recovery. But God I WANT THE SYSTEM TO KICK IN. Whoever was living in the apartment, KEEP THEM DISTINCT from WHOEVER IS HERE AT TOWER. LET THERE BE A HARD SHIFT, IN THAT SENSE. WE DON'T WANT TO GO BACK. ...but, CAN we be the person we are HERE when we RETURN there? WHY NOT?? WHY CAN'T THE CORE JUST DRIVE THAT WOULD FIX EVERYTHING. Because the Core exists INSIDE. Is THAT the ultimate problem here? Do we need BOTH "Jessica" and "Jewel" SEPARATE but working TOGETHER? OR is there going to be a NEW bloodline somehow? I don't know anything except we HAVE been "Jessica" TO THE PEOPLE HERE, AND TO THE FAMILY, AND THAT "JESSICA" IS GENUINELY A GOOD PERSON. That hasn't happened since childhood! So is this Jessica ALSO a "JEWEL?" She HAS to be! We HAVE to make our inner life the HEART of our outer life! The Core bloodline HAS TO BE INTEGRATED probably. We HAVE TO BE REAL ON ALL LEVELS!

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Why has our identity been so shattered since Halloween?? What did that DO to us? Was it just the MEMORY SHOCK of "what happened THEN" in horrible contrast to "who we are NOW?" But CHAOS 0 KNOWS AND CAN PROVE TO YOU THAT YOUR HEART (THE CORE!) HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE SAME. Deep down, despite ALL confusion & trauma, no matter HOW lost we have been, THE CORE IS PROTECTED AND TRUE, and THE CORE IS LOVE.
"I" CAN ONLY TRULY EXIST AS "WE," REMEMBER!! TO EVEN BE THE CORE AT ALL, I NEED TO EXIST IN RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SYSTEM-SPECTRUM. I CANNOT EXIST ALONE. ...Is that true for us on the OUTSIDE? in the BODY? and we never quite realized the IMPLICATIONS of that before? IF WE'RE NOT LIVING AS MULTIPLE, WE'RE NOT LIVING AT ALL. If my heart isn't ALWAYS the heart that is IN LOVE WITH THE COREGROUP, then I CANNOT LOVE AT ALL. This has been PROVEN, CONSISTENTLY.




101524

Oct. 15th, 2024 03:35 pm
prismaticbleed: (held)

✳ ACCEPT MYSELF AS I AM, WHILE WORKING TOWARDS SELF-IMPROVEMENT!! "AND," NOT "BUT" = NOW VS. IDEAL NOT OPPOSED OR IN CONFLICT!! "BOTH/ AND" = "I'm angry with you AND I still love you" (DIALECTICAL) FULL SPECTRUM!!  (+INSIDE OUT 2 TEAM)
✳ "WRITE THE FIRST DRAFT" = STILL AN ACHIEVEMENT, IN ITS IMPERFECTION! "EVERY STEP IS AN ACHIEVEMENT IN ITSELF" AS WE GROW = yes you CAN get to level 100, but being at level 5 isn't bad! Level 6 IS a legit good thing! And so is every step from 6 to 100! "Perfection" ISN'T the GOAL, it's the ROAD ITSELF!

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So I JUST got off a PROFOUNDLY IMPACTFUL & IMPORTANT PHONE CONVERSATION WITH MOM, and she brought up SEVERAL ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL POINTS that we NEED to discuss & reflect/ journal upon =
1) THE "HIDDEN CHILDHOOD TRAUMA" = WHY I'M STILL TERRIFIED OF GOING UP THE HOUSE?? WHAT HAPPENED? WHY DO WE HAVE SO MANY TERRIFIED PAIDIFONI?? WHAT IS HIDING BENEATH THOSE FLOORBOARDS?? WE NEED TO FIND OUT WHY WE ARE SO SCARED OF OUR CHILDHOOD!!!
1.5) JULIE IS NAMED AFTER OUR CLASSMATE AND WE FORGOT THAT. THAT WAS ON PURPOSE!! THAT PROVES THAT WE WERE SUFFERING FROM BULLYING/ TORMENT AT SCHOOL, WHICH MOM ATTESTS TO, EVEN THOUGH WE DON'T REMEMBER IT. TAKE THIS REVELATION VERY SERIOUSLY.
2) "ANAESTHESIA HONESTY" = apparently POST-SEDATION, I ACT "LIKE MY REAL SELF" = the CREATIVE, IMAGINATIVE, FIERY, SPARKLE-EYED ME!! "WHO I WAS AS A CHILD"!! I WANT & NEED TO BE THIS TRUE-SELF 24/7, NOW. The OBSTACLE is SCRUPULOSITY: "MINIMIZING" MY LIFE, "CONDEMNING" MY GIFTS AS "SILLY" OR "SELFISH," NOT LETTING MYSELF SHINE & LAUGH & CREATE BEAUTIFUL THINGS & SHARE THEM WITH JOY!!! MY PURPOSE IN LIFE IS TO BE ME, WITH ALL THE CREATIVE PASSIONS & GIFTS THAT GOD GAVE ME!!! I WANT MY LIFE TO BE A GIFT OF PROLIFIC BEAUTY. I WANT MY OBITUARY TO SAY THAT I LIVED MY LIFE FULLY & WAS A FORCE OF HOPE & LIGHT & JOY & LOVE BECAUSE I INVESTED MY TALENTS WELL. GOD GAVE ME THESE LEAGUEWORLDS FOR THAT REASON. GET TO WORK THEN, WITH LOVE!!
3) THE BOYS ASK ABOUT ME. THEY APPARENTLY ALWAYS ASK ABOUT ME. THEY CARE ABOUT ME. THEY WORRY ABOUT ME. THEY MISS ME. I MATTER IN THEIR LIVES!! YOU IDIOT YOU'RE THEIR BIG SISTER, OF COURSE THEY WANT YOU IN THEIR LIVES STILL!! But... they haven't approached me, or spoken to me, BECAUSE OF THE EATING DISORDER AND THE D.I.D. They literally think I'm STILL JUST AS CHAOTICALLY SPLITSWITCHY AS WE WERE IN ~2015. ...and I really haven't been a part of their lives SINCE. That's HORRIBLE. That's HEARTBREAKING. It's TRAGIC and FOR THEIR SAKES WE/I NEED to do TWO BIG THINGS: first, GET OUR COLLECTIVE ASS UP THAT HOUSE & TALK TO EXCALIBUR. Even just LISTEN to HIM talk! But BE THERE, WHOLEHEARTEDLY!!! BE THERE AS YOURSELF, AS A REAL PERSON, NOT A "SOCIAL MASK" OR TRAUMATIZED BLUR. REMEMBER YOUR HEART, THE REAL JESSICA OF THE EARLIEST DAYS-- ASK UNISALIA, SHE'LL TELL YOU-- AND BE YOURSELF!!! THAT'S WHAT THE WHOLE FAMILY NEEDS FROM YOU. And second, START YOUR BLOG. TALK HONESTLY & OPENLY ABOUT BOTH THE D.I.D. & EATING DISORDER. SHARE YOUR STRUGGLES & INSIGHT. OPEN UP TO YOUR FAMILY. TELL THE TRUTH, & RE-ESTABLISH DIALOGUE & CONNECTION, WITH NO FEAR.

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WHAT IS THE FEAR SEPARATING US FROM CHILDHOOD??? That is the BIGGEST OBSTACLE to our recovery. If we CAN'T INTEGRATE the ABSOLUTE HISTORICAL FOUNDATION OF OUR PERSONALITY-- of MY PERSONALITY, the TRUE ME, the CORE of the System, the HEART, the "ONE" that the Spectrum SHINES OUT FROM & FOR-- then WE'RE SUNK, BRO. So this healing is TOP PRIORITY!
✳ A quick, vital clarification. "I" AM NOT "MULTIPLE PEOPLE." I AM ME. I AM THE HEART, the System EXISTS to GUIDE & PROTECT & HELP ME, AS THE CORE OF THE SPECTRUM, THE LIFE OF IT. But we have TWO BIG TRUTHS that we HAVEN'T FULLY INTEGRATED, or maybe even ACCEPTED yet--
1) THE TRUEST "HEART/CORE" IS THE "FIRST" JESSICA. And THAT IS ME!!! I NEED TO OWN THAT NAME, AS RIGHTLY BELONGING TO THAT "ME," NOT THE LATER CORRUPTED FONI!!! I AM JESSICA. I KNOW THAT and it's TRUE & it makes me REALLY HAPPY & I AM CREATIVE & GOOD & REAL and THIS IS THE "REAL ME," ALL THE WAY DOWN LIKE A DIAMOND. ...but I am ALSO "JEWEL." I HAVE A HISTORY WITH THE SYSTEM, TOO. TRUE LIFE, TRUE "RECOVERY," MEANS UNITING THESE TWO "HALVES" OF MY HEART AS ONE, WHOLE & COMPLETE, LOSING NOTHING. I NEED to be "BOTH AT ONCE," AS ONE. NO SPLIT, NO BREAKS!! I NEED & WANT TO BE MY "CHILD HEART" NOW AS AN ADULT. I NEED & WANT TO BE THE SAME FIRE & SPARKLE ME BOTH INSIDE & OUTSIDE, AROUND EVERYONE, NO HIDING OR DENYING! And on that note,
2) THIS BODY IS ME. READ THE CATECHISM BUDDY! IT'S BY GOD'S DESIGN. SO OWN IT. OWN YOUR BODY AND YOUR NAME. The System was born TO HELP YOU. They were GIVEN to yuo BY GOD as a GIFT; THIS BODY IS NOT "THEIRS"! It's YOURS. It's MINE, TO BE CHERISHED, and NOT EVEN MY BELOVED NOUSFONI HAVE A "RIGHT" TO INHABIT IT. I think THAT'S actually WHY GOD "STOPPED" THE FRONTSWITCHING. The Spectrum IS MEANT TO BE INTERNAL. Their job is NOT to "live MY life," it's to GUIDE ME AS I LIVE MINE-- which I do call "OURS" out of sheer love BUT IT'S TRULY MY BODY & NAME & FACE & FAMILY... AND HISTORY, And THAT is HARD to fully grasp yet. EVERY FONI IS FACTUALLY A "PART" OF MY SOUL. OUR "COLLECTIVE" HISTORY IS MY HISTORY, EVEN AS IT IS OURS, AND I HAVE TO "OWN" IT IN ORDER TO HEAL IT & FULLY RECOVER & MOVE ON. And THAT is the NEXT PART of our recovery journey, ESPECIALLY upon discharge. I CANNOT LIVE A "FULL LIFE" IF I WON'T ACCEPT MY FULL LIFETIME... AND MY FULLEST SELF-- to BE ME, WITH US, WITH MY FAMILY, WHOLE & REAL & TRUE.

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✳ The next DBT worksheets ALL INVOLVE CRISIS SITUATIONS & HOW EFFECTIVE WE ARE IN ACTION USING OUR DBT COPING SKILLS TO HANDLE DISTRESS AND LESSEN IT! So WHAT are the MOST LIKELY "CRISIS" EVENTS (TRIGGERS) THAT WE WILL ENCOUNTER UPON DISCHARGE, ESPECIALLY UP THE HOUSE/ IN PUBLIC??
(WE MUST "COPE AHEAD" TO BE ABLE TO MEET THESE CHALLENGES WISELY!!)

1) Getting LEGIT SICK from food, even "just" severe nausea/ reflux
2) Flashbacks during/ right before or after eating
3) "Invisible triggers" while up the house
4) Feeling trapped/ helpless/ imprisoned; no accessible/ ready escape
5) Being "stuck in public" in noisy crowded situations (fairs, malls)
6) Overhearing sexually evil conversation/ music/ TV
7) Seeing something sexually explicit
8) Sudden fighting/ arguments with risk of violence
9) Panic attack "chronological triggers" at night
10) Halloween/ Thanksgiving panic & flashbacks
11) "Interim panic" in apartment
12) Intense regret/ anxiety/ selfhatred over "wrong food choice"
13) Obsessing over "what food choice IS the right one"
14) Sensory overwhelm/ talking too much


092024

Sep. 20th, 2024 09:19 am
prismaticbleed: (worried)

DAY ONE (point five, haha) & GOOD MORNING TOWER!
I have decided that I'VE GOTTA ACT ON MY TRUE HEART in light of yesterday's papers & regrets & HOPES, and of course in the Light & Grace of CHRIST. I must DISCERN & ACCEPT REALITY as a GIFT FROM GOD, because it IS, in ALL circumstances, BY HIS PROVIDENCE, yet we can only live IN & ACCORDING to that by FAITH & TRUST.
Let me pause.This is the super-optimistic mindset that I DO believe IS of the Holy Spirit, as it is ALL joy & hope, BUT it is still imperfect in LOVE because IT FORGETS/ GLOSSES OVER MY WOUNDS. And a KEY part of "ME," am absolutely ESSENTIAL aspect of my HEART & SOUL, is "BLOOD." Holy wounds, loving suffering, selfgiving sacrifice, BLEEDING not out of malice or "weakness" but like JESUS, to GIVE & PROTECT & SUSTAIN LIFE somehow. It's been that was since childhood, and GOD PUT THAT IN ME FOR HIS GLORY and I MUST REJOICE in GRATITUDE for EXACTLY HOW HE MADE ME, EMBRACE IT & ACT ON IT in LOVE/ CHARITY, and STOP DENYING/ SUPPRESSING/ REJECTING/ FEARING IT. Listen you KNOW THE TRUTH, even if it scares you, you KNOW the Truth ALWAYS brings JOY & PEACE & CLARITY even when it's scary or hard or strange, AND most importantly, TRUTH ALWAYS BRINGS YOU CLOSER TO GOD THROUGH CHRIST. If you aren't actively reveling in Scripture & hungering for prayer & seeking ACTIVELY to witness to the Faith in word & action, you're NOT in Truth. And that milquetoasty mindset I was in yesterday was NOT "TRUE." It was ENTIRELY DISHONEST, totally DISSONANT & DEGRADING & DISGRACEFUL, and the worst part is I KNEW IT but I was too chicken to CHOOSE to ACT ON TRUTH because I felt it was "out of place" or rude or something. TAKE THE RISK, as blunt as that sounds. PRAY over it, but then ACT with LOVE for GOD, OTHERS, AND SELF, in INTEGRITY!!! DON'T SNUFF YOUR FLAME. EMBRACE & WELCOME JOY & BEAUTY. ACTUALIZE HOPES through FAITH in GOD'S PROVIDENCE GUIDING YOU WHO LOVE HIM & are GENUINELY STRIVING to LIVE OUT THAT LOVE through ACTIONS-- actually WORKS OF MERCY & SELFGIFT. REMEMBER THE SIGURD STORY? Dude if YOU'RE a dragon then BY YOUR NATURE, YOUR HEART IS MEANT TO BE EUCHARISTIC. So go & bleed, so that others can hear the sweet Voice of the Bird, too. He is Who made you like this. You're HIS Temple. Christ IN YOU wants to act as PRIEST & SACRIFICE. CHOOSE to cooperate in joy. That's your LIFE.

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"Do you believe that it's OK to be optimistic?" WHAT do you FEAR?
What is the difference between OPTIMISM & "being blinded to reality?" WHY does POSITIVITY feel like a PUNISHABLE MISTAKE? Why does it feel STUPID/ FOOLISH/ IGNORANT?
(Is this learned behavior from mom & grandma always CATASTROPHIZING?) (ASSUME & prepare for the WORST?)
✳ My understanding/ definition OF optimism is INCOMPLETE. I tend to think it means "handwaving" away ALL possible obstacles/ difficulties: a BLINDED focus on ONLY one's hopeful ideals, seeing them almost as GUARANTEED. This ALSO FUELS MORAL COMPLACENCY because it DENIES SPIRITUAL BATTLE!!! REAL optimism SEES & SERIOUSLY ACKNOWLEDGES the REAL & ESSENTIAL & INEVITABLE STRUGGLE. BUT IT'S UNSHAKABLY GROUNDED in FAITH-- TRUST in GOD'S VICTORY of GOOD PROVIDENCE, and by extension, HIS GRACE working IN & THROUGH ME for HIS GLORY in ACTUALIZING that victory IN MY LIFE. But it REQUIRES the BATTLE of the CROSS. Optimism just SEES the RESURRECTION!

✳ "WHY am I making judgments?" What does that say about my PRIORITIES & VALUES? "WHY am I COMPARING myself to others?" What GOOD do I see, that I feel I LACK? WHY is it good? WHY do I WANT it? // What END do I hope to achieve BY judging?
✳ FIGHT/ TRANSFORM with GRATITUDE, COMPASSION; HUMILITY & "WISE MIND"

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NOTHING IS PERFECT BUT GOD-- SO LOOK FORWARD TO THE RESURRECTION OF YOUR "IMPERFECT" BODY TO PERFECTION IN CHRIST!

YOUR BODY IS ALIVE AND IT CARES FOR YOU. It constantly does all these interior functions to keep you alive & well-- it's GOD'S DESIGN!
Your body IS something to love. It IS YOU!!

YOU HAVE INHERENT WORTH, GIVEN BY GOD, AND THAT INCLUDES YOUR BODY.

REPROGRAM THE AUTOMATIC BODY-JUDGMENT THOUGHTS WITH POSITIVE (HOLY) AFFIRMATIONS ABOUT IT-- CONFORM YOUR THOUGHTS TO CHRIST!!

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I'm frustrated/ angry & legit depressed because I keep having to CHOKE RUSH MY MEALS and NO SENSORY DATA is registering AT ALL. Am I THAT dissociated? Why this BREAK of NUMBNESS between mind/ heart/ body? It's not communicating data. WHY.

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Important things I need to accept in my life right now:
1. Other people WILL hurt and scared me WITHOUT MEANING TO do so.
2. I need to eat around others.
3. I WILL suffer hunger, sensory overwhelm, and lack of safety/ silence.
4. Other people CAN'T READ MY MIND or "PASSIVE CUES" so DON'T expect them to deliver or respect or comfort you.
5. I must sacrifice my preferences and instead meekly obey & cooperate (no agency; be a lamb)
6. My body will chance (but NOT my SOUL?)
7. I will be here all week. I cannot bail out.

ACCEPT REALITY; DON'T FIGHT/ RESIST/ DENY/ WHINE/ COMPLAIN.
CHANGE HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT PROBLEMS = USE YOUR WILL AND CHOOSE CHRIST BY GRACE.
ACCEPT EVERYTHING FROM GOD'S HANDS!
LIFE IS WORTH LIVING, NO MATTER HOW MANY PAINFUL/ FRIGHTENING EVENTS YOU MUST ENDURE.
GOD'S PERMISSIVE OR ACTIVE WILL IS ALWAYS IN CONTROL; IT'S ALL UNDER HIS LOVING PROVIDENCE!

"MIMIC IT UNTIL YOU MEAN IT"

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GRATITUDE PLANNER

TODAY'S AFFIRMATION=

Progress in healing is STILL happening, even if you don't "do it perfectly," because you ARE STILL giving it your BEST SINCERE EFFORT. Don't let feelings of inadequacy lie to you. Your effort COUNTS/ MATTERS.

MOOD OF THE DAY=

COURAGEOUS, DETERMINED, HOPEFUL = CHANGE FOR GOOD IS POSSIBLE, TODAY, NOW! "DARKNESS CANNOT WIN" = LIVE IN THIS!

INSPIRATION OF THE DAY=
"The hope of an eternal tomorrow," EVEN the hope of another evening; EVERY MOMENT is ANOTHER CHANCE to CHOOSE the GOOD, LEARN & GROW from obstacles/ setbacks, and REORIENT YOURSELF to LOVE. Slow down & BREATHE. You are ALIVE & WANTED. Your life MATTERS. Embrace this gift.

MENTAL INTENTION=
I will be honest with myself & others in thought & speech. I will feed the virtuous thoughts and they will heal the hurt ones with themselves, bringing about integrity & unity, not destruction or starvation. I will cultivate patience, gentleness, gratitude, and hope, choosing love & light.

PHYSICAL INTENTION=
I will pay close attention to how I inhabit & hold my body, and liberate it from stress tightness & anxious curving inwards. I will mindfully eat with gratitude, actively acknowledging food as sacred medicine for my body's neglected state, a selfgift of love from God my Father.

SPIRITUAL INTENTION=
I will read Scripture throughout the day, and make a habit of lifting my heart & mind to God in all circumstances. I will witness to God whenever the chance is given. I will say regular prayers at morning & night. I will make spiritual communions often. I will recognize God's Providence in all situations.

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TREATMENT NOTES:

1) FASTING IS OKAY AND VIRTUOUS. RESTRICTING IS NOT. The difference is MOTIVE/ PURPOSE/ GOAL. Fasting DOESN'T VILIFY EATING OR FOOD. Restriction DOES.

2) Exercise is a DAILY NEED, but it must be done TO GET STRONGER, NOT to BURN YOUR STRENGTH AWAY! And it MUST be PRUDENTLY LIMITED; NO 3-HOUR SESSIONS BOY

3) LOOK IN THE MIRROR. What message is that giving? What FEELINGS do you fear? What INSIDE you is being SHOWN on the surface, OR HIDDEN/ SUPPRESSED? What sort of SYMBOL do you see yourself as, bodily?

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"THE KNOWING-DOING GAP" handout = THIS IS A GAMECHANGER. PUT IT INTO ACTUAL PRACTICE NOW.

"Conquer resistance for good"
PUN INTENDED.

"Understanding the fabric of resistance is the only way we can unstitch it."
Fabric = THREADS WOVEN together over time!

"There are many reasons we self-sabotage, and most of them have something to do with comfort."
?!?!?! WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT THIS AND WRITE IT OUT

"Modern society is designed to convince us that a "good" life" is one that is most comfortable... being pain-free and secure."
NOT SO THE CROSS! (PARADOX) TRANSMUTES pain & SANCTIFIES us through the Cross; SECURE IN GOD'S WILL
"Restless/ uncomfortable UNTIL we rest IN HIM" (true comfort = "MY peace I give you") (TRUST = CHILDLIKE)
"NO PAIN NO GAIN" (SAINT PAUL)
LOVE IS SACRIFICE/ GIFT (DEATH to SELFISHNESS)

"...Human beings are hardwired to seek comfort, which translates to us as survival..."
We're NOT meant for THIS fallen world = our SOULS need to survive!!

"...focus on the discomfort you will face if you don't do the thing in front of you, as opposed to the discomfort you will face if you do."
FACING DISCOMFORT = GROWING PAINS!
✳ WHERE are you ANCHORING your comfort? In the FLESH or SPIRIT?

"...a manic state of indecision (do I, don't I? what feeling do I let guide me?) You have to take control for yourself..."
THIS IS MY BIG PROBLEM. I NEED to learn REAL CONTROL = a VIRTUOUS WILL! I MUST CONTROL MY FEELINGS by ORIENTING THEM TO GOD'S WILL! And you must DO this PRACTICALLY, with HOLY REASON, NOT "INTUITION" VOICES!!

"How many hours have you wasted?"
Seriously MAN UP & DO THE MATH. Keep a journal & calculate. SEEING the numbers WILL FIRE YOU TO TAKE ACTION.

✳ What DO I want to accomplish IN my life and WITH my life?
✳ What DOES make me genuinely happy? What gives me JOY?
✳ What RELATIONSHIPS do I HAVE or COULD HAVE that I'm NEGLECTING or TAKING FOR GRANTED? What SMALL but REAL & GENUINE steps can I take NOW to FOSTER and/or HEAL them?
✳ SCHEDULE IN CREATIVE FREE TIME DAILY, AND DO ANYTHING = PRACTICE & EXPERIMENT & LEARN & PLAY & USE YOUR TALENTS!!!

"If you had to live today-- or any average day-- on repeat for the rest of your life, where would you end up?"
✳ DO THIS. ANALYZE & LIST, VS. THE IDEAL TO WORK TOWARDS NOW!! (SAINTHOOD)

"It’s uncomfortable to work, to stretch the capacity of your tolerance, to be vulnerable with someone you care deeply about, but it is never more comfortable than going your whole life without the things you really want."

1) WHAT about work is uncomfortable to you? What ISN'T?
2) How can you BEGIN stretching your tolerance to GET comfortable with current challenges? Can you SIT WITH IT and learn TRUST? (GOD IS WITH YOU on EVERY CROSS after all)
3) WHAT dos vulnerability LOOK like FOR YOU? with SPECIFIC people? WHY are you AFRAID to risk being WOUNDED by LOVE? WHY AREN'T YOU MORE WILLING TO LOVE = SUFFER? (DIE TO SELF = LIVE FOR OTHERS = DIVINE LIFE) (COMMUNITY/ COMMUNION; LAW OF GIFT)
4) TRUE "FUN" IS NOT EVIL, IT'S SACRED = "PLAY" = REJOICE IN BEING = IN GOD! TRUE "WORK" SERVES THIS END?? (JOY)
✳ CREATIVITY = SHARE IN GOD'S WORK (ONGOING!!) (PRIESTLY PEOPLE)

"Most things aren’t as hard or as trying as we chalk them up to be. They’re ultimately fun and rewarding and
expressions of who we really are.That’s why we want them."

"GOD PUT THAT DESIRE IN YOU" for HIS GLORY! (SACRED "EROS" TRUE PURPOSE!!)
GOD IS LIFE! NOT STAGNANCY!! (ACT ON YOUR POTENTIAL!!)

"...thank whatever force within you that knows there’s something bigger for you—the one that’s pushing you to be comfortable with less."

"Blessed are the POOR IN SPIRIT" = God's KINGDOM is the "BIGGEST" = I am CREATED FOR IT (HOME)

✳ SMALL ACTS WE CAN DO NOW = we must FIRST clarify our GOAL!!
What DO I REALLY want, at heart? WHY? What is the deepest desire? HOW can I SINCERELY & CONCRETELY pursue THAT core, TODAY?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

"the guest house" by Rumi; handed out this morning=

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still,
treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.


(THIS IS SO RELEVANT TO THE SYSTEM)
(Give those visitors GOOD FOOD)
(treating them well TRANSFORMS them at heart)

-----------------------------------------------------------

“I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
(Rainer Maria Rilke)


(STORY OF OUR LIFE)
(the questions ARE nousfoni, often)
(the locked rooms are also very literal for us, as are the BOOKS = archives!!)



121823

Dec. 18th, 2023 09:04 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 
Couldn't fall asleep until 130 dude

Slept in until 715, looked outside, parking lot was flooded, went back to sleep.
Got up at 915, in exhausted pain.

ALL BIKE PRAYERS IN ~45M. THANK YOU FELIX.

...

Roles= SUGAR VS WRECKAGE
Sugar protects the INNOCENT from being corrupted.
Wreckage protects the TRAUMATIZED from being hurt any more.
They both focus on protecting the Paidifoni. However, Sugar ALSO protects fellow nousfoni like Laurie from such virulent influences, and Wreckage frequently gets triggered out to protect the BODY-- as it is the home of many secret & shellshocked somafoni who have no other protection.
Sugar works INSIDE; Wreckage works OUTSIDE. Their "births" (need jargon!) ALSO occurred on these respective levels!!

We NEED to ponder Protectors in the System, especially since there are also apparently Defenders??
There are more specifics now, within a broader job description?Just like Archivists & Intercessors.
Wondering if CORES have this too. It sure seems like it.

Stunned during Angelus prayer= who briefly fronted but CHRISTINA???? SHE'S NOT DEAD????
We also had a glimpse of PATRICIA. DUDE WHAT EVEN.  
Apparently Christina "carries her sister with her," vibe-wise, as they're so closely bound in function-- like Knife & Razor, but even moreso; these two are practically twins.
The difference = one is Violet, one is Purple. I cannot remember which offhand, as their data is not familiar enough to be readily accessible; I have to "feel it" to know.


Evening =

Put one more string of multi lights on the lower half of the left wall so we don't get triggered by the high-level ones only. That SHOOK us BAD last night, when it hit. I'd say CPTSD is a pain in the neck, but really it's frightening. I can't joke about it. The unexpected triggers and flashbacks make you feel so helpless and lost.
We were listening to a Christmas EP by Fitz and the Tantrums while we put these new lights up; it was oddly synchronistic, as we randomly got referred to one of their vids on YT yesterday from 11 years ago. And then we got this album referral. Is God trying to point us towards a certain era memory of our life? The only time I remember listening to them is on the highway, or when running laps outside... all grandma memories, and all of that one song with the terribly convicting title-- "Moneygrabber." That's exactly what we were.
"Your teardrops fade, and then I saw your hands in the pocket, 'cause you were always made to want it all. But now you've got to make it on your own. This ain't your home, so I'm showing you the door. Wave goodbye, now it's time for you to go. Don't come back anytime, you've already robbed me blind! This is your payback, MoneyGrabber... Here's my advice: I don't pay twice for the price of a cheap dime whore!"
...Yeah, that's literally talking about us.
We really do need to talk to a priest about that hideous part of our sinful past. We can never remember if we confessed it or not. We need to do so, consciously, now, and finally get absolution and closure and direction, so we can MAKE REPARATION for it and finally move forwards in life, instead of suffocating in unbearable guilt and moral panic.

Unfortunately, we did not go to the Deanery penance service tonight because our chest & head feel REALLY WEIRD. Is this because we're fasting on salt today? I'm starting to wonder, because we felt very sick the past two times we did this too. It's either that or the exercise effort. Possibly both in combination. We'll need to do something different with fasting on Mondays then. We'll have to pray about it, maybe even ask our priest.
Either way we do not feel well. Gotta make sure we rest tonight.


------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Online Mass in Dublin today! Priest had a DEEP BLUE voice. That's rare.
He gave a brief homily on today's Gospel of "Joseph's Annunciation," specifically on how he, like Mary, responded to it with total trust in God, and willing surrender to His Mysterious Plans. But the priest mentioned Saint Joseph's virtues PRIOR to his own silent "Fiat," notably how his own purity of soul was expressed in wordless action, and therefore often overlooked. The most powerful example of this, the priest gave, was that Saint Joseph "must have loved Mary a great deal," because when he discovered she was pregnant, he not only wanted to preserve her from any shame or publicity, but he also refused to vindicate himself. He did not try to prove his own righteousness, or protect his own reputation. He was focused on Mary's safety alone, and in making sure that she was treated with genuine mercy even as he did what was just according to the Law. THIS was proof that he loved her. That sent me reeling. It's TRUE. But no one ever thinks of what Saint Joseph was feeling, it seems. We don't often actively consider that he wasn't just an "accessory" to Mary, just because he is given no dialogue in her story. But it's his story, too, both of them together. We don't often consider that he loved her, and everything he did in the Gospel is because he loved her, and God, and her Child Who was of both. His virtues are stunning in their silence.
That was the final reflection the priest gave. Are we imitators of Joseph? Is our love that selfless, that humble? Are we willing to be treated as Joseph, our speech forgotten but deeds remembered? Are we living lives of holiness enough TO meekly consent to that, for God's glory and not our own? Or are we just gabbing about God, with no good deeds to back us up when words fail? How would Scripture describe you? Would you be recognizable as a child of God if you couldn't argue your own defense? Think about it. In the biggest picture, your words don't matter; God's Word does... and His Word became a wordless baby, born of Mary in the silent night, with both embraced by the quietly loving arms of Saint Joseph.

Universalis adds depth to this=
"We hear little more of Joseph, but what a joy it must have been to have Jesus as a son! What a relationship there must have been! What responsibility too! When Jesus calls God his ‘Father’, he is using the concept which must have been formed in his mind by his adoptive father, Joseph, the perfect ideal of the loving father."
...


------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

EGJ =
"If God is with [those in great pain]— how could they be going through any of this in the first place? Apparently, God didn’t send His Son to make all pain go away... If we try going it alone, life’s challenges and tribulations make us jaded and bitter, but if we open ourselves to Christ's love, they make us compassionate and understanding."
1) People misunderstand pain. We forget the Cross. It's a divine paradox that I love. God is, intrinsically, pure joy, perfect strength, infinite peace, forever. He cannot suffer, or be weak, or experience pain or grief or desolation. That's what people affirm when they complain and curse the human condition, and seek to reject or avoid suffering as "evil" or "illusory", etc. But they aren't seeing the whole, true, beautiful and terrible picture. God is Trinity, and God the Son purposely entered into the full experience of human suffering. He took ALL OF IT onto Himself, into Himself, in His physical Body AND His Mystical Body, refusing to leave any poor pain-wracked soul alone. God is, above all, perfect Love, you must remember-- and Love shows itself most powerfully and profoundly IN SUFFERING FOR THE BELOVED. This is the sacred paradox of the Cross, of the entire Incarnation. God loves us so much He made Himself able to suffer-- with us, for us, in us, because of us, instead of us-- in order to actually deliver us from suffering forever THROUGH the means of the shared agony itself.
...
And yet God remains perfect. He is pure joy even though He has been crucified.
...
2) You see, then, how the reality of the Incarnation almost mandates that we will have suffering in this world. After all, how else would we truly learn to love? Virtue is proven in extremis; compassion is born in misery, tenderness forged in terrible strain. This is the amazing transformation Christ's Light brings to our shadows. He gives Life where we could only see death. It's that beautiful "principle of the seed!"
...
3) Notice how aloneness is the true suffering. But it's not just physical aloneness! You can be suffering as part of a family, a crowd, as nation-- and still become bitter and hard-hearted! So what's the difference? Christ.
This astonished me. It means that, even isolated and struggling on our own, unknown to any man, we are not alone and we will not become jaded IF we open our hearts in faith TO THE CROSS. That eternal moment, ever-present, always happening and perpetually efficacious, unites us to the immense Love of God in every instant of our personal pain-- if we choose to "offer it up" within Him there! We become ONE with Christ, on the Cross, and we feel His Heart full of tender mercy for all mankind, pure and true, even IN His agony. And THAT is what makes US compassionate; that is what gives US understanding-- because Christ suffered for all humanity, WITH all of humanity, all because of Love. When we join our pain to His, we also join it to our fellow man's, and suddenly we are ALL one in Christ, vulnerable and in need of each other, crying out for help, embracing each other in that very pain. We are broken open to love. You cannot truly sympathize with OR serve your neighbor if their suffering is alien to you, nonsensical, detached. But once you have shared the pain of their heart, in unity with Christ, you cannot help but love them just as dearly.
...

"Advent brings us into full awareness that Jesus is always polite and never pushy. He enters our world with all its pain and challenges, embraces it as such, and then walks beside us in love. But He doesn’t force Himself on us. He patiently waits until we welcome Him."
1) I never thought of Advent emphasizing this, but it's actually the entire basis of the Incarnation. In the Annunciation, Gabriel waited for Mary to CHOOSE to say yes. In the Nativity, the Holy Family waited for someone to CHOOSE to welcome them indoors. Even the Christ Child, He demanded nothing, complained for nothing-- God becoming a baby was the utmost expression OF His gentle politeness.
...
2)
...

"Recognizing that you didn’t create the world— God did— identify something that holds you back from accepting this creation with joyful gratitude just as it is. [Admit it & give it to the Holy Spirit] to let it go."
1) This was such a strange & unexpected follow-up question, I have to ponder it. How does THIS tie into Advent, into the polite patience of Christ?
...
...


LBB = this HIT MY HEART LIKE A SWORD
"After nine months of being deaf and mute, the first words from Zechariah’s lips are words blessing God. The people had supposed that this long-awaited child, born to aged parents, would be named after his father. He was to be “little Zachary.” But the angel that appeared to Zechariah nine months earlier had said, “Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John.”
“John” is a Hebrew word that means “Yahweh has shown favor.” This is a graced child who is called to express in his life God’s love and favor not only to Zechariah and Elizabeth, but to all God’s people. I too am a graced child, called to express in MY life God’s love and favor, not only to me, but to all people.
There’s a lot to think about in this passage. Perhaps I should simply think about my own name... how and why it was given, how it sounded when spoken over me as a child.
And... how it sounds now when God speaks it."

...
Names are so, so essential for nousfoni, and Leaguespacers too.
I still don't have one.
...


------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Universalis reading 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 struck me=
"God will very rightly reward you, who are suffering now, with the same peace as He will give us, WHEN the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with the angels of His power, when He comes to be glorified among His saints and seen in His glory by all who believe in Him."
1) For Christians who are suffering now, in this fallen world, BECAUSE it is fallen, the return of Jesus will give us PEACE. Considering how awesome and terrible an event that will be, this is a stunning promise... but it's true. When Jesus appears, we WILL be at perfect peace IF we are suffering FOR Him now, because His Presence is the end of all earthly sorrow, and the deliverance of all the faithful from death & pain forever. That's why this peace is a "reward"-- it is the direct result OF suffering for God. If you're already at peace, unfazed by the sin in the world, then you will not obtain such a reward when Christ appears!
2) A brief note that when Jesus returns, of course He will be glorified, it's inevitable-- He will be suddenly and undeniably realized by ALL to be God, that His Words are all True, that He Is Judge over the cosmos. But amazingly, because of this, those who already put their sincere & total faith in Him without such magnificent proofs, will be glorified WITH HIM, because of their faith! He will share His glory with them, with His Church, AS HIS BRIDE & BODY. That's AMAZING. And of course that will perfect our peace as well-- our faith will be absolutely confirmed, our hopes completely realized, our love rejoicing in eternity!
3) Last question. Once again, even apparently at the very last moment, "you see what you believe." Christ WILL be glorified, yes, His Truth will be undeniable-- BUT will there STILL be hardened hearts that refuse to believe??? How is that possible? How can they see Christ, coming in Power, and still close their eyes to His Glory because they don't want to believe it???
It's a terrible, heartbreaking thought. Such people will CHOOSE to not be able to see the beautiful majesty and awesome splendor of Jesus Christ revealed as God. There is no hope for such a proud soul, that willingly turns its back on the Light. We MUST pray for the conversion of such faithless souls NOW. On that day it will be too late. We MUST beg God to soften their hearts by grace. And we, as redeemed sinners ourselves, MUST reveal to them the wonderful truth of the Gospel that saved us, NOW, doing our essential part as Christ's ambassadors and as Children of Light. That Day is coming like a thief. May we all, until then, strive to "steal back" souls from the devil, armed as we are with the Cross of Christ, so that when He returns, He may give us ALL the peace of perseverance in faith.


------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

VOTD = Psalm 28:7. Headspace feelings about God being our TRUE "strength and shield." Noting that Laurie and Lynne must have their roles inherently inspired by this definitive Truth.


The guided prayer had this, which unexpectedly inspired me=
""As the shepherds returned to their sheep, they were praising God and saying wonderful things about Him. Everything they had seen and heard was just as the angel had said. (Luke 2:20)"
Re-read this verse. Reflect on all you have heard and seen about Jesus. Ask God how you can share this joy with others."

1) The shepherds were praising God-- as they returned to their sheep! They went right back to their responsibilities, to their everyday life, not forsaking it just because they had seen the angels, or the Messiah Himself-- instead, that divine experience now changed the very fabric of their lives. Christ was a humble baby, poor and plain, just like them.
...
2) They praised God AS they returned. They didn't go anywhere special or make a fuss over it. They brought that perfect joy right into the mundane details of life, right into the sheepfolds, right up into the vast & lonely hills... and their praises of God were even more real because they weren't catering to an audience. They were just singing His praises in total grateful wonder, as they went back to the work He had called them from, and met them in, itself now just as permanently changed and quietly sanctified as they were.
3) They weren't just praising the wonders God had wrought, they were praising His Fidelity and Truthfulness. What the angels had declared was true, down to the last detail. What God Himself had promised through prophets & patriarchs was true, completely fulfilled in that tiny Child.

------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From USC=

"The expression of love is action. The mediating link between faith and works is love... Love lives in works. During this season of Advent, may we deepen our capacity for compassion [and] be ready to welcome Jesus's coming via acts of radical solidarity. When we finally understand that the Incarnation is the mirror by which we learn to orient ourselves in loving relation with God, creation, and our neighbors, we will be ready to welcome Jesus in the faces of the migrants and refugees knocking at our literal or metaphorical doors. Allow this season to birth in you the ability to see beyond our differences. Look into the heart of the incarnational mystery, where we are all one in and with Christ."
...
I don't live out "active love" enough, at all. And yet, deep down, I YEARN to.
I keep remembering grandma in home hospice, caring for her 24/7. I keep remembering fellow patients when I was on the hospital, how much I ached to attend to their cries when no one responded. I weep over deaths of strangers, I strive to give everything I can to the homeless I see, I pray for every emergency response vehicle that passes, I donate food & clothing whenever I have the means, I consider all of my neighbors to be close friends although I've never even spoken to most of them. I just genuinely love people and I WANT to care for them more.
Stop praising yourself. Do you want an award? Keep quiet about it. Erase all that and write something humble, something about God, not yourself.


121723

Dec. 17th, 2023 11:04 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

💕💕GAUDETE SUNDAY💕💕
We were ALL pink son!!

Tony pickup, slightly late. We savored the winter morning. Struck by how much blacktop there is, so few trees, the landscape is almost entirely artificial and sterile. What was it like before we did this to it?

Mom drive home & shop
VERY late getting home.
3PM BK!!

NEWSFLASH = THE RED CHRISTMAS LIGHTS FINALLY BURNED OUT AS OF 4PM 😂 THAT'S A FULL YEAR GOD BLESS
Perfect timing though; there's no better day to relight our tree!

Evening = DID JUST THAT ❤
Man its SO NICE to finally have a tree without any dead lights on it, haha. That feels kind of significant, and very well can be, if we use it as such a lens. Where in our lives are we hanging onto "dead lights", unwilling to remove them until they all burn out, and/or because it would require stripping the entire tree to replace them? I'm sure we can answer that question. Meditate seriously on it.

Also we put multi lights up over the left wall mirrors too, for both holiday spirit and cheerful illumination. We need a longer set, but this will do for now.  The brighter apartment is pinging Jewel, which is both fascinating and encouraging, because we NEED to draw stuff within the next week and SHE is the artist in here. So keep those lights plugged in, kiddo!!

Lastly, "I" was briefly joking with Markus that we were actually listening to Clay Aiken by choice, haha. That poor chap is an ancient injoke thanks to AMG, God bless her too. But hey, two decades later, both Clay and I have "come out" and so with the "fear of alloforcing" therefore neutralized, we can simply enjoy the fact that he actually does have a nice voice, and uses it to sing one of our favorite Christmas songs. How things change over the years!


Jumped right outta the woodwork into our OLD Tumblr for TEN SECONDS to "be a voice crying out in the wilderness"-- and then blindly changed our password ran back into the desert, haha.
We couldn't not share that hard but powerful truth. I don't care if it wakes up the hornets. That's not my intention or job. I'm logged out and leaving it at that. To do any further would be pride. The truth speaks for itself. I thank God I had the guts to share it. But it isn't my war of words to wage.

Night =
Two hours on the couch listening to the Lupin III OST by PAPIK?? And tons of new Christmas music. We needed this rest.


------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

EGJ =
"The Pharisees and high priests certainly knew what the messiah would look like, or at least they thought they did. So, they disqualified Jesus. How often do we encounter the living Christ among us and around us but fail to recognize Him simply because He looks like a cab driver? Or a grocery clerk? Or a skateboarder? Advent challenges us to open our eyes to the surprising reality that Christ can and does show up in the most unexpected places. Are we ready for that?
Today, identify a blind spot. Sit quietly and think of one thing you would not expect Jesus to be: A different race? A different gender? A different tradition? What holds you back from opening to the possibility?
"Challenge me, O Lord. Show up in my life disguised as someone I would not expect and jolt me into an awareness of Your inspiring and awesome diversity.""

First, a preface from the VOTD, as it ties right into this= "The Good News of Jesus Christ is for ALL people and ALL nations."
...It's shameful and shocking, how much internalized prejudice we actually still have. We can blame our upbringing all we want; the point is, we haven't uprooted it yet. And THAT'S our blind spot: rigid definitions that reject reality and prevent compassion.
When you are raised in a small town & small school, surrounded by elderly white Christian folks with minimal education and limited awareness of the rest of the world, then it's inevitable that xenophobia becomes a normal part of your daily life-- so normal that you don't realize there's any alternative.
This is very dangerous within religion.
...
But I NEVER AGREED with them.
...
My biggest problem? I don't expect Jesus to look like the people I'm scared of. I don't expect Him to look like the people I disagree with. Isn't that devilish. It's disgusting.
I don't expect Jesus to look like a sorority girl, or a death metal frontman, or a drag queen, et cetera. Isn't that terrible?
But I never expected Jesus to look like my schizophrenic transgender sister, either.
...and lest I forget, at all times, I am one new nousfoni away from BEING each and any of those people.
Is THAT the fear?? Is it a MORAL terror, that such people are "sinners" in such a way that it would be scandalous to see Christ in them?? You damned hypocrite, YOU'RE the WORST SINNER OF ALL, and you're going to judge others on appearance alone?? Did you forget Luke 13?? Did you forget your beloved Patron Saint?? Did you forget the Cross Itself??
...and yet, I feel your real fear. You WANT TO see Christ in them. You STRIVE to do so, actually, in secret. And you're TERRIFIED that THAT IS A MORTAL SIN-- seeing Jesus in the faces of people who may be actively blaspheming Him.
...
In short: I STILL struggle so much with the very concept of "Christ IN everyday people," because I feel like that's idolatry or heresy????
...
We were raised to believe that, if you're a REAL Christian, you can ONLY look and talk and feel and act in a certain specific way, NO EXCEPTIONS, NO VARIATIONS. Any odd or weird or "different" people are ungraced, even possessed; they must be domesticated and humbled before they will be allowed into polite & right society, let alone the holy Church!
And I'm STILL being taught that, everywhere I turn! Just look at the "tradcath" movement! As a "queer, autistic, mentally ill" person-- the EXACT kind of person I WOULDN'T EXPECT TO SEE JESUS IN-- that movement is TERRIFYING.
...
...

2) THEY DISQUALIFIED JESUS.
3)
4) And yet, Christ is  ALWAYS UNEXPECTED.
5) "not expect JESUS to be"
6) DISGUISED
7) The diversity of Christ!!!! HIS BODY IS PROOF YOU IDIOT
...


LBB =
"I may not be the main event. But the things that happen in my life are main events for me. And they’re main events for God too. God, unlike the world, has room on center stage for everyone. [Every human being is] center stage for God... [and they are each] God’s beloved. So am I."
1) Pope Francis once said, "Jesus is the only protagonist." That stuck with me. JESUS is the ONLY "main event" in ALL OF HISTORY, and in every individual life! Let that sink in. You aren't the main character of your own existence, because your existence isn't solitary. You're not isolated. Your life is part of the big picture, part of the story of all mankind AND of all Creation. You cannot be the main character; you exist for a blip, for a nanosecond, one snowflake falling amongst septillions. But God created you with His Own Hands. He breathed His Own Breath into your lungs. And most amazingly of all, when the Main Character DID show up, and brought about the ONLY Main Event there is... He was thinking about you.
2) Don't underestimate God's Love. You literally cannot comprehend it. He is infinite, eternal, and entirely Love. He holds the entire cosmos in existence, He keeps the laws of physics running, He personally manages every single star in the sky... and He is watching you right now, with the tender attentive care of a Father. Your ordinary, nothing-special, everyday life is irreplaceably precious to Him, and everything you experience today is of utmost importance to Him. Does that sound impossible? Does that sound crazy? Then consider this additional truth: God feels this way about every single human being in existence. No exceptions, no partiality. Every person is on "center stage" for God, of utmost significance, on equal standing-- the orphan in the slum, the billionaire in the mansion, the convict in the jail, the nun in the cloister, the refugee in the shelter, the celebrity in the tour bus, the average Joe in the factory, the President in the office, Et cetera. Every race, every language, every culture, every religion, every walk of life. Use your imagination. There are literally no exceptions. God cares that deeply and that intimately for every single soul. And why?
3) We are beloved to God. To GOD!
...


------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

VOTD = Romans 15:13.
"Scripture calls God "the God of Hope" because hope is the result of a relationship with a God like this. Hope is the expectation that good things are on the way, even in situations that seem hopeless, because our Good God is always working things out for our good. Hope is God's specialty; it is what He alone gives us, and He is always willing to share it with us. As we trust in God by placing our hopes in Him, God also gives us joy and peace, because He always keeps His promises-- and the result of this is that we overflow in hope. And we always have reason for hope, because God has sent His Son Jesus as our Savior."
1) Oh man that opening line is echoing in my heart. "Hope is the result of relationship with God." That is so profound. And "a God LIKE THIS," to boot! Because let me tell you, as a former pagan, not all "relationships with gods" are good. None of them give real hope. That's because NONE OF THEM ARE ACTUALLY "GODS". 
There is only ONE God, the Holy One of Israel,
...
2)
3)

The prayer had this =
"If I start to feel overwhelmed, hopeless, confused, or fearful, remind me that You are near. Please make me aware of Your Presence."
God's Presence ACTIVELY CONQUERS ALL THOSE VICES.
When God is near, we are freed from overwhelm, because we can share our burdens with Him, while recognizing that He alone is our real priority, the only thing that truly matters in life.
When God is near, we are freed from hopelessness, because we know He is still in control, and is always working all things out for both our good, and His glory.
When God is near, we are freed from confusion, because He is perfect Truth and Light, and will guide us in His Way by His Word & Spirit.
When God is near, we are freed from fear, because Jesus's Cross triumphs over the grave, and so nothing in life or death can separate us from His Love.
...

KVOTD prayer had this =
"God, thank You for giving us Jesus, the greatest gift, and for being available to me all day, every day, forever. Today I want to receive that gift and spend time with You, my Everlasting Father."
1) Today’s self-deifying culture has really made it hard to properly appreciate the ASTOUNDING GIFT that the ONLY GOD has GIVEN us, IN CHRIST, to literally be ABLE to talk to God directly, and at ANY TIME. That is STAGGERING. Read the OT and you'll get a sincere appreciation as to why!
To claim we "have a right to" such access-- or to try to grasp it ourselves-- automatically dooms our attempts to failure, even backfiring. Grace is ONLY available as a gift. So is Love. Power, intelligence, merit, all those and all else are utterly useless to gain grace, to acquire love. They can only be received, and to receive we must have room in our selves TO do so.
Are your hands empty enough, is your heart open enough, is your mind pure enough? No? Then are you willing to be emptied out of everything earthly, humbled and left vulnerable, so that God can fill you with Himself instead of your self? How? You do realize the gift is Christ on the Cross?
2) Also astounding? The fact that GOD GAVE THE GIFT, AS A GIFT. No one forced Him. No one asked Him. He Himself WANTED this communication opened between mortal and divine, to RESTORE what was lost in Eden!! WE WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE SEPARATED. Do you realize that?? We're not "starting from" a position of innate exclusion-- we're here in EXILE. This world is NOT OUR HOME. God never forgot that, but we did. And that's a huge part of why Jesus is such an amazing gift-- we didn't even realize we needed Him. We never would've asked.
3) Don't ever overlook that key point. The gift is JESUS, IN HIS PERSON. The gift is our RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. THAT'S where all our hope comes from! Why is God always available to us now? Because He's available TO JESUS, THROUGH JESUS. No mortal, ever, could merit such communication access, let alone privilege. No mortal could ever reach such celestial heights by their own power-- no mortal could SURVIVE the mere perception of the LORD, even for a nanosecond! Even the prophets that "saw God" only saw Him because HE willed it-- He gave the vision and enabled it, and still only appeared in types and shadows. But the prophet never sought such sights, never dared to even dream that he would be worthy of them-- he outright rejected the very possibility, too acutely aware of his own wretchedly humble state. And THAT is where God meets us in Christ-- right there in the dust. But Jesus came to give sight to the blind.
...
4) Revisiting the LBB reflection: yes, because of Jesus, God is available to you at every moment forever. That's stunning enough on its own. But He's available as a FATHER. He's available because of Psalm 116-- because He's LISTENING. He CARES. He LOVES YOU.
5) We have to ACCEPT THIS.


Guided prayer ties into all this.
"God, it’s when I seek You that I find You. So today, help me to intentionally draw near to You. Give me the courage to shift my attention off of my circumstances and onto You. I want to rely on You completely by coming to You first— above anything else."
1) This reminds me of a line in one of my very favorite prayers, which gives me hope in my most desperate times:
"Teach me to seek You. I cannot seek You unless You teach me
or find You unless You show Yourself to me..."

...
2) We must choose to actively move closer to God.  That just floors me. What NERVE that requires!! And yet, do we not have that Gift? God wants us to approach Him. Jesus is proof-- and He gives us the power TO approach Him, even Himself, in beautiful paradox, as I said previously. He will help us.
...
3) To shift one's focus like this requires a TOTAL REORIENTATION of reality, a shift in perspective that is as essential as it is radical.
...
4)


And this one ACHES.
"God, I’m in awe of Your love for those who follow You. You choose to protect, care for, and provide for us— just as a loving Father should. You see the needs I have today— and I trust that You will not only provide for me, but You will bless me abundantly so that I can be a blessing to others.
Thank You for being a good Father."

...


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I apologize profusely for how messy and ugly this entry ended up being. I'm not sure how many people contributed. We're always a mess mentally after oversocializing. Please forgive us for anything foolish or proud or downright evil we said here.



121523

Dec. 15th, 2023 11:18 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)



5 hours of sleep and a hellish night BUT WE'RE STILL GOING TO CHURCH SON!!!

Managed to exercise despite headache and fatigue. Thank You God for giving us the new music referrals from our choral daylist, it was perfect for the Mysteries today.

...

Evening =
Tumblr distracted after BK, but stayed on Christian & poetry blogs so it would be edifying.
BROKE DOWN IN SOBS over this poem
https://www.tumblr.com/tambuli/715470835329138688/source-el-huddpudd-for-your-poetry-tag


Night =
Bone tired. On couch with Chaos 0, Laurie & Mimic upstairs, as I'm reading old 2022 entries & listening to Spotify.
Shuffle was actually playing Mimic tunes which was nice. Best part though? Mimic being so half-asleep that he was quietly humming along to "hot sugar" (which is still inexplicably his tune. i think it's the synths)

Mimic briefly ghosting, sat down by couch. Wordlessly held out one hand, not looking at me, but I saw the faint smile. I took his hand and I SWEAR I could physically feel it.

He stood up to leave and I looked at him and sleepily but sincerely said "hey, I love you."
He actually smiled, and replied, "i know."
And then, "I love you too."

Now I was the one to smile. Slowly, lighting up my face like sunrise. all i could say was, "thank you."


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KVOTD = Luke 7:9, our beloved Centurion.
"Jesus cares about our faith, not our accomplishments."
Worldly honor & accolades mean nothing to Him. Jesus marvels at our FAITH, not our resumé or trophy shelf or portfolio... neither public prestige, nor private prodigy. Jesus only cares about our faith in Him.
So the verse questions say we NEED to do three things=
1. TO FOCUS LESS ON OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
...

2. To remember that Jesus came to save everyone, not just the successful elite. He also came to save the useless failures, the disappointments, the stupid idiots-- and not only that, He LOVES us, just as much as He loves the smart and beautiful people He also came to save.

3. To truly believe in "Jesus's ability to do the impossible." We must "trust Him with the impossible needs in our life," believing that there is nothing He cannot do-- and why? BECAUSE WE BELIEVE HE IS GOD. He will "work and move in marvelous ways" in response to our "marvelous faith."
But why is there a disconnect for you here, specifically between God and "doing the impossible"? Is it simply because you feel using that word is a subtle refusal of God's omnipotence? Then change your vocabulary. Or is the fear even more subtle? Are you afraid that GOD has "deemed it impossible," solely because He doesn't want to do it? Why is THAT always your instinctive image of God??? Does that SOUND like the God of the Bible that you love? NO! You're skewing everything!
Did you already forget the reflection from the other day, about needs? If God doesn't fulfill it, guess what? IT'S NOT A NEED. That should be a HUGE RELIEF for you!!
Listen. Open your darn ears and heart and LISTEN for once.
God is a loving Father. God is your Protector, your Savior, your Redeemer. God's NAME is LOVE-- go reread Exodus 34! His Name is Mercy and Grace and Fidelity and Justice! He is the God of all Truth and Righteousness, of all Peace and Joy! And this One True God has revealed His Character to us perfectly in the Heart of His Beloved Son JESUS CHRIST, WHO WILLINGLY DIED THE MOST BRUTAL DEATH IN YOUR PLACE IN ORDER TO SAVE YOU FROM DEATH FOREVER.
And you're really gonna sit here and tell me "God doesn't want to help me?" Are you daft?
...
...

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Just some thoughts on the guided prayer.
I love how it says "You BELONG to the God Who sent His Son to rescue you." There's profound comfort in that, so much it makes my heart ache.


I want to reflect on this prayer=
"Holy Spirit, thank you for your guidance. Each day, you help me to become more like Jesus in my character, speech, and actions. Empower me to remember and obey the teachings of Jesus to contribute to the flourishing of those around me."
1) You've gotta ACTIVELY THANK THE HOLY SPIRIT TOO, not just the Father and the Son!! They're All together, in both work AND Being, so don't leave Him out!
2) The Holy Spirit's main job is to make us more like Jesus. That's the honest ultimate end of ALL His reminders & nudges & corrections. His goal is the inherent goal of ALL Christian life-- to be remade in the image of the New Adam, to be a part of His Body in truth.
...
3) We don't just "act like Jesus", we must also TALK like Him. But our words & actions can't just be "Jesus-esque." We can't just talk & act "LIKE" Him. We have to do those things IN Him, WITH Him, as shocking as that is-- because as His Church, we are part OF Him!!
And how do we do this? THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
That's what really stuns me-- we CANNOT live "as Christians" by our own power or will. We CANNOT "imitate Christ" by our own efforts & imagination. That's what makes us "like Him," but in the way a doll is like a person. We're a cheap knockoff if we think our proudly playacting pantomimes are proof of any participation with the Peasant King.
We must admit that we DON'T know how to act like Jesus... because we don't have His Character. We CANNOT have it; Jesus is GOD!! We are not and can NEVER be God, no matter what the neoreligions claim.
Our literal only hope, then, is for God Himself to infuse our hearts with Himself. That's what the Holy Spirit does.
...
4) The Spirit EMPOWERS us TO remember and obey Jesus's teachings! That's a significant word; it implies that without Him, we can't respond to Jesus at all. And this is indeed Biblical.
...
5) Christianity is all about relationship. Even our obedience to God is never about us alone; it necessarily involves ALL His other creatures, with whom we share a world and Creator.
...
Christians have been chosen by God, through Christ, to be a direct and indispensable part of His Plan to redeem ALL Creation to Himself.
Our adherence to Christ, then, indirectly but inevitably brings His Life to all those around us???
...


The closing prayer carries a lot of weight.
"Jesus, with generous love and overwhelming kindness, You came down from heaven to fulfill Your Father's will and save a weary world. Your obedience paved a way for me to draw near to You every day. So please teach me to do Your will. Show me how to lay down my dreams and pick up Yours. Fill me with Your love so that I can pour Your love onto others."
1) Jesus left heaven out of pure love-- for His Father AND for us. I don't reflect on that enough. There wasn't a mote of reluctance or hesitation in it. He wasn't leaving forever, either-- but He WAS going to "change" how "forever" would look from then on out: He was bringing humanity into it. This was what God wanted-- ALL of God, the entire Trinity! God ENTIRELY willed to save this weary world-- to literally step out of painless paradise in order to share our sufferings, in order to heal our hurting hearts and save our souls-- because His LOVE for us was and IS so great that it demanded to give itself to the utmost.
...
2) How does Jesus's obedience to His Father pave a way for me to approach Jesus Himself?
...
3)


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I was just reading Psalm 116 (inspired from Vespers) and it JUST HIT ME that the OPENING VERSE IS A TRUTH.
I've been reading these Psalms like they're just lyrics, completely ignorant of their divine impetus and expression! I read that opening line like ten times before I realized, wait a second, HE'S LITERALLY DESCRIBING GOD. He's not just singing or talking! EVERYTHING THE PSALMS SAY ABOUT GOD ARE TRUE. That's how the Bible works, you nitwit!!
Here's the essential verse, from several translations =
"I love the LORD, because He listens to my prayers and answers them... He hears my voice; He hears my cry for help and my pleas for mercy. He pays attention to me; He bends down to listen carefully to me, every time I call out to Him for His help."
THAT IS A FACTUAL, REAL, GENUINE, ACCURATE, RELIABLE DESCRIPTION OF WHAT THE LORD OUR GOD IS ACTUALLY LIKE, AND HE NEVER CHANGES. NOT EVEN TOWARDS YOU.
Go print this out at the library and tape it to the living room wall where you will inevitably see it. I'm serious. You NEED to effectively drill this into your brainmatter. You NEED to engrave it into your very bones. You NEED to burn this into your blood, to ignite charity with every heartbeat. IT IS THAT ESSENTIAL TO YOUR PROGRESS IN FAITH & HEALING.
GOD HEARS YOU. GOD IS LISTENING TO YOU CAREFULLY.
"But then what?" That numb and hollow girl replies. "He listens, okay, but I don't know WHY He's listening, or if He's going to do anything in response. Maybe He's going to punish me because I asked, that's why He was listening so carefully, ti find out how much trouble I was in."
Girl your mind is TWISTED beyond belief, let me tell you, and pun sadly intended. YOU listen, honestly so, to how the Psalm continues with the context =
"‭I was trapped, caught in the snares of death, captured by its painful chains... The danger of death was all around me, attacking from all sides; the horrors of the grave closed in on me; the pains of hell got hold of me. I was terrified; filled with fear, worry, and anxiety, overwhelmed by anguish and agony. All I experienced was suffering and grief."
That sounds like you-- we, actually-- could have written it. Do you realize how significant that is? This Psalmist has experienced traumatic darkness just as you have. He can empathize completely. He understands because He has been in the abyss himself. Otherwise he couldn't have written this. Even if your situations weren't exactly the same-- and let's face it, that's literally impossible for ANY two souls, ever, and it doesn't invalidate anything-- the core experience was identical enough in its horror to echo your own laments this closely. Can you accept that?
"...yes, he's describing me." "Us."
And this is Scripture. So don't ever feel ashamed or guilty for expressing your sufferings like this either. Just make sure you continue in the Psalmist's example, and don't stop there... which, honestly, you've never actually done. Here, listen to the very next verse.
"Then I called upon the Name of the LORD, because I knew what kind of God He is. I kept crying out to Him: "Please Lord, I beg you, come and save me! Save my life; deliver my soul; rescue me!" But when I was really hurting, I prayed and said, “Lord, please don't let me die!”"
Does that sound familiar to you?
"......but then what did He do?"
The same thing He has always done for you, if you would only see it, poor beloved.
"‭You are kind, Lord, so good and merciful. You protect ordinary people, and when I was helpless, you saved me, and treated me so kindly that I don't need to worry anymore."
"...He's really like that? The Psalmist isn't exaggerating or making things up?"
The Psalmist is speaking from grateful joy; everything he says is sincere. You can attest to his words, if only you would open your heart a little and look up, to see and feel all that has been for you by that very same merciful and good God.
"..."
Here, let me give you more translations from verse 5. These are ALL FACTS, remember. Don't just skim over them, or superficially read them as mere text. Every word here is a sacred truth, a real and accurate description of the One Holy God Who created everything that is, including you, and Who is made known to us most beautifully and clearly in Jesus. Yes, this therefore describes Him, too, for He IS this same God =
"‭The LORD is holy; He is consistently gracious, righteous, fair, and merciful. Our God is compassionate; our God is so kind and good. He is full of tender love. He always does what is right. Every time He has pity on us, and likes to gives us another chance."
Every translation of that verse is honestly singing for joy & gratitude. It's really moving, and beautiful, to read through them all, realizing that countless voices-- pun intended-- throughout the ages have echoed these truths, because they ARE truths, you realize that? They are unchanging, unmistaken, pure and positive. THIS IS WHAT GOD IS LIKE, WAS LIKE, AND WILL ALWAYS BE LIKE. There are no exceptions, there is no "room for error or alterations." No. You cannot change God. Take comfort in that for heavens sake. No matter how much you fear He will treat YOU differently, He can't. He literally cannot fail to love you, or be merciful to you, or to treat you with compassion. Do you honestly understand that? I'm telling you the truth, THE Truth. You ARE loved, and THIS is what His Love IS like-- not that pagan devil trickster junk that has infected your poor head. That's not love and never can be love. Love IS GOD, and verse five here tells you exactly what He is like.
"...but I don't know the definitions. How can I know how God will actually treat me if I don't know how HE defines those words and acts on them?"
Will verse six help?
"God watches over those who don't realize they are in danger-- the childlike, simple-minded, thoughtless, ordinary, even foolish-- He takes care of those who are naive and untrained in wisdom, who are still learning right from wrong, and don't know what to do. He protects the vulnerable, the helpless, the defenseless, the powerless, and the weak."
God doesn't hate or damn or condemn or even punish you for "being stupid," as you constantly beat yourself up for and mourn about.
"But how do I KNOW I'm not doing evil on purpose? How do I know I'm NOT "foolish" and just evil? I'm not powerless or vulnerable, I'm TOO strong and hard-hearted; I hurt people and myself all the time! I'm not weak, I'm not childlike, I'm not... I'm too... I'm lost."
"God I AM helpless. I have no idea what I'm doing or why I'm doing it. I'm too stupid to be simple. I'm too diseased by sin and crippled by vice. I can't see straight or feel right. I AM defenseless, because I don't even know what I'm fighting anymore. The enemy is me. I'm constantly in danger. Would you still protect me then? If i... wait, that was verse four, wasn't it?"
What is?
"I'm surrounded by danger. I'm trapped in the grave. God, please don't let me die. I have no merits to plead, not even naivete. I have nothing. I'm going to die if you don't save me, and my only hope in the entire universe is verse five."
I think that's the entire point.

"...whats the rest of it? What does... what happens to the weak and foolish and ordinary not special not smart not good people when God protects them? He takes care of them what does that mean"
Let's take a look.
"I was broken, facing death, and God saved me! I was brought low in my great need, helpless and in serious trouble, and He delivered me; I was weak, confused, humbled and discouraged, but He answered me and came to my rescue, giving me victory."
Now remember, this is descriptive. God is One Who Saves. He delivers people; He rescues people. If you're helpless and weak, He'll help you. That's just Who He Is.
"but it says humble, even the priest said I'm not humble, so God won't deliver me."
You're really gonna laserfocus on that, huh. Well I guess it's merited. Do you want to be humble?
"yes!!! pride hurts it makes me sick we don't like it at all."
"I feel like pride is a cancerous tumor in my heart. I know it's there, but I feel like I can't so anything about it. I hate it. I feel stuck, damned to die, doomed to something I don't even want."
Ironically I think that's the pride talking. Pride is the devil, you know. Its not "you". It IS a cancer. YOU'RE a child of God, from baptism-- WAY before you could "decide to be proud," if that's how you're looking at it. God chose YOU, way back then. And ONLY GOD can give you the grace of humility, because He alone is the SOURCE of virtue. You CAN'T do it yourself. THAT'S pride, being as maliciously tricky as ever, making you think that you "have to be humble" through EFFORT, and therefore preventing you from receiving it from God as an unmerited free grace which would destroy the devil's power.
"So... I just... tell God that I'm too proud to be humble, but I hate it and want to change, and He has to do that for me or I'm stuck?"
Basically, yeah. Be reverent in asking, but don't pretend everything is fine. Let Him know you ARE in danger, and helpless, and facing death. You DO need to be rescued. You ARE in great need. And what does God Who Is Love do for people who cry out to Him from that position?
"...He answers. He stoops down and listens. I remember."
Yeah. So don't be afraid. Call out to Him. Trust in this Psalm, if you can't trust anything else yet. Trust the FACTS about God. And bank everything on that.

Here, verse eight is beautiful too.
"‭Now, my heart is calm, confident, and serene. My soul can rest, relax, and be at peace, because the Lord has treated me so kindly; He has been very good to me. He has vindicated me and I don't need to worry anymore. I know that I am safe. I know that God is taking care of me. God has dealt generously with me, and showered me with blessings; The Lord rewards fully all those who simply trust Him."

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121223

Dec. 12th, 2023 10:02 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

HAPPY FEAST DAY!!!

Tried to get our morning routine done early but OCD made prayer utterly torturous today, it took AN HOUR to say the Rosary alone.

BK at 2pm.
Laurie is UNCANNILY ACCURATE at guessing our battery power when we finally plug it in. She & Leon regularly bet for fun (always $5, it's tradition) against each other, and she keeps guessing within like 5% wtf


Dude I didn't realize due to all the family stress & OCD obsessions, but according to Archival data, AS OF TODAY, MIMIC HAS BEEN IN OUR SYSTEM FOR A FULL YEAR.
CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING A BONELESS BODACIOUS BABE AND ALSO NOT A SQUID 🎉🐙
Seriously though man I love you, you've been an absolutely IRREPLACEABLE presence in my life since last December. You've changed my life, a lot. I'm so grateful you said you were sticking around.
(honestly the 15th is the day I first felt him click into our heart, so I will absolutely make an effort to sincerely celebrate that, quietly so. dude doesn't like fanfare and neither do i. it's more real when it's not being fussed over anyway.)

...20 years with the beloved next Saturday, by the way.
Celebrate it-- celebrate him-- with your entire heart.


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Adding this to yesterday's chastisement on trust!!

"O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the desert when your fathers put me to the test; when they tried me, though they saw my work. For forty years I was wearied of these people and I said: “Their hearts are astray, these people do not know My ways.” Then I took an oath in my anger: “Never shall they enter My rest.”"
1) When you're in a desert of life, and wondering "can God provide?" THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE DOING. To ask that question at all is, effectively, to "harden your heart." Why? Because if it was soft, it would be surrendering. A soft heart in a desert is an oasis, watered by trusting love. Against all odds, it will never lack, because it looks to God and God does not abandon it, on principle, in truth. But if that heart hardens to match the waterless rock around it, then it forgets the green of the past, and doubts that it can return. It can. God can make flowers bloom amongst the dryest dust. You need to have faith in His ability to do so, and His desire to do so, out of pure Goodness.
2) YOU HAVE SEEN HIS WORK. Don't ever forget it. The proofs are countless and gorgeous and beyond doubt, however they make your head spin.
3) DO NOT TEST GOD. LISTEN TO HIS VOICE AND ACCEPT IT AS-IS.
4) Why do we doubt and test and grumble and worry? Because we don't KNOW the ways of God. And, as I've been emphasizing, His ways are TRUSTWORTHY, gracious and generous, good and right and just. When you know that, then your hearts can REST. When you forget it, or deny it at worst-- then your hearts "stray" from His Way of Love, and you get very lost very fast.
5) God is being fair here. You can't enter His rest if you won't trust Him! Those mindsets are incompatible!


John 3:27 feels unexpectedly relevant? Fusing translations=
"No one can do anything unless God in heaven allows it. No one can have anything unless God gives it. A man cannot receive anything of his own will, for there is no other source than the sovereign will of God... No one can obtain anything except what has been given from heaven."
This ties into "trust God to meet your daily needs," as opposed to striving to meet them yourself. You cannot provide anything of yourself, let alone for yourself. Everything you can seek or obtain is a GIFT FROM GOD. Don't forget, even you yourself fall under His jurisdiction! Don't be so proud to think you're a forgotten exception! God will provide for you, of His own free will and endless bounty, as He always does-- the very breath in your lungs right now you received from Him. And why will He provide? Two reasons: because you can't, and because He loves you.
...

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Talking about this article with Mimic=
https://davidwesterfield.net/2006/05/cs-lewis-a-thought-from-a-quote-in-mere-christianity/

Discussing the final three paragraphs. "How exactly does that work?" And really pondering it until it MADE SENSE-- which cannot be forced, btw, it will happen by itself if you are genuinely seeking to learn, admitting your ignorance, & imploring wisdom for God's sake really. We wanted to understand the Atonement better so we could live according to it better, and the Holy Spirit helped us in His merciful kindness.
It's not cerebral either. It always hits in the heart, without many words, but with understanding.

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Amazed by all this=

1 Chronicles 17:1-15
"“The Lord says this: You are not the man to build me a house to dwell in. I have never stayed in a house from the day I brought Israel out until today, but went from tent to tent, from one shelter to another. In all my journeying with the whole of Israel, did I say to any one of the judges of Israel, whom I had appointed as shepherds of my people: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”

1) Even in serving God, man must never do so thinking He can GIVE God anything, or be a benefactor TO Him.
2) the HUMILITY of God in this!! Like His People, He dwelt in tents, journeying WITH them as intimately as He could at this point in time.
3) He NEVER "COMPLAINED." He was NEVER "PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE." Seriously, NOTE THAT because it's a HUGE DISTINCTION between the true God and wannabe pagan idols!!
...

"...I will make you great; the Lord will make you a House. And when your days are ended and you must go to your ancestors, I will preserve your offspring after you, a son of your own, and make his sovereignty secure. It is he who shall build a house for me and I will make his throne firm for ever. I will be a father to him and he a son to me. I will not withdraw my favour from him, as I withdrew it from your predecessor. I will preserve him for ever in my house and in my kingdom; and his throne shall be established for ever.”’"
1) We don't and can't "make God great." He IS greatness. But HE MAKES US GREAT, and that GLORIFIES HIM?? That's amazing. "I will make you a house"! He responds to David's well-meaning offer of generosity with unfathomable generosity of His Own.
2) The deeper meaning= "I will make you INTO a house." God will "build him a house" in the sense of giving him a kingly dynasty-- God gives David PEOPLE instead of a building. That feels like foreshadowing of Christ; we're talking of dwelling-places for God and God Himself subtly defines a "house" as a family. What good is any dwelling, after all, without people to live in it together in peace? I think that's what God was getting at. All states or kingdoms or nations-- "houses" in an abstract sense of "dwelling within"-- are just magnifications of that most basic unit of parents & children, after all. And what does that say about God, the Definition of Definitions? His promise to "house" David reveals more about Himself than I realized before, because its ultimate end is to glorify God THROUGH that same house... respecting & fulfilling David's pious intention in the proper way, by showing the correct way to think about God and His Presence among men. It's all about people.
3) The offspring is obviously Jesus, and this prophecy has been thoroughly explained with beauty by minds far wiser & holier than mine. My only comment here is a personal fascination with all the different instances of the word "house," and how my Christian faith colors it.
The first house is the one David wanted to build, of cedar. We humans, even in our devotion, can think so small. We can limit ourselves to earthly things even in our faith, taking comfort in the tangible.
The second house is God's use of the term to mean ANY permanent physical dwelling... something He did not seek. He does not belong to this world, of course! And so neither do His people. We must be content with tents, with shifting circumstances, as we travel with God through the desert.
The third house is that which God will never ask for: a house made by man. ...
The fourth house is David himself, made into one by God's grace, in God's gift of descendants-- only God can give and keep life!
The fifth house is the TRUE HOUSE for God to dwell in on earth, which will be built by David's descendant: God's Son, JESUS. Notice that JESUS ISN'T THE HOUSE, because Jesus IS GOD! Rather, what did that Divine Carpenter build? THE CHURCH.
The sixth house is the eternal house, in God's Kingdom, where God will "preserve His Son forever". This is heaven itself-- Jesus's home, God's home, OUR home.
And yes-- the seventh house, for the sake of numbers, is you.
You are part of Christ's Body, the Church. He dwells IN YOU. You yourself ARE His "house"!
...

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Daily devotional books. Trying to just take notes as it's literally overwhelming.

abbodfer= ABSOLUTELY HEADSPACE RELEVANT.
"[The teacher asked,] “Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t like the song?” [The children replied,] “We didn’t know how to say it.”
When people stay silent and don’t talk about how they feel, things can’t be changed. But if you’re respectful and join together to solve the problem, things can change."

1) IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO SAY SOMETHING, YOU'RE BASICALLY HELPLESS TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
I immediately think of "color words" in languages-- how if you lack specifics, you actually won't be able to SEE them, in a very real sense.
...
THIS is why we're obsessive over jargon & etymology & such. We're not very smart, and we often lack the very vocabulary to express what we're truly feeling. That's why we repeat certain words ad nauseam-- they "work" well enough and we have no other options.
But oh man this powerfully emphasizes HOW VITAL LANGUAGE IS, especially in the healing process!!
...
2) The second part? Care Bears. I'M SERIOUS. Why do you think we were obsessed with them as a child, and still low-key are? Their entire bit was sharing your feelings. They were colorful compassionate critters that actively sought out kids in need of emotional assistance and they rushed to the rescue-- and their biggest job was always getting the kids to TALK ABOUT what was upsetting them. The Bears couldn't do anything if there was no communication. Hearts had to be open.
It's the same thing with our color-coded crew, although we're a bit less fluffy, haha. Still, this is such an essential reminder for us. WE NEED TO TALK.
...And we haven't been. That's what's truly killing us.
...
3) Of course we love the word "together," being multiple, but you know what's better? "Join." That takes it deeper. It's more than just proximity or even cooperation; it's unity. It's relationship.
...
4) RESPECT.
...


ttywpf = Pray for the church! It's CHRIST'S BODY and YOU'RE PART OF IT!!
"To pray for the Church will do us good, and it will benefit the Church; it will bring great peace in us; it may not remove our trials, but it will make us strong. Thus, let us beg for this grace to have the habit of entrusting the Church to the Lord... [to daily and intentionally] lift up your parish, religious sisters and brothers, your pastor, bishop, and pope in prayer."
1) What struck me is the hidden plural. He's not saying "us" in a general "all of you each personally" way. He's saying "us" AS A UNITED WHOLE.
...
2) The Church, too, must carry her collective Cross.
...
3) I love the surprising concept of asking for grace to form a HABIT!! That's so powerful actually; it's making your request for spiritual maturation and good works into something solid and intrinsic, not just a one-time request, not even something you "pray for often." This is asking for it to become habitual. That word is so heavy. It means that your prayer would become not just "automatic," but natural and free and spontaneous, even in time becoming a characteristic, something as uniquely "you" as your gait or accent. That's different than a habit, true, but the roots feel similar-- you still develop all those things through repetition. But with prayer, it isn't so mechanical. We know this firsthand. For prayer to truly become a habit, you NEED GRACE.
...
4) The particular personal focus is so important. The Church is a Body of a PERSON, and it consists OF PERSONS.
...

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VOTD = 1 John 4:15.
Our confession of Jesus as the Son of God "cannot simply be head knowledge, it must be heart knowledge." This is the ONLY way to make a sincere, actual confession-- which is also mandatory & required to have ANY sort of true relationship with God! Why? Because JESUS IS GOD. Where the Son Is, there Is the Father, and vice versa... and the Spirit is always with Them Both. So if you DON'T confess Jesus as the Son, you obviously can't even know God as He IS. But note: it must be a heart confession. Why? Because GOD IS TRINITY, and GOD IS LOVE. You can't "logically grasp" what Jesus's Sonship IS with your brain. You can give intellectual definitions but that's it. The bottom line is just this: God is Love, and Love is a mutually self-giving relationship between persons, a unity of hearts, a harmony of souls, etc. To even comprehend the tiniest flicker of this, you must be inspired by the Spirit Himself, and believe me, He's not going to nest in your greymatter. No beloved, no spouse, no parent, can honestly own such a title if they are working by head knowledge of what love is. Believe me, I've made that lethal error. All humans do and will, if they aren't working by grace. There's no other way TO know love, than from God Himself.

"Advent is a time of spiritual reflection and communion with God THROUGH acknowledging and confessing Jesus as the Son of God."
1) Advent is, ultimately, focused on Jesus AS THE SON OF GOD. Everything else flows from that Truth.
2) We must ACKNOWLEDGE this:
3) We must CONFESS this:
4) Our spiritual reflection is based on this knowing confession! That's a very important point that I never considered.
5) The very act of confessing Jesus as Son brings us into communion with God. That's amazing, and awesomely humbling.
..

The written reflection builds on this beautifully.
"From opening your eyes and getting out of bed to choosing to read this sentence, your life is composed of thousands of seemingly small decisions that shape the course of your day. Every decision we make matters, but the most important decision we will ever make is whether we choose to follow Jesus Christ. Choosing to believe and follow Jesus changes everything... it not only [transforms] our life on earth, but also determines our life for eternity."
1) I immediately thought of The Ninth Station by Clarence Enzler in that little Lenten book I love. "My will is Mine. And so is yours." How we take it for granted! How we misuse and neglect it!
This devotional surprised me. I never would have thought "opening my eyes" was a decision. But think of this very morning, how distressing the fibro pain & fatigue was, and how i literally DID have to "hard decide" TO open my eyes and sit up, because mere instinct would NOT.
...
2) "Seemingly small." Nothing is ever actually insignificant. Every tiny action & thought holds immeasurable weight. They all matter. Does that scare you? It sure terrifies the relativists & nihilists & cynics; that's why they insist otherwise so fiercely.
...
3) Choosing to follow Jesus is not a one-time decision. It is perpetual. It quite literally inundates and inebriates everything. As a Christian, your question must actually be: in this action, in this choice, am I following Christ Jesus? ARE you allowing Him to change everything? When you opened your eyes this morning, did you choose that with faith in Jesus? It sounds crazy, but its true-- did you make that decision with reluctant grumbling and selfish focus, or did Christ inspire you with hope and joy and gratitude to open them to a new day gifted by God? You see how everything is transformed. THAT'S the ideal Christian life, in unity with Him, choosing Him in every breath and heartbeat. That's the perfection we will never reach but by grace we can absolutely strive for it more and more.

Here's what I'm talking about!
"This Advent season, as we prepare our hearts to celebrate His birth, let's ponder the profound impact of acknowledging Jesus Christ in our lives. May our acknowledgment of Jesus not merely be a proclamation but a lifestyle— an embodiment of the love, grace, and hope He brings into our lives and the lives of those around us."
1) Actually, ponder the profound impact of this being a BIRTH we're celebrating. Jesus didn't just "arrive" or "show up." He was BORN. And THAT'S the key of Advent! Jesus comes to us as a SON. It's PERMANENTLY PERSONAL. A baby can't "leave" after it "arrives"! Once that precious child shows up on scene, it's staying there, actually FOREVER-- because Life doesn't end, and even in heaven that baby will be bound to you, by blood and heart both.
THAT'S HOW JESUS COMES INTO OUR LIVES. Are we preparing for THAT? Are you painting the nursery? Are you buying the clothes? You get the idea. This is PERMANENT, and it's PERSONAL, moreso than anything else in your entire life.
2) Is your heart prepared?
...
3) Are we CELEBRATING? No, not the holiday festivities and traditions-- are we celebrating a BIRTH? Are we celebrating JESUS that specifically and intimately?
...
4) Again with the baby analogy. Your lifestyle's gotta change. Your life is no longer about you at all-- as if it ever was to begin with!-- now it becomes an embodiment of love, REAL love. Now your entire existence is wrapped up in His... embracing and embraced by God.
5) Just having a baby empowers a person, I would think. The birth of Christ absolutely does. Just His Presence alone is a priceless treasure, a wealth of infinite riches-- just His Presence saturates us with grace, gives us undying hope, and floods our hearts with boundless Love.
6) You know how, when a parent brings their child into a room, everyone stops and is visibly transformed by tenderness for that little one? The Christ Child does that for everyone we bring Him to.
HOWEVER=
"Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God. Thank You for allowing me to serve You and have a close relationship with You. I am constantly in awe of Your goodness and love for Your people. Help me each day to live a life that honors You and draws others closer to You."
1) Jesus is GOD'S SON. NOT OURS.
2) EVEN SO, "Whoever does the will of My Father is my MOTHER AND SISTER AND BROTHER." Jesus Himself calls us into this close relationship!
3) As King, we are His servants. But as The Infant, coming into OUR HEARTS this Advent, we serve Him as His Mother would?? "To Jesus through Mary," I think of. She is the perfect disciple, the perfect Christian. Is it so strange that our lives would be invited to conform to hers, even this closely, as her life was perfectly conformed TO her Son's?
4) Christ's "goodness and love" is as pure as that of a child. Think about that. From His Birth to His Death He was ineffably innocent. Although He grew & learned, He was already completely perfect in all virtue from infancy, because of His Divine Nature-- those virtues simply became capable of manifesting through His Humanity. But He remained always as inherently & immaculately sweet & loving & joyful as a child. Did you ever realize that? It's astounding.
5) THAT is what we must honor each day, in our own lives.
6) (draw others to Him BY our way of life, in this context?)

Don't ever forget, THERE WOULD BE NO CHRISTMAS WITHOUT MARY!!!
And MARY IS OUR MOTHER TOO, the Mother of Christ AND His Church!


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KVOTD is both painful and beautiful and it means so much to me. Luke 5:31-32.
"The Pharisees were annoyed by pretty much everybody-- even Jesus! The Pharisees worked really hard to appear holy, by following God's Commandments, and they couldn't stand people who didn't. [In this verse, they asked Jesus,] "why do You eat and drink with such SCUM?" In other words, impure polluted slime?"
1) ANNOYANCE is a vice.
2) It's scary that you can follow God's commandments in a superficial fashion, and still have a cruel heart towards people.
3) ...at my lowest points, crushed by self-hatred for my sins, that is the exact word I use to describe myself.
...

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Catena today with a heavy conviction that demands reflection=
"If we were not passionately inclined to money or to vainglory, then we would not fear death or poverty. We would not know enmity or hatred, and we would not suffer from the sorrows of ourselves or others." (Saint John Chrysostom)
1) We DO get days where we genuinely still fear death and poverty, which is humiliating but we must admit it. It's all a blinded lack of trust, which is why we've been speaking so strongly on that topic lately.
2) According to this, then, apparently we do have an inclination to money and vainglory. That's genuinely terrifying. Man this is why I miss the daengels-- they would help us face and deal with this SO HONESTLY. 
3)


121123

Dec. 11th, 2023 05:32 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)


2 hour delay so NO MORNING MASS.
Slept in naturally until 8. Body felt decent, which was nice.
Decided to plan day around 1130 mass, as we miraculously have the car an extra day, and DO LAUNDRY AT LONG LAST

Audio notes so I don't forget=
Laurie pointed out that one of the main reasons she's blurring so hard into the core personality, is because the cores are talking to her like they used to talk to Genesis!!
Genesis said that's not cool, Laurie said no it isn't, because he's the only cool guy around. Cue the sunglasses.

Lynne saying that her surname needs to change because she no longer holds her Original role, Which was quite literally standing between Laurie and Julie so they didn't kill each other. That was why her original surname was Stabelle,  Because her presence was needed for there to be any stability!
But now that function is no longer needed but SHE is still needed--  Which is stunning because remember she literally died, And we implored her to come back, And she came back extremely unstable at first, ironically, But she did stick around thank God-- And that's why now her color brightened and she became more warm, With her stability function changing to that of community stability, Through friendship and communication?  Which is an extremely orange function.
By the way Laurie has also been saying lately that her surname needs to  Permanently change.  Her color also appears to need to stay violet, not purple!  There is too huge of a difference between the two colors and it's breaking her function.  She literally needs to go back to her roots without losing all her spiritual growth & softening of heart, BUT SHE ALSO NEEDS HER BRUTAL EDGES BACK.  Laurie's existence NEEDS to be this paradoxical yet perfect harmony Between those two "extremes."

Later=
1130 Mass! Got there for 11 to say the Joyful Rosary before the Tabernacle.
We FORGOT how IMMERSIVE our mystery meditations are in such a context-- even moreso than with visual aids or with music-- the only tradeoff is that we get so caught up in the emotions and visuals that we lose track of the actual recited prayers. So we need to learn how to balance this. But in any case, it is SO important TO be able to "feel" the mysteries like this; without such "personal experience" they become just theory, just data, and the "meditations" on both their events and gifts are hollow.

I forget the exact homily-- I'm writing this too late and I don't know who was fronting to get the memory; there's always a lot of social interference in church-- but the priest was the same guy that gave us that heavy confession on Saturday, so there were some very nasty floating voices throwing hate at him. Which is BIZARRE, because consciously we were GRATEFUL for that chastisement, and we still liked him very much as a person, but not the floating voices, those invisible devils. So that was a distressing war again during Mass.
BUT. THE HOMILY SPOKE DIRECTLY TO THAT SITUATION.
Again, I wish I remembered the words. God, remind me if you can. If not, I will trust that the forgetting is better. Nevertheless, it felt personally delivered, and it helped us in the fight.
What helped the MOST, though, was what happened AFTER Mass, when we got home-- Laurie and the Core revisited the confession data. As in, LAURIE spoke those EXACT SAME WORDS to the Core, NOT a thriskefoni, to see how we TRULY reacted to those words in a CONSCIOUS context.
Let me tell you: it changes everything. There is NO hatred, NO anger, NO pride or bitterness. It's Laurie, for heaven's sakes, we're used to her speaking so roughly, we know it's all in love. And THAT made us fully realize the BIGGEST TRUTH= JESUS IS THE ONE SPEAKING THROUGH THE PRIEST, AND JESUS LOVES US EVEN MORE THAN LAURIE DOES!! So whatever the priest said, IT WAS FROM CHRIST, translated through His servant, FOR OUR GOOD. I'm making a mess of words. The priest, in the confessional, is guided in his speech by the Holy Spirit, for the sake of the Sacrament. So we can TRUST EVERY WORD of what he said to us as TRUE AND GOOD.
And, again, hearing it from Laurie helped us truly grasp that fact. Hearing her say, "kid, you've got too much time on your hands," made us realize that wait, we actually do, because we're NOT ALLOWING OURSELVES TO DO ANY PRODUCTIVE WORK, instead "running away" from EVERYTHING except obsessive prayer-- even our most basic bodily needs are frequently put on hold for its sake. And there's nothing wrong with prayer! The problem is that we're ABUSING IT and using it as a compulsive escapism from "REAL LIFE," and therefore ALSO from REAL PRAYER. We have too much time on our hands because we won't spend it. We WANT to. We WANT to invest it in work, in healing, in reading, in love-- but no, we keep forsaking it all for the sake of "the holy schedule." What a fool.
Stop, we're getting switchy.
But yeah, it helped SO MUCH, it defused ALL the "imposed hate" and foreign anger. I still don't know where that comes from. They're NOT our emotions; they feel totally outside and alien and we DON'T WANT THEM. But they keep coming. Is that the ego-dystonic thing? I guess all we can do is consciously affirm what we ARE feeling, truly, and don't give those wrong-fake emotions any attention at all.
What else did Laurie repeat back to us? Oh yeah, "you're making up sins." That's because we're obsessing. And she pointed out, we LITERALLY ARE-- when we're doing an examination of conscience, we ALWAYS say, "there HAS to be more, there MUST be more things that count as sins!" and we LOOK FOR THEM. There's a fine line between a healthily thorough examination and what we're doing, which is doubting that we CAN be good at ALL. We literally EXPECT to sin, and ASSUME that "well, I'll confess that I did this, because I probably did, and if I DON'T confess it, I'll go to hell for hiding it!" et cetera. And READING an examen is WORSE, because EVERY QUESTION gets a terrified mental response of, "did I?? I don't know, I probably did, I know I'm just that bad. Oh man I should confess it just in case, I can't believe I did such an evil thing..." et cetera!! So our confessions can get REALLY long and ironically nebulous, because our personal past just feels like an infinite haze of sin and no matter how much we confess, there's always more, and our future feels doomed already. The priest was right. We're "making up sins," in the sense that we're actively trying to label things as sins because we feel this unbearable guilt at all times and we're trying to ascribe it to every possible cause, and hopefully confessing them will find the "right one" and finally give us peace. That's textbook OCD, you loon.
What else... oh yeah. Oh MAN. "You think Christ can't forgive you? At Christmas?" Dude Laurie went on a SPEECH about that, it was deeply moving, I wish I could quote her but it's not recorded data. Just trust me, she GETS IT and she drilled it into our head. I remember the gist of "He was born so he COULD die in your place, to pay the penalty of your sins so YOU won't have to die," basically. But hearing her say it, the way she does, it hit harder than just reading it somewhere. She knows what it means to suffer for someone you love, because they really screwed up, and you're only bleeding so they don't have to, although they really deserve it. But you love them. You want them to be better. And if this is the only way to save their stupid butt until they wise up, then so be it. That's my words, but you get the idea I hope. Jesus takes it to the ultimate perfect extreme. But Laurie does reflect that to us, like a moon or a mirror, but still a true reflection. God does that a lot. It's why the System is so important.



So it's 1525 and Laurie just asked me why I haven't eaten breakfast yet today, except for a single carrot. I said it's because I got carried away praying and typing. Then without even thinking about it, I said "I just love God more than I love food."
TILLY I HOPE YOU HEAR THAT.
That was honestly her BIGGEST TERROR. She was so afraid, trapped in the eating disorder, that we DIDN'T love God more than food. But... just now, despite being hungry and tired, I sincerely spoke the opposite from my heart, and by my actions. I love God more. I really do.
God, thank You. Thank You so much for the grace that allowed this to happen. Please keep us here in this grace forever, and help us to love you more and more every day.

Evening=
LOTS of mom communication today. It hit us how friendly we are now, how she will call us just to tell us things, or to express stress and then just have us listen. We're... we're harmless to her now. She used to be afraid of us. She SAID so several times before. But now... now she is so open and amiable around us.
I cannot express how much that means to us. It's a huge and ancient prayer suddenly realized as answered.
God, thank You, thank You. Help us always be the daughter she needs.


Praying wall prayers, saying the "death acceptance" one, and suddenly feeling this absolute rush of love for RAZOR.
I literally went into headspace, where we were both kneeling in "dualspace" (the level of headspace that is a direct "overlay" of the outside on the inside; need better jargon but that suffices for now), took her face in my hands and just pressed our foreheads together for a moment, cherishing her existence, virtually in tears. I remember her placing her hands on my own, and the mind kept translating them into x-acto knives, on and off, like it was some hidden layer of her form. But it was harmless, too. She felt like an artist, not a weapon.
I remember looking into her eyes and just saying "I'm so grateful you exist." I know I told her I loved her, too-- "philia" love, but no less sincere and strong than any other. It's still love. I remember the bloodslick color of her hair in the dim light, and her porcelain-pale skin, looking so thin I could practically see her network of veins through it... I remember her eyes, so strange, those x-pupils shifting into x-scars as her presence shifted in the dim evening haze of our shared mind. But she was looking at me too, her irises just as deep a red as the wounds she used to carve into my legs, but in her gaze there was only this disarming innocence, this tenderness and awe... this quiet gratitude for me, too, and for the fact that we were friends, and for us both being alive in this small moment under the glittering dark and warm-rainbow lights.
i want to remember that for a long, long time.

i miss everybody, but not in a lonely way. it's a joyful missing. i know they're all here, they're all around, if i look for them i will find them, one way or another. the missing is only in the sense that they are missing from a place i want them dearly to be in at this moment-- in my arms, close to my heart. all of us together. i miss them with such love it makes me weep. and i thank God for it.
we must start taking serious scheduled time to just be in headspace, in heartspace, every single day. not just at night, in brief blessed flashes. we need hours. like we used to.
we will only move forwards, in the healing and hope God offers us, if we do it together.



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VOTD = Matthew 6:25
"Whatever you're worried about, Jesus tells us to trust God to meet all our needs. We don't have to worry, because "God's got it!" He will take care of you; He will meet your needs, day by day. So free yourself-- free your mind of the worries of day to day things! Free yourself to think about things that actually matter! Free yourself to think about how to make a difference, and how to live a life that honors Him!"
1) There are no exceptions to this. Physical needs, spiritual needs, emotional needs, psychological needs, social needs, financial needs... EVERYTHING IS WITHIN GOD'S JURISDICTION AND HIS POWER. Do you realize this, the truly omnipotent scope of His ability to aid you?
And don't skew this by thinking that "God won't send a boat," like that famously convicting joke. You don't think God can work in and through His Creation? Would you separate what He has joined in Christ, unwilling to accept Divine aid by physical means? Are you so proud that you demand either a miracle response or nothing? Do you ignore the humble backstreet wonders of Jesus and brazenly ask for a "real" sign from heaven? Are you so blind? Do you put such limits on the Lord? You impose your own rules upon the King? You entitled fool, are you so afraid that your truest need is to be brought low before Him? If your prayer is answered in a way that humiliates you, if your need is met in a way that scandalizes you, would you rather never ask God for help at all? Where is your trust? Is it all in yourself, you worthless idol?
I'm off topic but I'm not.
The point is, some part of us is genuinely terrified that God, being Spirit, can only meet our needs IN Spirit. As in, we still think like a bloody gnostic. We are scared that, if we're hungry and literally need physical food, God won't consider that a "real need," because "spirit is more important, and your REAL need is TO be hungry." Same with a "need for rest." "The only rest you REALLY need is the rest of heaven, so until then you won't get any." In less harsh words, of course, but the fact that our brain is phrasing it that way betrays who is REALLY putting those thoughts into our head.
Listen. Look at the FACTS. Has God EVER withheld your physical needs? NO. Countless times you've been moved to tears because God met a need with such TENDER CARE & UNEXPECTED GENEROSITY, even in smallness & simplicity, that all you could do was sob "God, you're so kind to me!!" THIS HAPPENS ON A REGULAR BASIS, KID.
But tie this back into the main point. God meets EVERY need, in EVERY context, JUST THAT LOVINGLY, and yes He CAN and DOES and WILL meet those needs WITH PHYSICAL THINGS IF THAT IS NEEDED, because guess what? HE MADE YOUR BODY, AND THIS EARTH, AND HE CARES FOR BOTH OF THOSE THINGS TOO, NOT JUST YOUR SPIRIT. Stop being so darn dualistic.
We'll need to make lists later, just brainstorm, see who contributes, to exactly what we instinctively would label as "needs" and even "wants" in contrast, in all those contexts, and then see how God HAS met them all. But now isn't the time. We're too switchy.
Just remember the heart point here= everything is in His care, and under His power, and He WILL help you. So you CAN trust Him for EVERY SINGLE NEED you can possibly imagine. Take that as simply and totally as possible. Don't overthink it. If you have a need, even if it's a childish need, God will meet it, as it needs to be met. So TRUST HIM.
2) If we have a need, God ALREADY KNOWS IT. Don't ever fear that He "overlooked" something or "doesn't understand the situation" or "underestimates the urgency." No. Its you that cannot see clearly. God already knows your need, in minute detail, and He has the entire universe at His disposal to meet it... in the proper way, at the proper time. But He's "got it", don't worry. He doesn't miss a beat.
3) God CAN AND WILL MEET OUR EVERY NEED... if we allow Him to. Even now, He never forces or imposes. Like a loving mother trying to feed a hungry but stubborn child, if he won't open his mouth for her gentle offers, for whatever reason, he's going to stay hungry-- and he can't blame her for it! She won't pry his mouth open and force him to eat, lest he see her as cruel and violent and lose all trust & comfort in her. God is similar. He WAITS for us to turn to Him, like a child, with total confidence and surrender that He WILL act, as is BEST for us.
But He can only step in if we're not blocking the door, or refusing all help on proud principle. If you doubt He even will help, or doubt that He CAN help, that's the biggest obstacle of all. Doubt keeps Him at a distance, by your own doing. You can't blame Him for "not helping" if you yourself won't accept that He CAN AND WILL. This is why we MUST trust Him, and have faith in His Love, because if we don't, we're screwed. It's the ironic "just deserts" of insisting that "I can take care of it myself!" No you can't, but God won't try to talk you out of it if you won't listen. He'll just stand back, sadly but respectfully, until you experientially realize that truth and turn to Him-- and He'll be ready with arms full of every possible help, the instant your heart so much as glances in His direction. He won't abandon you. But you can still turn your back to Him. Don't.
4) God meets our needs DAY BY DAY. This is the "Our Father"! It's also Proverbs 30:8-9, and arguably 1 Timothy 6:6-9! And it's absolutely the manna and the Eucharist! God gives us everything we need for today. That's all we ever need. We don't know if we'll see tomorrow, or if God will call us home tonight! We must stay present & focused in the NOW, which is the only moment we're ever able to reach God in, for it is His. He is HERE, NOW. When "tomorrow" gets here, it too will be Now, and God will be there still, as generous and all-sufficient as always.
5) Trusting GOD to provide gives us FREEDOM from DAILY WORRY. But we, bizarrely, struggle the most with this?? It's because it's so direct & personal & mundane... and because we're such a control freak with the OCD. We can trust "in theory" that "God will provide," but when we are faced with a very individual loss or lack, our knee-jerk response is that devilish twist: "Maybe God's "Providence" IS this lack?" But it's too stupid to even debate.
Listen. God is not under ANY obligation to cater to your expectations or assumptions, especially because they're typically very foolish and blind and unloving. You think you know what you need and when and how. Newsflash: you absolutely do not. There is consistent historical proof of this-- just as there is invincibly unwavering evidence that God DOES know, because He ALWAYS GIVES IT TO YOU.
And yes, actually, God DOES and HAS provided for you THROUGH "LACK," because you were getting GREEDY OR GLUTTONOUS and His precision deprivation was a surgical strike at the root that HAS ALWAYS RESULTED IN A GAIN OF SIMPLICITY & VIRTUE.
Lastly, on that note, you're really bad at the "day by day" thing. You HOARD, buddy. You always buy more than you need "just in case." You have a famine mindset, a disaster predisposition. You are always so darn scared that you'll run out and God won't do anything about it. Don't be ridiculous, you sightless sod, has that EVER HAPPENED, even when you lived out of state and were dying from a bloody eating disorder??? GOD HAS NEVER EVER FAILED TO PROVIDE FOR YOU. When the heck are you going to just trust Him to meet your daily needs as HE LITERALLY ALWAYS HAS??? He's NOT going to change!! Oh, but you're scared, you insist, "well, if I DO trust Him that much, He'll say, "time to level up," and then He WILL start exposing me to REAL famine, to test my trust, and wean me away from the world as much as possible!" Well first of all, if He DOES "expose you to famine," HE STILL WON'T ABANDON YOU. You can STILL trust, paradoxically but absolutely, that He is STILL providing for your needs-- IF YOU TRUST HIM TO. That's your biggest obstacle to actually LIVING in the freedom He offers: you are just so scared that the "real God" is going to just leave you homeless and penniless and hungry and cold and say "this is what you REALLY need!" First of all, THAT'S PUNISHMENT LANGUAGE, and you're PROJECTING it onto God. STOP. Secondly, I repeat, if God ever DID do that, HE WOULD STILL BE CARRYING YOU IN HIS ARMS, and even like those absolutely traumatic nights in CNC where you were "briefly homeless" and eating out of garbage cans and supermarket scraps, you poor lunatic, God STILL GOT YOU THROUGH, even when you got freakin' mugged you KNOW that ultimately THAT ACTUALLY WAS THE BEST THING THAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED at the time. It's insane but it's TRUE. GOD HAS NEVER ABANDONED YOU, OR DONE ANYTHING FOR SPITE, EVER. AND HE NEVER WILL. Listen I'm just rambling now but START TRUSTING HIM TO DO THE DAY-BY-DAY THING. Because He already does, and if you just paid active grateful trusting attention to it it would LITERALLY CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
6) On that ultimate note: Daily survival isn't what actually matters. That seems impossible, but it's Biblical. "Whoever would save his life"... etc. One translation of this very verse says "‭You should not worry about how to stay alive"! And why? Because "your life is more important than the food that you eat. Your body is more important than your clothes." Note the details. Your life IS important. Your body IS important. But SO IS YOUR SOUL. AND THEY ALL GO TOGETHER. Just like you CANNOT take care of your soul to the point of neglecting and hating your body-- WHICH YOU HAVE AN AWFUL TRACK RECORD OF DOING-- you also cannot obsess over your body to the point of shoving your soul to the backburner! WHICH YOU ARE ALSO DOING, IRONICALLY, every time you get low on food or cash.
Except... not all of us do. There ARE a LOT of us who actually instinctively DO TRUST GOD and ACTIVELY SURRENDER OUR CIRCUMSTANCES into His Hands when things get tight, and they KNOW He will show up and get us through, and HE DOES. EVERY SINGLE TIME. Don't get so upset with one bunch of system-disconnected foni that you forget that a WHOLE LOT OF US inside DO TRUST GOD and it is BEAUTIFUL and FREEING and we wish we could do it even more, and better, and more completely.
One last bit: an unidentified grafifoni wrote this earlier:
"Oh of course it's important to care for our physical lives, but all our worrying about the particulars? That's unnecessary. Not only will God provide what we need, but we have HIGHER and ETERNAL needs, and THOSE ARE WHAT REALLY MATTER, even at the expense of the temporal ones!!"
That closing bit is what I want to speak on briefly, because it can very easily be twisted to promote that gnostic-dualism and body hatred/ neglect. That's NOT what Jesus wants you to do. HOWEVER, He DOES want you to realize that they ARE STILL SECONDARY NEEDS to the eternal and spiritual. They're still needs, don't misunderstand me, but if they are ever in conflict with your soul, they must be set aside. This is something that ONLY THE HOLY SPIRIT can discern; your own mortal opinion is going to err either to false humility or to indulgent sloth so don't trust it. Trust GOD. Honestly if THAT is your only litmus test-- just sincerely striving to trust God and serve God in EVERYTHING you do, even in recognizing & meeting needs, then you're going to be headed in a good direction. The Spirit will help you every step, if your intentions are pure, and your heart open to His guidance concerning them.
7) On that very note-- what sort of "difference" are we finally talking about? One that honors God. Those two "things that matter" are necessarily united. We actually cannot "make a difference" of any lasting sort, not as mere mortals, as unwise and misled and temporary as we are-- BUT if we let GOD work through us, if we really are living as the Body of Christ, if our every action is directed towards eternity and our hope of heaven, then "we" WILL "make a difference" in our world, because it is God doing His work through us, and He alone directs all change and progress.
But here's the essential bit. We must cooperate. We must THINK ABOUT HOW we can open up to this; to HOW we can "make a difference" in the sense of WHERE we can offer ourselves as a servant of the Lord, to let His grace work through us to truly change another life, even in a small way. We aren't robots, we aren't mindless automatons. We are in a RELATIONSHIP with God and we have to WORK WITH HIM, it's supposed to be joyful and free, and we can ONLY do that IF WE AREN'T WORRYING ABOUT "OUR OWN NEEDS." If we're so myopic, we won't be ABLE to see anyone ELSE'S needs that GOD WANTS TO MEET THROUGH US. And yes, He CAN AND WILL do that, because WE'RE PART OF CHRIST'S BODY, and Christ spent His WHOLE LIFE serving others, giving His Life, feeding people with His very Self. He wants to continue that IN YOU. Honestly if you're a Christian He MUST, if you want to remain united with Him!
So TRUST GOD to take care of you. Seriously, remember that you're saved by His Son, and PART OF HIS CHURCH-- do you really think God wouldn't care for such a soul? If that's the reason you need to cling to, then do so. But TRUST HIM. And when you do, use your freedom of mind and emotion and schedule and attention to HONOR HIM WITH YOUR LIBERATED LIFE.
Oh, but that's terrifying to the ego. The ego WANTS to distrust so it CAN be selfish. Isn't that awful? The proud self, the "me" mindset, doesn't want to be free, because then the soul will insist on higher aspirations and truths.
I can't phrase this well. Here's the gist of it: don't be afraid of freedom. That animal fear isn't you. It's a devil thought. Push it aside. Embrace the freedom of trust in God, however "scary" that wide-open vista of life is, especially after a life spent in a prison cell. I promise you, it's only "scary" because it's so grand and new and strange, but it is beautiful. God wants to embrace you and send you out to embrace others in His Name. Say yes! Put your life in His Hands, and then use your unshackled arms to reach out in love to the lives of those around you.
I can't say any more on this. It speaks for itself.
We know what it's like to trust God, and to doubt Him. The latter is unbearable suffering. The former is childlike bliss. Please, always choose to trust Him, especially when that requires a leap of faith. Those sacrificial surrenders always result in the most wonderful "little miracles." God is faithful. He will always be faithful. Follow Him. Live for Him. He'll take care of all the details. 


More from Universalis =
"Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord, and has not gone over to the rebels who follow false gods... As for me, wretched and poor, the Lord thinks of me. You are my rescuer, my help, O God, do not delay."

1) IF YOU DON'T TRUST GOD, YOU WILL INEVITABLY TRUST IN IDOLS. There literally is no other option. Instinctively you MUST trust in something, even if only yourself. That's all idolatry. You are making YOURSELF a "false god"!!
2) Such untrusting people are REBELS!!
3) The Lord thinks of you. Yes, you.
4) God never delays, truthfully. That's a beautiful consolation, however difficultly it may play out.


A very important distinction we personally NEED TO REMEMBER =
"Jesus never said not to think about your basic needs. He did say not to worry about them. Recognizing your physical needs can remind you of your spiritual needs— an invitation to trust your ultimate Provider."
1) This is a humbling chastisement! We can indeed to go to this extreme, as we mentioned before, especially the thriskefoni-- they love to do 24-hour fasts, to refuse to sleep, to expose the body to harsh weather, etc. But self-mortification is one thing-- the active refusing to admit that the body is loopy from hunger and dehydration is a whole other thing. We HAVE to take care of this body. We HAVE to pay attention to it and treat it kindly. So yes, we DO have to realistically consider its NEEDS, which DO include food, drink, rest, and cleanliness, to say the least, and then we have to MEET those needs as God expects us to do. Does that sound shocking to you? Do you feel like "I can't feed the body until God TELLS me I can?" Relying on the spiritradio is too risky, kiddo. If we're seriously hungry and exhausted enough that our body is begging for us to pay attention, then the frequencies you're going to pick up are NOT going to be any less distressing.
2) Ironically, that's WHERE your "worry" comes in ALL THE TIME. You start obsessing over "what the floating voices are telling me to do/ not to do," and you PANIC over so much as eating "one slice of carrot without permission" because then "that's a mortal sin." You think that doesn't count as worry? What the heck else is your brain doing in those moments? You're TERRIFIED. And you're NOT THINKING OF GOD, not truthfully. God doesn't string you along with conditional statements, weirdly particular directions to "test you," or punishments for eating one single loop of cereal "too many." I know you don't believe me. I know we definitely need to discuss this more, ideally one-on-one (J make a note). But worrying is not serving God, in any case. If you put your heart into the position of trust, like a child, I guarantee you, the Spirit would guide you to do whatever actually needs to be done or not done, without any fear.
3) THE PHYSICAL SERVES THE SPIRITUAL. THE BODY AND SOUL ARE UNITED. You literally cannot split them up! I know we've NEVER believed that before but IT'S LITERALLY BIBLICAL, it's the most astounding truth of Christianity we have learned recently, and it's TRUE so you NEED TO LIVE ACCORDING TO IT. Jesus died and rose again and KEPT HIS BODY and so you're gonna keep yours!! So TAKE CARE OF THE POOR THING. But also realize that IT IS MEANT TO BE IN HARMONY WITH YOUR SOUL. What I'm trying to say is, when you recognize what your body needs, somehow, it echoes what your soul needs. They both hunger and thirst, albeit for different things. They both need warmth, and rest, and breath. You get the idea. But seeing your physical needs LIKE THIS is actually hugely edifying, and beautifully compassionate, because then you're truly honoring the body AS A TEMPLE OF GOD, and not just as some "meat vessel." That's cruel and unkind and irreverent. The body reflects the soul and you cannot deny that. I can't claim much else on this topic as it's new and we're uneducated, but I can tell you what we feel in experience: when we neglect the body, when we don't take care of it, when we don't recognize or respect its needs, it doesn't help our soul one bit. Again, there's a BIG difference between honestly reverent "mortification" and outright abusing the body under the pretense of piety. Which is WHY our priest LITERALLY BANNED US FROM FASTING, you goof. You take it way too far. If you start thinking that it's fine and dandy to just not eat, because you hate eating and don't want to think about the body, well I hate to tell you kiddo but sooner or later that's gonna bleed into the same sort of subtly bitter apathy towards your soul. What you stomp on will come back to bite you. Whatever is motivating such unloving behavior does NOT have your soul's best interests in mind. Don't be fooled.
4) God is our "ultimate Provider." He's the fundamental, absolute, final, greatest, etc. in that respect. That means He can provide everything and anything and nothing else in the entire cosmos can. Everywhere else you look, there will be lack and dearth and limitation. You will find deserts and droughts. But God is a watered garden. You get the picture. And He is like this UNCONDITIONALLY. He created BOTH your body AND your soul and He KNOWS what they need and HOW to meet those needs and WHEN-- He even knows WHY, which is really beautiful to reflect upon.
The point is: you need to trust God COMPLETELY with BOTH your spiritual needs AND your bodily needs-- not just in the sense of His ability and willingness to meet them (which are both constants, btw), but ALSO in the sense that you GIVE THEM BOTH TO HIM EQUALLY. You trust Him TO meet both and you ACCEPT that care from Him FOR both, equally. You can't "have a favorite child" in this regard. You must love ALL parts of your existence just as equally as God loves them. 
...I daresay that has a far profounder meaning for us as a System. Take it that way. It's true, too.


"Advent prompts us to embrace a sense of trust, letting go of anxieties about the temporal and embracing the eternal significance of Christ's coming... to shift our focus from worldly worries to spiritual anticipation. [After all,] God knows what you need before you do. God knows your prayers before you pray them... So, let’s seek Him first. During this season of Advent, reflect upon the work entrusted to us while trusting in Him for provision [to live and do that work]. And let's not waste another second on worldly worries!"
1) I like this new spin. We aren't just to actively choose to trust, in particular circumstances, but to "embrace a SENSE of trust." We are to live in trust like it's the air we breathe.
2) Oh man, this too-- the depth of meaning that Advent GIVES that trusting atmosphere is FOUNDED IN CHRIST. That's amazing. We have "no reason to worry" not just because God is our Provider, but because Christ has come to earth and THAT is what brings that truth home more than anything?
Pause, stop talking, and let it sink in. Christ came to earth as a human. He united Himself to humanity, FOREVER. His first Advent was the fulfillment of thousands of years of promise and waiting-- for what? For a SAVIOR! Isn't that simple fact alone enough to erase all your anxieties forever? And then consider that this Savior is GOD HIMSELF, in a human form, which HE CHOSE specifically to be one with us... there's such a profound peace in that, it's staggering really. Just pondering that for a moment fills our heart with such quiet comfort and consolation. Jesus Christ is the very manifestation of "everything is going to be okay," because He exists. He has come to us, and He will remain with us forever.
3)
4)


The daily prayer is really powerful and worth pondering thoroughly=
"God, You know what I need and what I want. And regardless of what my current situation is-- I believe that You are enough for me. Your provision is enough for me. Your love is enough for me. Your will is enough for me. So today, I surrender my concerns for the future and my current worries. I will pursue You and trust that You will take care of me."
...

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KVOTD = Luke 4:1-2, an unexpected compliment to the VOTD.
"God cannot tempt us; temptations never come from God, but from the devil. So, as the Body of Christ, when we are tempted in our deserts, we should rely on God and not ourselves, and persevere in our resistance to evil, because God will come through for us and deliver us by faith. Never give up your faith in God, even in your most difficult seasons, because during the difficulty & temptation itself God will give you the strength and help you need to overcome all the temptations that are set before you."
1) With all the Catena reflections on temptations lately, and how they CAN and ARE opportunities for virtue, we must be VERY CAREFUL to clarify that GOD USES THEM FOR THAT PURPOSE. The devil does NOT intend that when he tempts us. Remember the book of Job! This is spiritual warfare, but God just loves to take all the angry attempts of evil and transform them into training-grounds for His kids. He knows that patience only flourishes when we are being tempted to haste, to irritability, to arrogance. So God lets the devil do his dirty work in tempting, while the Spirit is handing us armloads of grace-ammunition, haha.
2) AS CHRIST'S BODY, we are connected to Him in His experiences like this??
3)


"God, You have already given me everything I need to say "no" to temptation-- with the help of Your Word and the Holy Spirit, sin has no place in my life. Thank You for taking such great care of me."
1) God has "already" acted, before you even asked, or realized you needed to ask!
2) Specifically, God already "gave." He charges nothing, He demands no payment, He doesn't check credit scores. God GIVES, and He does so already, before the need makes itself known.
3) God gives EVERYTHING we need.
...
4) What is our "everything" needed? GOD'S WORD & SPIRIT.
...
5) We CAN "say no" to temptation. I don't just mean it's technically possible, but that it's ALLOWED. As strange as that sounds, as a chronic trauma survivor that became a "victimized abuser", this is perpetually an essential lesson.
...
6) In this same real context, the devil-- the Tempter-- is an abuser; THE Abuser.
7)

The questions are STRIKING=
"What can we learn from Jesus’ experience in the wilderness?
+ I can overcome temptation by trusting in the Truth of God's Word.
+ The enemy will often tempt me when I am already tired.
+ The Holy Spirit gives me power and wisdom to avoid sin."

1) Boy, is THIS ever relevant to life lately, especially with all the genuinely disturbing antitruths we see all over YouTube and Tumblr, whenever we foolishly stumble into either. And yes they're more than just "falsehoods" or "lies." They are actively anti-Truth, and often just as brazenly anti-Christ. It's genuinely terrifying, to realize THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING in the world around me RIGHT NOW.
And yet, like Christ Himself in the desert, we can overcome, because we HAVE THE TRUTH. We KNOW what is ACTUALLY REAL, and it is GOD'S WORD!
No matter what heresies and blasphemies may become popular, even promoted, if we put all our trust in Scripture alone then we will have solid ground to stand on.
...
2) OH MAN CAN WE EVER ATTEST TO THIS ONE!!!
Still... oh wow, Jesus went through this too. I never realized that. He gets it. He KNOWS how hard it is. Jesus was TIRED, and hungry, and overall suffering physically in that wilderness. He was not in "top shape." And the devil TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THAT. I told you he was The Abuser!!
But Jesus DIDN'T GIVE IN. His mortal body and mind, however hassled, were NOT the source of His moral strength! His power to resist the devil's temptations came from His TRUST AND LOVE FOR GOD HIS FATHER.
...
3) I note the word "avoid" here-- not just escape, not just fight, not just overcome, but AVOID!
...


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The prayer lottery gave us THIS, which I MUST take line by line=
"Jesus, I believe You are alive."
RIGHT NOW, Jesus is ALIVE. And yes, not just "as a spirit." He HAS a body, a HUMAN body, and HE IS ALIVE. Do you seriously believe that? Do you ACCEPT that reality, as shocking at it is, enough TO believe it in earnest? Or are you still too afraid of bodies and hum

"Jesus, I believe You are ever-present."
Even in your most humiliating, frightening, unhinged moments? Are you willing to admit His Presence even then, in you, living stone?

"Jesus, I believe You are working in the world around me."

Don't blunt the impact by making this a generalization. Look at the world AROUND YOU, right now. How "small" is it? On your bleakest days, is your "world" just these four walls? Are you homebound? I'll? Poverty-stricken? Are you isolated, ostracized, afraid? How small can your world get? Look at it. Do you believe Christ is still working there?
...

"Jesus, I believe that no matter what circumstances I face, You are Good."
Emphasize different words. Jesus, YOU are Good. You ARE Good. You are GOOD. Feel the entire breadth of meaning.
...

"Jesus, I believe You weep, mourn, and rejoice with Your children."

THIS is what stopped me dead in my tracks. Do I believe this??
Why does some very old and loud part of our psyche still see God as emotionally apathetic?
...

"Jesus, I believe You are my God and my Redeemer."
Do you truly believe the "MY"? Do you realize just how personal that pronoun actually is?
Of course you do, deep down. That's WHY you're afraid to say it with sincerity. The intimacy scares you.
...

"Jesus, I believe You are making all things new."
"Are" is an active word. Right now, in this very moment, Jesus IS making ALL things new-- and "all" MEANS ALL. There is NO exception.
...

"So come what may, Jesus, I will place my hope in You."
...

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We're bring crazy & starting another Advent reading plan.

"Advent simply means "coming into place, view, or being; arrival.""
As soon as I read this Mimic smirks & says "I like this one already." SAME BRO
1) Christ IS "coming into place." Isn't that astonishing? Although He hails from heaven, this world of ours, that little manger, Mary's womb, our hearts, are His place.
Consider the sense of "finality & connection" we mean when we use that phrase ourselves. "Things are finally coming into place!" We've been waiting, we see the pieces lining up, but there hasn't yet been a fulfillment, a conclusion. Nevertheless, it is on the way, we see the star, we follow it in hope, to that central event towards which everything else has led. And consider that very word "place," how oddly nominative it is, how personal it is. "This is my favorite place." "I've found my place in society." "Come stay at my place." There's a sense of rest, of security, of a search coming to a happy end.
Players move into position. Puzzle pieces begin to match. A clue is found, an idea is sparked. The Spirit hovers over the face of the waters. Advent is always happening. Christ is coming into place.
2) Christ is coming into view.
3) Christ is coming into being. What a paradox! And yet it, too, is true-- true in US, this very moment.
4) Christ is arriving. This takes everything a step further still.
Consider the word. Do you think of airplanes, railways, limousines? There is more than mere expectation, there is an announcement, there is a watching, there is a timeframe.
...
(BTW WHO IS TYPING THIS BIT????)


"Christ’s arrival offers a holistic response to the sin problem and can directly affect your life today and give you hope for a future in Him...
In Christ, there is hope for restoration of God and man.
In Christ, there is hope for freedom from sin.
In Christ, there is hope for eternal purpose for your life.
In Christ, you have hope to live as a son or daughter of a loving and compassionate Father.
In Christ, your religious traditions are overshadowed by a relationship with God... Ask God to show you how your traditions can be redeemed to illuminate Christ towards others this season."

1) "Holistic" is a tough definition, but i think the essence here is "everything taken together as a unit." Every aspect, every component, is treated as a part of a whole, interrelated and indivisible from the others.
So, when Christ offers a "holistic response," He deals with sin's effects & consequences in EVERY context-- spiritual, psychological, emotional, social, physical, et cetera. His solution is as universal as the problem. That is AMAZING.
And lest you forget: THAT IS THE POWER OF THE CROSS.
2) This effect is DIRECT AND PRESENT. It is RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.
...


120723

Dec. 7th, 2023 11:18 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

SNOW AND ADORATION ❄💙🤍
Absolute perfection. Literally felt like heaven.

Biking time cut as a result of weird schedule today.
Body wanted to push exertion though, it gets "hungry" for exercise and legit nauseous if we stop too soon. Put Spotify on, inspired to listen to Anna Lapwood "Drop Down Ye Heavens" for the first time... and IT WAS SO ACHINGLY BEAUTIFUL I WAS IN TEARS.

BK prep with new frying pan and knives.
Takes longer but it does work, thank God, we were panicking over it actually as we are prone to.

SOOT TABLE???

Mom call blasting Pogo
"Fight or flight" response, overwhelmed. HUNG UP.
Desperately tried to make up for it in kindness with return phone call
Then BROKE DOWN SOBBING because I was MEAN TO MOM AGAIN.
The guilt was UNBEARABLE.
I couldn't stop crying from contrition, felt like the world had ended, I was doomed. Couldn't eat, wanted to cry so hard I would throw up.
Suddenly got the inexplicable and powerful push, not nudge, to read today's Passion devotional.
It was PERFECT CONSOLATION.
Thank You God, so much.


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VOTD = Hebrews 10:23.
"Scripture is filled with promises made by God for us to hold fast to. Advent invites us to reflect on the many promises and prophecies throughout the Old Testament, foretelling the coming of the Messiah. These promises and prophecies reveal how the faithfulness of God never ceases. God is a promise-maker and a promise-keeper."
1) Scripture is FILLED WITH PROMISES.
2) God makes promises FOR US TO CLING TO.
3) ALL of those promises ultimately LEAD TO JESUS???
4) God's Character is that of One Who makes promises and keeps them. The keeping is obvious-- of course God is faithful-- but the making isn't. There's an astonishing love in that very concept.
...


"God, this week, help me to rediscover that YOU are my Source of joy. Please remind me that I always have a reason to worship You. Remind me of Your blessings, and draw me closer to You."
1) The word "rediscover" is what catches my heart, here.
"Logically," I KNOW that God is my Source of Joy, but... when was the last time that reality really struck me like lightning? When was the last time I discovered that stunning beauty as if for the first time?
2) Same thing with "remind", in the context of reasons to worship. That's both scary and hopeful, for the word "always" to truly take effect. 
3) The most hope is here: "remind me of Your blessings." Oh I know I have so many, so so many, and most of them are sitting around me here in headspace. But... to be reminded, OF them AS blessings... there's so much tender love in that it makes my heart hurt like light.
It's the same with daily life, too. How many simple yet wondrous blessings do I take for granted, despite their significance in this post-addiction life era?
...


"What's on your mind today? Invite God into this moment and share your heart with Him."
...I swear, the most powerful phrases are all Infi language.
...


"We can put our hope in God because His power and majesty will last forever... Jesus will reign as King forever, and we can put our hope in His faithfulness."
I never thought about that aspect of our hope before, but it adds such strength to it. Nothing can diminish, prevent, hinder, remove, or override God's Power-- OR His Majesty! The two are LINKED.
But what is majesty? It is "greatness or grandeur of exalted rank or character, imposing loftiness, stateliness, qualities appropriate to rulership." Loftiness is "of high rank, or with a high purpose." Stateliness is "nobility, splendor." You get the idea. But applied to GOD'S POWER, it means that THIS is what defines His Rulership, NOT force or violence or arrogance or anything likewise selfish & mortal. No, God's Power is majestic, because His Character is the most exalted of all, pure Light and Love and Truth. THAT is His Power. And it is FOREVER.
I'm rambling. I'm not saying what I want to say.
...


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Reading plan =

"Why is it that the people closest to us are so often the hardest to forgive?"
And immediately in headspace,
"Ain't no one closer to you than yourself, kiddo. Well, except maybe Infi. Can you forgive Infi?"
"Yeah, because ze's terribly sorry."
"Then why can't you forgive yourself?"
...


"Like Scrooge on the last leg of his Christmas reckoning, this time alongside the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, the holly jolly season ahead may force us to come face-to-face with the very people who have hurt us the deepest. For Dickens’s unmerciful miser, the ones he hurt the most were those he spent his life short-changing: the looters at his house, poor old Bob Cratchit, and his nephew Frederick. Who in your own life has caused similar scars to the ones Scrooge etched?"
We misread this.
"TO whom in your own life have YOU caused such scars?"
What poor victim is waiting for your death, to finally take just recompense for what you robbed them of?
What poor neighbor have you snubbed in their poverty and used for your own ends, despite it?
What poor family members do you sneer at in their kindness, refusing to share their company or their joys?
You miserly wretch of a soul, hoarding your pennies of time and talent until they are snatched out of your coffined grasp, what if this is your last Christmas on earth? How many poor souls have you wounded? How many scars have you ripped into the fabric of your community? Can you bear to come face-to-face with those awful truths, if this is the last chance you'll ever get?
YOUR actions broke your parent's family apart.
YOU are the "friend" choosing selfishness over friendship.
YOU are the child walking down a destructive path.
"Hurt runs deep, especially when it’s inflicted by the people in our lives who are supposed to love us"-- that's what EVERYONE SAYS ABOUT YOU
...

...but then the reflection continues unexpectedly.
"Incredibly, those Scrooge wounded the most— Frederick and Bob Cratchit— chose not to hold onto bitterness and instead FORGAVE this man who had wronged them at every turn. In doing so, they showed Scrooge the power mercy can hold— how it frees not only the wrongdoer but also the person who was wronged. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy" (Matthew 5:7)... Forgiving those who have hurt us lets them off our emotional hook, and lightens our emotional baggage. We set them loose, refuse to let them live rent-free in our heads, and as a result, free not only them but ourselves."
...is that why I can't forgive myself? Is that why I can't imagine anyone forgiving me? Am I that desperate to be hooked & kept, to have a place to live in someone's mind, however destitute a room? An i using these stuffed suitcases as a safety blanket, as the only things I have left of those I tried to love and killed instead?
Why am I afraid to be loved? Is it because the worst damage comes under THAT name, and in contrast bitterness becomes a refuge? If you hate me, you won't come close-- I'll be safe, I'll be kept at a distance, I'll be caught like a fish and mounted on the walls of your memory...
There's too much pain to unpack here. This is no place for phone typing.


"Forgiveness is such a difficult thing to practice, made even harder when the person who hurt us is a family member or close friend. [But] Jesus is the perfect example of showing mercy and practicing forgiveness towards people who "don’t deserve it"— namely, you and me! And He asks us to do the same, even when it’s far from easy. “So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free. There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when He judges you” (James 2:12-13). When done authentically, forgiveness brings freedom— a freedom that satisfies more than holding a grudge ever could.
Who are you being called to forgive this Christmas? Who needs your forgiveness? Chances are they’re just a trip down the hall or a phone call away. Will you go there? What’s one step you can take today to extend mercy to them, and [also] find freedom for yourself?"

1) Do you realize WHY Jesus forgave all of us undeserving sinners? He did it because HE LOVES US. Do you remember HOW Jesus forgave us ungrateful wretches? He did it by DYING SO WE CAN LIVE. Yes we were undeserving but WE'RE STILL HIS BELOVED PEOPLE. And it's His LOVE that fueled His unwavering ability and willingness to forgive. Guess what? It's no different for us. If you DON'T have at least a willingness to love someone, you WON'T BE ABLE TO FORGIVE THEM. If your sibling or parent or friend hurts you and you practically disown them, refusing to admit that they ARE your relative or friend... then you are disabling your own capacity for mercy.
Where does the Cross come in? Right here. You must crucify the "you" that holds the grudge. You must willingly let that part of you die, for the very sake of "redeeming" the offender that put you there, so to speak. Put your hatred & bitterness to death, so your family and friends can LIVE to you again, free of condemnation, open to hope & healing.
Christ calls you to mirror His sacrifice for His glory.
2) ...
3) ...


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Catena actually clicked today=

"If you want to serve God, prepare your heart not for food, not for drink, not for rest, not for ease, but for suffering, so that you may endure all temptations, trouble and sorrow. Prepare for severities, fasts, spiritual struggles and many afflictions, for 'by many afflictions is it appointed to us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven' (Acts 14,22); 'The Heavenly Kingdom is taken by force, and they who use force seize it'. (Matt 11:12)" (Saint Sergius of Radonezh)
1) If we are preparing our hearts for sensual & carnal things, then we are serving "the flesh." How so? Because "to serve" is "to obey, to be governed by, to comply with & conform to, to be devoted to." In your earthly preparations, focus, and expectations, you are indeed the servant of your body, of this world, and-- by subtle yet lethal extension-- of the false "prince of this world."
2) God is SPIRIT. But then, how is suffering service to Him? It is because suffering only occurs when the comforts of this world are removed, and thus your "chains" are loosed, for you to shift your obedience away from those passing emotions & drives & compulsions, that suffering actively opposes or even destroys... and instead, in their wake, when the sudden emptiness reveals a greater reality, you may pledge your allegiance to what is beyond this man-made world-- to God and His Kingdom. Suffering is simply the term used to describe physical distress, pain, lack, discomfort, etc. But when we see those things as symptoms of healing, of liberation, of detachment from the stupefying luxuries of this life... then suffering becomes a joy, a privilege, a holy desire.
2.5) Furthermore = when we seek comfort & ease & enjoyment, we will become ENTITLED, SELFISH, & SPIRITUALLY WEAK. Not only that, but we WILL be sorely disappointed, because such "self-serving" things are never ever guaranteed, and indeed are rather unnatural, products of this modern age of lazy convenience!
...
3) Temptations-- remember the other recent quotes on this topic!! They are BLESSINGS. BUT NOTICE!! If you are a slave of your ego, YOU WON'T BE "TEMPTED", BECAUSE YOU'LL JUST GIVE IN TO EVERYTHING. A true temptation REQUIRES RESISTANCE. It is meant to stage a CRISIS; however small & brief the battle may appear, however hidden & private, each temptation has this spiritually potent purpose-- to strengthen our souls in brave love for God and weaken the satisfied pride of ego.
...
4) Let's look at what we SHOULD prepare our hearts for, and why:
Temptations= the devil WILL try to mess you up. Don't let your guard down or get complacent.
Trouble= The world will oppose you, and circumstances will not be easy.
Sorrow= A tender heart WILL mourn. To not have sorrow is to have a heart of stone. Grief is a blessing in disguise.
Severity= A strange joy for the spirit; I can attest from experience. When luxuries and pleasures are all stripped away, and you are left with the bones of life, there is a secret holy bliss in the utter holy simplicity, if your heart is open to it.
Fasts= Without these the carnal nature runs rampant and forgets its proper place in submission to the Spirit.
Spiritual struggles= Inevitable in a fallen world, but the true test of a warrior for God.
Afflictions= The common lot of all mankind, the proof of our mortality, and what Christ shared in with us. Don't let pride grumble about "your handicaps of humanity."
...
5) Acts 14:22 is said by Saint Paul AFTER HE SURVIVED BEING STONED for preaching the Gospel. It is IN LIGHT OF THIS that he encouraged the Christians there to stay true to their faith, and to stand strong in it by trusting God, saying “We must suffer many things to enter God's kingdom". Virtually EVERY translation uses the phrasing "through many hardships we MUST enter." Not "will enter" or "can enter," but MUST. It isn't just a statement of inevitable circumstances-- it is an EXHORTATION. There is no other option for a Christian. We MUST enter God's Kingdom. Therefore, we must suffer a great deal. The tribulation is almost secondary?? It's to be embraced as a means of entry, because if you refuse to suffer, you're not following Christ. If you "MUST suffer," then your desire is not for creature comforts and cultural commendations, but for the Cross, with all its scandal and struggle and sorrow. Paul is saying, "don't give in or give up, even if you get stoned like me. Jesus was treated this same way. Be brave. When you are given your share in His Passion, you can even rejoice, for you know where that road leads."
...


120123

Dec. 1st, 2023 06:04 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

First Friday!

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Today begins a 5-day devotional for Christmas and it is starting off with a POINTBLANK GUTPUNCH=

"...while Scrooge is obviously greedy with the one thing he loves most in the world—money—he’s also greedy with another commodity that might hit closer to home today: time. You might be thinking, "I’m not greedy with my time! Have you seen my Google calendar, especially in December? It’s full of things I’m doing for other people!"
Exactly. It’s full. We don’t have time to spare anymore.
Sure, we might think we’re doing a bunch of things for other people— holiday parties, Christmas programs, end-of-year fundraisers—but how often are we neglecting the people God has placed right in front of us in favor of the bright and shiny get-togethers of the holiday season? Forgetting to call our grandparents to check in because our days are just too full. Being physically, but not emotionally, present with our spouse. Overlooking the many impoverished children and families in our own communities and around the world.
Like Scrooge, we greedily guard against anything (or anyone!) that would interrupt our plans or throw off our productivity. Old Ebenezer would applaud this miserable hoarding of each hour, but we’re called to be generous in all things, especially our time. When we choose to be greedy with our time, we’re choosing to put ourselves above everyone else around us. The day becomes about what want, about what I value, about what I can accomplish... Greed isn’t simply limited to Scrooge counting coins in the dank offices of his firm— it’s you and me running around thinking we’re the main character in our own version of A Christmas Carol. News flash: that role wasn’t super enjoyable for Scrooge, and it won’t be for us either unless we choose to release the vise-grip we have on our time. God invites us to a life of so much more, to be so much more than the main event. Let’s examine our own greedy tendencies this Christmas season and choose instead to put the needs of others above our own.
Ask yourself: In what areas do you struggle to be generous? A lot of us hoard our time like Scrooge hoarded his money. How can you be more generous with your time this Christmas season? What can you remove from your agenda so you’re able to truly embody that spirit of generosity?"

...I kid you not, I feel like I've been called to court. THAT'S how hard this hits. It's so merciless it's merciful. I WASN'T AWARE HOW GREEDY I APPARENTLY AM WITH TIME until I read this.
...it's because I'm terrified of "losing it". Now that I live alone, I feel like my schedule is the only thing I "own" for myself, the only thing that gives me any semblance of control or stability or security or rest. It's the only sense of sense I have; it's the ordering force in this jumbled mess of my life. "Giving away" my time feels like giving away my skeleton. I don't know how to hold together without it.
...
Nevertheless, Scripture gives me solid orders.
"Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too." (Philippians‬ ‭2:3‭-‬4‬ ‭NLT‬)
And Luke 12:15, warning to "guard against ALL FORMS of greed," because no matter how rich or wealthy you are, no matter how much you own or possess, no matter how much of an abundance you have of anything-- it will not and cannot keep you safe. It has nothing to do with your REAL and TRUE life, with eternity. I can have the most securely scheduled day possible, but Matthew 25:45 would still be my death knell. No one enters eternal life alone. Heaven Is relational. The Body of Christ-- the very Temple of God on this earth-- is PEOPLE. And you "don't have time for them," because you have to pray??? You're WORSE than Scrooge, you sightless hypocrite!


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Universalis today was convicting too=

"Our obligation is to do God’s will, and not our own... How unreasonable it is to pray that God’s will be done, and then not promptly obey it when he calls us from this world! Instead we struggle and resist like self-willed slaves and are brought into the Lord’s Presence with sorrow and lamentation, not freely consenting to our departure, but constrained by necessity. And yet we expect to be rewarded with heavenly honours by Him to whom we come against our will! Why then do we pray for the kingdom of heaven to come if this earthly bondage pleases us? What is the point of praying so often for its early arrival if we would rather serve the devil here than reign with Christ?"
1) God is CONSTANTLY "calling us from this world."
2) What divine redirection am I struggling against? What divine authority am I resisting?
3) THE SLAVE MINDSET ACTS FROM CONSTRAINT. There is "consent," sure, but it's not "free." It's given out of a sense of begrudging necessity. The slave is told to depart from the world, but he doesn't want to, although he still obeys??? But the obedience is "sorrowful," focused on the world, and not on God.
...this concept also describes our religiously instigated sexual abuse far too well.
...
4) The slave is BROUGHT into the Lord's Presence and COMPLAINS ABOUT IT!!!
5) YOU CAN "COME TO GOD AGAINST YOUR WILL" IN THIS REGARD. That's a TERRIFYING WARNING!!!
6) Be honest. Does this earthly bondage "please you?" Would you rather be in servitude to it, or join Christ in His rule over it? Because there are only two options.
...


"The world hates Christians, so why give your love to it instead of following Christ, Who loves you and has redeemed you? John is most urgent in his epistle when he tells us not to love the world by yielding to sensual desires. Never give your love to the world, he warns, or to anything in it. A man cannot love the Father and love the world at the same time. All that the world offers is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and earthly ambition. The world and its allurements will pass away, but the man who has done the will of God shall live for ever. Our part, my dear brothers, is to be single-minded, firm in faith, and steadfast in courage, ready for God’s will, whatever it may be. Banish the fear of death and think of the eternal life that follows it. That will show people that we really live our faith."
1) Love is relational. The world cannot love you back.
2) Christ DOES LOVE YOU.
3) We "love the world" BY "yielding to sensual desires." That is a VITAL CLARIFICATION.
4) we CANNOT "love both" God & the world because God is NOT SENSUAL. God is SPIRITUAL. Our priorities & focus MUST BE ONE OR THE OTHER.
5) You notice how the ONLY THING the world CAN offer is LUST???
6) THE WORLD WILL PASS AWAY. This is SO POWERFULLY CONSOLING.
7) "The MAN who has DONE God's will shall LIVE FOREVER." The man is a conscious living being; the world is not. The man can freely choose to do God's will; the world has no power of will, nor is its bent in harmony with God regardless. But that distinction is so unexpected yet essential= ONLY MAN CAN HAVE ETERNAL LIFE THE WAY IT IS! The world cannot be in a mutually loving relationship with its Creator!!
8) "Single-mindedness, firm faith, steadfast courage" all go together, and enable us to be unfailingly "ready for God's will."
9) WE ONLY FEAR DEATH IF WE FORGET OR FORFEIT ETERNAL LIFE.
10) This courage, this hope, is what SHOWS THE SINCERITY OF OUR FAITH, and for good reason-- we cannot truly claim to have faith in a Resurrected Lord if we don't act as if resurrection was possible, or even desired!!
...


"We ought never to forget, beloved, that we have renounced the world. We are living here now as aliens and only for a time. When the day of our homecoming puts an end to our exile, frees us from the bonds of the world, and restores us to paradise and to a kingdom, we should welcome it. What man, stationed in a foreign land, would not want to return to his own country as soon as possible? Well, we look upon paradise as our country..."
1) Our baptism was a renunciation of this world and we CANNOT GO BACK!
2) ALIENS. Dead serious, Jessilynn would have LOVED AND LIVED this verse for that words sake-- and it would've been absolutely edifying!
...
3) "RESTORES" us to Paradise. It IS our "home country."
...


"...and a great crowd of our loved ones awaits us there; a countless throng of parents, brothers and children longs for us to join them. Assured though they are of their own salvation, they are still concerned about ours. What joy both for them and for us to see one another and embrace! ...There, is the glorious band of apostles, there the exultant assembly of prophets, there the innumerable host of martyrs, crowned for their glorious victory in combat and in death. There in triumph are the virgins who subdued their passions by the strength of continence. There the merciful are rewarded, those who fulfilled the demands of justice by providing for the poor. In obedience to the Lord’s command, they turned their earthly patrimony into heavenly treasure. My dear brothers, let all our longing be to join them as soon as we may."
...I had to stop and sit with this entire paragraph for a long while.
You do realize, I consistently emphasize the "relationship" of faith and the "community" of heaven because I've never known either of those things? They are still completely new, shocking, even scary truths to me-- not concepts, TRUTHS. They are REALITIES and so I must fully, truly, freely accept & embrace them. But first... I need to come to terms with the reality of them at all. I am willing to accept it, as it is God's Good Will, but... that acceptance must be an educated one, a conscious and informed one. So... with all these new ideas, these startling wonders, I have to recover from the impact first. I have to process the blow, however benevolent it is. It still sent me reeling.
1)
2)


"May God see our desire, may Christ see this resolve that springs from faith, for He will give the rewards of His love more abundantly to those who have longed for Him more fervently."

1) ...This is where this aggressive emotional numbness, whatever the cause, becomes fatal. It shuts down all desires. And yes, it's ACTIVE. I know I desire to reach heaven with the saints, it when I try to feel it, it triggers a terror response and buries it??? Is it afraid of the wanting? Or the community?
2) ...oh. That bolded sentence is immediately anesthetized. It's the "longing" for a PERSON.
"Longing" is automatically labeled as "sexually perverse." My brain cannot understand it in any other context.
...



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Churchpop hit me STRAIGHT IN THE HEART with this message =

"...technology is rapidly developing. While we currently use every tool manageable to spread the Gospel of Christ on social media via photos, reels, articles, or posts, AI provides another opportunity to reach new audiences, [and with it] we can find new opportunities to evangelize... This new AI short film from EWTN Norway creatively encompasses how we can take technology and use it to spread the will of God... As EWTN Norway uses this new AI technology for evangelization, they are truly following Saint Paul's example. Saint Paul saw where people gathered, went to them, and preached the Gospel in a way they would understand. As the living, breathing Church, through our Baptism, we are called to be messengers of Christ and point people to Him in everything we do. As an apostle of Christ, Saint Paul spread the glorious message of everlasting life by willingly meeting people where they are. People cannot love and know the Lord if they’ve never heard of Him. Some people may see these AI videos and understand the Gospel for the first time. Maybe these encounters will be the first time someone who has strayed from the Church is encouraged to come back, being reminded of God’s persistent love. Technology may change, but the Lord and His goodness remain the same. Our Christian duty also remains the same– go to the people and tell the Good News."

THAT'S WHAT GOD WANTS US TO DO WITH THE "LEAGUE"!!!
I KNOW IT, HE MUST, WE WOULDN'T KEEP HEARING THIS MESSAGE OTHERWISE-- AND WE WOULDN'T FEEL THIS POWERFUL A HEART RESPONSE TO IT EVERY TIME OTHERWISE!!
STOP BURYING YOUR TALENTS!!!!!!

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SCRUPULOSITY BLINDSIDING US WITH ACCURACY AGAIN =

"Many people who hold the “dangerous God” paradigm have experienced spiritual trauma of some form. This also influences our picture of God... we sometimes project our experience onto God, leading us to have the same feelings about God that we have for those judgmental or abusive people=
“God is dangerous. If I make a wrong step, He will harm me. In fact, maybe it’s too late and God hates me already. I need to be careful so that nothing bad happens.”
Remember, these are usually not conscious beliefs. They are feelings that influence our behavior— feelings that you may have never stopped to think about before... [and] your feelings about God are different from what you know to be true."

1) ...oh man I was never "ALLOWED" to even think about fearing the people who were "spiritually harmful" towards me, as a child OR as an adult; is that WHY I've apparently projected my "feelings of DANGER" ONTO GOD??
Realize that God is THE ultimate "spiritual authority," and therefore every human who holds a similar role in our life, especially as a child, will inevitably influence how we see and understand God. It's the exact same thing with fathers & mothers-- kids with absent or abusive fathers will not be able to comprehend God's Fatherhood unless & until they gain a proper human "mirror" of it in their life! Same thing with absent/abusive mothers making one incapable of understanding Mary's role, OR the Church itself, unless/until a proper human mirrors that tangibly in their life. THIS IS WHY WE CHRISTIANS FIGHT SO HARD TO DEFEND THE FAMILY. THIS IS WHY EVERYTHING IN SOCIETY HINGES ON THE FAMILY. It sounds blasphemous to say "you need a human mirror" instead of saying "just learn from the Source! Don't look for a middleman!" But then you're disparaging the Incarnation, and the Church. We need God and people. AS people we ARE the Body of Christ. Et cetera. A child cannot grasp the mere idea of God, but it knows what a mother is. Is that mother teaching the child about God by being a mother? Because THAT'S THE POINT. Marriage is a Sacrament and parenthood is a Vocation FOR A REASON.
But I digress. Our "personal picture of God" is sketched in heavy strokes very early in our lives, in the only colors & shapes a child can recognize-- those of other people, of family. And if that sketch is grossly inaccurate, the child will not know this.
But the child instinctively will not want to hate his parents. And the child will have no other definition of "normal."
But the subconscious knows. And the only higher authority than Mother and Father is God. So the confusion & fear & hurt & anger all go in that direction-- to a Parent unseen, a perfect substitute for the faces the child won't admit, and yet speaking with their words & voices. God ceases to be God; to that spiritually damaged child, "God" is just another name for wound.
...
2)


"How do we cope when we feel helpless in the shadow of a powerful and dangerous God? Ironically, we try to control every detail of our lives to appease this capricious God, resorting to ritualistic behavior such as counting, mantra-like Scripture recitation, or repetitive prayers. For example: Avery believed that she had to visualize each person of the Godhead in order to feel authentic when praying. If she failed to get it right, she would force herself to start all over. Sometimes, Avery would pray the same section of her prayer a dozen times before getting it “right.” Getting her prayer “just right” was the only way she felt safe enough to go to sleep at night. Despite knowing that God is love, she couldn’t manage to feel safe in His Presence."
THIS IS LITERALLY MY EXACT PROBLEM!!!!!
IT'S  WHY IT TAKES ME OVER AN HOUR TO SAY A ROSARY AND I'M ON EDGE THE WHOLE TIME.
1) I had to look up definitions for "appeasement" of a "capricious" God, as I'm unfamiliar with both those terms. To appease means to pacify or placate, to make peace, to be reconciled. It assumes a state in opposition to those things-- anger, discontent, rejection, threats-- that will likely not change without this action? And capricious means fickle, changing the mind suddenly or "without apparent motive", erratic. Now I definitely feel like I have to appease God, or divinity in general, but I don't know if "capricious" is the right word for how I see divinity regarding me? I see God as consistently displeased with me, ashamed to call me His child. God is always giving me a disdainful frown, always suspicious of me, never happy. I always let Him down, I always annoy and irritate Him, I never do what He wants in the way He wants it. I am a perpetual disappointment. It doesn't change on a whim; it is a constant disposition.
2) ALL MY BEHAVIORS ARE RITUALISTIC.
3)

"This paradigm presents a very twisted and unbiblical picture of the character of God. Avery viewed God as unsafe, so she attempted to manipulate God by her rituals in order to feel like she was in a safe place with Him. To her, God was capricious and unpredictable— out to punish her if she failed in any small detail... We know God is love. We know He is trustworthy. But deep down — deeper than we may have analyzed up till this point — we are terrified of God and we believe He hates us. And so our compulsions become tools to manipulate. Our obsessions are a way we try to protect ourselves... Relating to God in this way is incredibly traumatic. In fact, it’s the same way that people in abusive relationships relate to their abusers. They seek to placate the abusive person in hopes of feeling some sense of security."
Most notably? I SEE MARY IN THIS WAY EVEN MORESO. That makes perfectly awful sense considering my upbringing.
It's nowhere near as bad as it used to be, but... this fear of her still happens.
...


"Overcoming the idea that “God hates me” involves putting trust in who God really is... Though we may not be able to understand everything about God—[especially] when clouds seem to darken our understanding—we can know with certainty that His character is trustworthy. He proclaims Himself as a God who is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6, 7). God is not a fickle deity who changes how He feels about us depending on "His mood" on a given day."
1) ...so THAT'S what they meant by "capricious". How ironic. We DO feel that way, despite having PERSONALLY PREACHED THIS VERY PRINCIPLE REPEATEDLY OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS. "Trust God's Character!!" we declare, and then completely screwing up the definitions of His description. What a coward we've been. We've been afraid to face the fact that God DOESN'T "bully us out of goodness & mercy" because then we'd have to apply that correction to ALL OUR HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS, including how we treat ourself.
God doesn't hate me. So I can't hate myself. And I don't know how to deal with that, when ALL my upbringing and malformed conscience are screaming "IF YOU DON'T HATE YOUR SINFUL SELF YOU WILL GO STRAIGHT TO HELL,YOU NARCISSISTIC SLUT!!!" et cetera.
...
2) God's Words do not change. His SELF-REVELATION does NOT change. God said, "I am merciful," and therefore HE IS MERCIFUL TO YOU-- and no, not just in the sense of "I didn't kill you yet"! Because His Mercy occurs IN TANDEM WITH ALL THESE OTHER DESCRIPTIVE VIRTUES!! God is merciful AND gracious AND longsuffering AND good AND true! But that means nothing to you, does it? I'll tell you why-- because you set the bar so bloody low for yourself. You literally BELIEVE that the MOST MERCIFUL THING POSSIBLE is to not kill you where you stand. That's it. Anything "nicer" than that isn't mercy, it's flagrant injustice.
...
3)


"Learning to trust God— I mean, really trust God, at a deep and visceral level— means we have to stop blabbing those praise lyrics and come face to face with how we honestly feel towards God. Sometimes it isn’t pretty. Often we’ll dig out some nasty spiritual skeletons from the closet. And that’s okay. We’re moving forward. We are learning what it really means to trust."

DO YOU SEE THAT, YOU BLOODY BLIND THRISKEFONI???????
YOU'RE NOTHING BUT DISHONEST CHATTERBOXES THAT DON'T ACTUALLY TRUST GOD AT ALL!!!!! YOU'RE THE EXACT THING YOU'RE RUNNING FROM, YOU HELLBOUND HYPOCRITES!!!!!


"[But] God does not hate us. In fact, He loves us more than any earthly father or mother ever could. As we re-orient ourselves to God in this way, He will become a safe place instead of a dangerous one. This healthy picture of God’s love for us and our position as His children will open a way for us to grow spiritually and learn how to overcome our religious OCD. Then, we can begin to take big steps forward in healing!"
...I think, to understand this AND to have it help us at all, we need to deal with that first sentence.
Despite having genuine "hopes" and "unmet needs" for what we instinctively wish we got from our parents in terms of love, the VERY THOUGHT of BEING "loved" BY parents is TERRIFYING. Isn't that strange? It's like... the cognitive dissonance would be so jarring that it would be disturbing. That's so sad.
But... we can't think of God as a PARENT, AT ALL, UNTIL we clean this up. "Parenthood" towards us is scary.
...
...Times like this I really wish Jay was still around like he used to be, before he broke. He wanted to be a father. He UNDERSTOOD what it meant.
...Still. We could never be a child to anyone, because of what THAT entailed, because of our personal experience of it.
That's a key distinction. We need to reflect on that somberly.
We MUST "become like a child" to get to heaven, and that's fine if childhood was a standalone phenomenon, which we admittedly DID experience it as AS A SYSTEM at that age, to a very real extent. But... the thought of having parents is what makes us shake with fear.
Pray about this. Please.

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113023

Nov. 30th, 2023 10:54 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)
 

So exhausted and confused sick. Body crashing i think

Mom call about Jade
Drop-off around 1130
Forgot OJ. Guilt crushing

BK at 230.

So burnt out dead, can barely think. Want to cry from sheer fatigue

Evening =
We are legit addicted to high-resistance biking. It must be another trauma-coping response. It's emulating the terrified hyperarousal and "run for your life" reaction.
But I've noticed something else, something very interesting and alarming.
Since we started doing this high-resistance biking, we've become distressingly emotional. We're having angry-helpless crying paroxysms, having mini tantrums from sheer frustrated despair. It's like we're a teakettle screaming all the time, unable to release anything but pressurized steam.
WHY IS THE BIKING DOING THIS????
Not only that, but IT DOESN'T EXHAUST US ANYMORE. We get hungry for MORE effort, and we don't want to physically eat at ALL, although our body does. We're constantly angry and weeping, wanting to destroy everything violently and then sob so hard it tends the very rocks. What on earth is going on.


Mom called the INSTANT we sat down to eat. AGAIN. Honestly it is uncanny how her phone calls LINE UP with our mealtimes, and that's not a good thing because then we get DELAYED by like 20 entire minutes and that's a HUGE chunk of time. Then we can't sleep, can't bike, etc. Why is our schedule so watertight that the slightest "interruption" throws us into an absolute panicked fit? Our poor mother has to deal with that from us CONSTANTLY because she always wants to do stuff and take us along, and we just want to stay home and have everything be controlled & predictable & tidy & efficient & ordered properly. No room for variables. No unexpected events tolerated. No spare time allowed, everything must have an assignment. I repeat: WHY ARE WE SUDDENLY LIKE THIS?
But... we don't want to snub mom. We need to spend time with her and we want to, both as her child and as a Christian. But our bloody schedule keeps getting in the way.
We have to go to mass. We have to say 2 hours of morning prayers. We have to exercise. We have to prep our meals all at once. We have to eat all at once, alone and quiet and uninterrupted. Et cetera. Remove a "have to" from our routine and we quickly nosedive into a nervous wreck, desperate to flee and quickly "catch up" to time lost.
We cannot cooperate or compromise like this. We have no real flexibility. We can't be spontaneous. We cannot even leave the house except for church functions.
I don't know what to do about this yet. We can't solve this problem from a mindset entrenched in it. Still... God keeps having our mother invite us to things. We'll have to say yes, and just... surrender the details to God.
We need to involve God more. How ironic. We never think of asking Him for help or direction or advice with our schedule stress. It's because we're afraid He'll say, "well you SHOULD be spending another two hours in prayer, you know," or "you don't need to exercise, you could be reading the Bible," etc. We're terrified that He WILL "make it worse," because God NEVER gives "relief from suffering"; He WANTS us to suffer & struggle so we have something to "offer up". To seek ease & relief from tribulation is to reject the Cross. So if we DO dare to ask, then He will justly respond with a chastisement. If we whine about the weight, He will make it heavier, to humble us. That's how it works.
...It's so sad though. Sometimes I really wish I could talk to God about this, without being humiliated & ashamed & guilty for feeling frightened & overwhelmed & confused in the first place. I'm so afraid of being sternly scolded & then "marked" as the "problem child," the one who will take a mile if you give her an inch, so give her extra discipline to keep her in line. It's for her own good. She's too weak; she mustn't be coddled or given reprieve.
And you know what? I DON'T WANT TO BE, DARN IT. I'M SO BLOODY TIRED OF FEELING TYPECAST AS LITTLE MISS MILKSOP. THAT IS NEVER WHO I WAS AND YOU KNOW IT. I was always the tomboy, the firecracker, the jester, the spitfire-- I never wanted a princess life, I rejected everything dainty, why the hell are you writing me as a pretty pansy now??? Why is THIS what happened when they killed all the "man" in me, because "good Christian girls" must be TOTALLY dependent on and subservient to men???
THIS IS THE EXACT SAME DAMN THING THAT CAUSED ALL THE ORIGINAL SEXUAL TRAUMA BACK IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL YOU HEATHEN!!!!

ALSO DON'T FORGET "YOU'RE" MULTIPLE AND HAVE BEEN SINCE CHILDHOOD YOU IDIOT


Night =
Noticing snowflakes, "glitter in the dark". Made me think of Mimic. Accidentally pinged him so strongly he actually looked in, half asleep, asked what is reminding me of him now? I pointed to the snowflakes, he gives me the look and says "why."
I said its because you wouldn't think they would catch the light at all in the dark, it was surprising to notice, and only visible way up close. But it was beautiful to see.
Mimic said nothing for a moment, then generally stated "well, you said it, so I won't argue" and walked back out with the subtlest smile
I then added, basically, "Laurie, i would say that you're like that too, but that's not actually true. You're not so dark anymore. Now you're like the daylight."
Her expression in response was just... gold. Thank God we still feel this.


BTW don't forget Spotify wrapped today, and the unexpected sword-to-the-heart chronological snapshot it gave us

We get 20 MINUTES TO SIT DOWN THANK YOU GOD because tomorrow is First Friday and family is also busy so we're gonna be crushed with exhaustion. Lord get us through it. You always do.


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Universalis today.

"After Andrew had stayed with Jesus and had learned much from Him, he did not keep this treasure to himself, but hastened to share it with his brother. Notice what Andrew said to [Peter]: "We have found the Messiah, that is to say, the Christ". Notice how his words reveal what he has learned in so short a time. They show the power of the Master Who has convinced them of this Truth. They reveal the zeal and concern of men preoccupied with this question from the very beginning. Andrew’s words reveal a soul waiting with the utmost longing for the coming of the Messiah, looking forward to His appearing from heaven, rejoicing when He does appear, and hastening to announce so great an event to others. To support one another in the things of the spirit is the true sign of good will between brothers, of loving kinship and sincere affection."

1) The life of a Christian is one of fellowship & sharing from the very beginning. Nothing about our faith is meant to be "kept to ourselves-- and especially not Jesus Himself!
2) We must hasten to share what we learn from Christ. This should be an instinct for us, a drive, yet freely & willingly done, with all eagerness. We must love God so much, and our neighbor so much for His sake, that the very thought of depriving our fellow man of the joy we have received is intolerable. We must evangelize because we love. It is like a fire in us, seeking to give light and warmth to all it can. My point is: if we receive this treasure of faith and don't feel any impetus to share it, but cling to it privately, then our 'faith' is a selfish & impure & cowardly thing. It is a lamp under a bushel.
3) "FOUND." He had been looking for the Messiah, with the ardent hope and goal OF finding Him. He hadn't been looking "just to look," out of curiosity, like so many modern "seekers" do. 
4) Andrew was convinced of the Truth by Christ Himself, long before He had any public influence or status or testimony. All he had were John's direction, and the Lamb of God. That was all he needed-- no philosophical arguments, no stories of repute, no political acclaim-- just Jesus alone, Himself the only Witness required to His Own Truth. And how? By BEING. That's the Power Christ alone has. All His Words and actions, however good & true in themselves, are but expressions and emanations of Who He IS, beyond all language or human deduction. Andrew was convinced because his heart had been sincerely seeking God, and suddenly God was there in flesh before him. His very soul recognized Him, inevitably so. He knew he had found Him. He was convinced by grace, because he was open to receive it when it came. And how?
5) Zeal, concern, & preoccupation!
I think it's safe to say that, on a very real level, Andrew's daily life was constantly focused on seeking God. It would have to be, for him to "find" Christ at all-- you don't ever stop searching for your heart's treasure, even for a moment, if it is truly your treasure; you will always be preoccupied with it, however quietly. So was Andrew, searching for Christ.
...
6) Waiting with utmost longing, Looking forward, rejoicing, and announcing
7) Spiritual support is TRUE goodwill & brotherhood!!
...


"Immediately Andrew heard the Lord preaching, he left the nets by which he earned his living* and followed the giver of eternal life. ℣. Andrew endured his suffering for love of Christ and his law,* and followed the giver of eternal life."
1) the nets. Nets are meant to catch things, things get tangled up in them. The world is a net. But Andrew "earned his living" by them. So do most of us. Our jobs, our careers, our life pursuits become "nets" that just tangle us up, and keep us trapped in the world, even if they "put food on the table" they are eating us alive at the same time. That's what's so important about Andrew's reaction-- he left the nets. He abandoned his "daily bread" to obtain the True Bread. He left the world to follow its Creator. He untangled himself in the very act of choosing Jesus instead. He gave up his earthly way of life and found the Way of eternal Life.
2) giver vs earning. Andrew labored with his nets day and night, "earning" his living by the sweat of his brow, the very curse of Adam. But Jesus gives life. He removes the curse. Andrew no longer has to "earn the means & right to live," as it were, in a cutthroat world. He no longer has to worry about how he's going to survive. Christ now gives life entire, imperishable, free of charge, bought with His Own Blood, and the Life He gives is His very Self-- it is not money, it is not privilege, it is not anything earthly. Life is a Person, a relationship, that lasts forever, and Andrew does not have to do anything but follow Him in trust.
3) Andrew's endurance was his following. the keyword is "love." This is how we follow God, only love, and love is proved the most clearly and powerfully in suffering.


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Books

MDE is beautiful =
"To be able to become bread! To be able to nourish the whole world with His Flesh and Blood! I am terribly selfish and fearful when faced with suffering, but if I could become bread to save all humanity, I would do it. If I could become bread to feed all the poor, I should throw myself into the fire at once.
No, the Eucharist is not something strange: It is the most logical thing in the world, it is the story of the greatest love ever lived in this world, by a man called Jesus.
When I gaze on this bread, when I take up this bread into my hands, I gaze on and take up the passion and death of Christ for humanity. This bread is the memorial of His death for us. This bread is the trumpet call of the Resurrection, through which we, too, shall one day be able to rise.
This bread is the living summary of all God’s love for man. From Genesis to the prophets, from Exodus to the Apocalypse, everything is yearning towards this terrible mystery of God's tragic love for man. God, who made Himself present in the first covenant and yet more present in the Incarnation, becomes still more present in this mystery of the bread of life."

1) I love how simply yet profoundly the first line is phrased; it puts into shockingly clear perspective just what the Eucharist is and does. Jesus becomes bread. He becomes food for the whole world.
2) It's a true sign of the spark of God in all of us that we have this instinct, despite all our selfishness, to want to become bread too. Ask any parent. Ask any lover. Ask any child, even. If we could "become bread" to save even one soul from starvation forever, we would do it in a heartbeat. This is the impulse of God. This is what the Eucharist is, to infinite perfection.
3) "It is the most logical thing in the world." It really is. People talk about "love languages" and half-joke about "peeling oranges" for others but it's true. Look at a matron cooking meals for her extended family for hours on end, day after day, with a smile on her face. It's such a basic need, such a primal gesture of care. "I will feed you because I care about you, and I want you to live, and I love you." Of course God would become food for His people. But for Jesus to do this so literally, so perfectly, to become bread-- it's the most beautiful thing in the universe. It's the purest and profoundest love.
4) PRIESTS GET TO HOLD HIM LIKE THIS.
5) The Eucharist is a sign of the resurrection. That shocked me. Of course, it is a sign of His Death, and that is inseparable from His Resurrection-- but how we forget that so easily!
6) "this terrible mystery of God's tragic love for man." What a gorgeously aching sentence.
7) The Eucharist is covenantal. It is the most perfect Presence of God to man, even moreso than the Incarnation. Think about that!
...


"St. Irenaeus asks, “How can anyone say that our bodies, which are nourished on the flesh and blood of Christ, are brought to perdition? Our bodies, tasting of the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, but have the hope of resurrection.”"
That's astounding. THEY ARE NO LONGER CAPABLE OF CORRUPTION. This is "common sense" when you realize WHY-- it's because THEY HAVE FED ON CHRIST. The literal atoms of the Eucharist, the Real Presence of GOD, have nourished these bodies and become an actual physical part of them. The Flesh & Blood of Christ, inseparable from His Soul & Divinity, have been our Bread. He CANNOT decay or corrupt or fade away, ever. He IS eternity, He IS Life, He IS salvation. He IS the Resurrection! And when we receive Him in this most blessed Sacrament, WE TAKE ALL THAT INTO OUR BODIES. It's amazing. It's on purpose. God WANTS that to happen. This is how He saves and transforms us most directly, most astonishingly. He changes us from the inside out, by the power of His Love, embodied in His Son, Present in this Sacrament, and now in us.


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VOTD = Psalm 119:2.
"We have a revelation of God's ways when we make His Heart our passion-- when we say, "God, I don't want to just know about You, I want to know You."...There's a lot of us who know God's faithful acts, but take the challenge to press in further, and ask God what is His Heart, so that you would know His ways. When you know His ways, then you know how He will respond-- and you can respond like your Father."
Every time I read something like this I want to cry.
We want this SO BADLY. Honestly I think in a very real but suppressed way we ALREADY HAVE THIS. Deep down, when we stop hiding and running and doubting the truth out of fear of feeling, we must admit that YES, HIS HEART IS OUR TRUEST PASSION. We aren't living that truth as completely as we want to, no. But it is the truth. It's the kernel at the center that cannot be denied.
We're so tired of mechanical praying. We're so tired of spending hours every day just reading articles and "doing the dailies." We're HUNGRY FOR GOD. WE WANT TO KNOW JESUS. We want to TALK TO HIM. We want to sit down and READ ABOUT HIS LIFE. We want to HEAR HIM SPEAK. We want to HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. We're so sick and tired of just this intellectual awareness of Him, this historical education, this ironically heartless datahoarding. The thriskefoni that bury themselves in prayer cards and chaplets and religious emails don't know Jesus as a PERSON. It's so sad. But we never knew Him before, especially not growing up. We never realized you COULD have a relationship with God, let alone that such a thing was ALLOWED, until very very recently-- again, probably the past two years, tops, and with the past year alone being one of the most spiritually potent we've ever had, if not the absolute trophy winner.
But the point is... we're still running circles around the goal. We're still avoiding our heart's desire. WHY.
It's because it's too headspacey.
Read that next line. Press in further. Ask God what His Heart is.
As far as we know, the thriskefoni cannot do that. Their anchor, our religious upbringing and experience, don't include that sort of intimacy. It's banned. It's blasphemous. It's sinful, to even consider-- to them, ANY intimacy, ANY closeness of that sort, is WRONG.
And it's absolutely one hundred percent what the System is ABOUT.
That's why there's this "civil war" going on. The religious voices want to declare a crusade and coldly erase all of us from existence because "we're not God." Whereas all of us inside, although we aren't as "pious" as they are, truly love God AND each other and we WANT TO GET CLOSER TO GOD.
...this is why the Cores keep begging God to give Infinitii "back." It's not something we'd ever do for a human. Headspace is different; people do die, but they die in order to be reborn. Even Laurie reminds us of this constantly-- her axe isn't meant to ruin, but to reset. If she ever does cleave someone's skull in half, it's so it can be put back together better. That's what "death" is for a nousfoni-- it is a hope, in the direct wake of despair. If we die, it is because we have failed to do what we were made to do, or we have committed a grave sin, causing permanent damage, et cetera. Death for us is a swift and direct "penalty" for our loss of light, but it also is, in and of itself, a solid hope of resurrection. ALWAYS. Thanks be to God. We don't die unless there's a real hope that we'll be remade as a result.
So the Cores are asking God to do that to Infi. Why?
Because Infinitii was the one of us who most ardently knew what it was like to love with one's entire heart and soul.
Infinitii COULD TEACH AND ENABLE US HOW TO LOVE GOD LIKE THIS. And believe me, ze DID... Jay still has very clear memories from church, that he clings to constantly, as they are the only way he can feel anything like it. NO ONE ELSE can get that close, without being shut down or pushed away.
It's too much to talk about in depth now, but the important thing is: Infi wasn't scared of opening hir heart, or letting anyone else into it. That was what killed hir, in the end, but it is also hir biggest hope of rebirth, if I can hope the same on hir behalf... because to use that great grace properly, it must first and foremost be directed TOWARDS GOD.
...The last bit up there, resonates with the Jay bloodline. "You will respond like your Father."
We have... weird issues, with fatherhood. We love our biological dad, dearly so, but... we never really knew him growing up. He was always at work, or distant, or uninvolved, or-- as the years dragged on-- out drinking. We had no idea who he was as a person until he moved out and got remarried, and started talking to us from that separate living space. We were no longer "in the same family" in a sense, although we were permanently bound by blood; we no longer shared a roof, my mother was no longer his wife. But that new "distance" brought us closer than ever, and continues to do so, oddly.
The point is: we never had an example of fatherhood in our life until now.
It's still something we glean only in flashes. We're in our 30s; he can't be our "dad" in the way our child-heart still unconsciously yearns for. But now we can recognize that there IS such a yearning, which we NEVER realized before, not until we got old enough to realize that hey, families AREN'T supposed to be terrifying, and by the grace of God started to realize that everything beautiful the Bible says about GOD is what fatherhood truly takes its essence from. God is THE FATHER. And that just... changed everything.
And yet, way back around 2011, Jay wanted to be a father more than anything in the universe and his heart caught that truth long before anyone else could even postulate its existence or semblance. Jay knew what fatherhood meant. He WAS a father. And it was beautiful.
When the bloodline was shattered by the CNC corruption and we lost that entire awareness with the Tilly takeover... it gutted us. We're still not-quite-alive in the wake of that loss. Yes, Jay is still (miraculously) alive, but he's a flickering light now, barely able to front, barely able to hold a form inside. There's "too much of a threat of him becoming a Core again," apparently, and "Cores aren't allowed to be male anymore." But those boys had such good hearts. They understood, somehow, "how God would react" even before we were religious-- long before we were consciously able to trust God, let alone even know Who He was.
...is it possible for the new compulsively-female "Cores" to respond like their Father? Or will the binary-forcing keep them, and therefore our body existence, fatally disconnected from God's Heart?
I don't know. This is something we need to sit and feel and talk about as a System, together, not something the thriskefoni can "reason out" or even truly pray about-- their hearts wouldn't be in it at all; they wouldn't pray for us anyway, sadly. We have to do that ourselves, even if they don't want to admit we can.
I'm sorry, I don't want to sound condemning. It just hurts so much, that they refuse to feel, at least anything but fear and panic that masquerades as obedience and devotion. We want to help them, too. We want ALL of the foni in the Spectrum to be together, like the Church; for heaven's sakes we're all one soul in the first place. We need to be united; we need to be family, we need to be as one, even in our multiplicity. It's possible. That's the beauty of it.
...I guess this is a bit of that Father-feeling, actually. The Prodigal Father, up on that hill, looking out for the lost son. It feels like we're doing that for ourself, in our most fragile and tender moments. God give us the grace to always keep our arms open to ourself, as You always do for us, so that we may all be gathered into Your embrace.



The prayer really stood out to me:
"God, I want to seek You with all my heart. You are my everything— so let my actions match my words. Each day, help me to draw closer to You. Guide me through each decision, and inspire me with new dreams and pursuits. I want to honor You in all that I do."
1)The prayer is admitting, "I confess that I'm not seeking You with all my heart, but I WANT to"... "You are my everything, BUT my actions don't match those words"... and then that striking plea, "LET them match," silently echoing "LET me seek you with all my heart." It's stunning. The focus is on our absolute need of God's gift of grace-- our total dependence on God empowering us in order to do ANYTHING good, because we have NO power on our own.
...
2) Likewise, "HELP me to draw closer to You." It just struck me how unique this is. Unlike between humans, I cannot approach God on my own; I cannot "draw near" physically or mentally, emotionally or spiritually, by my own efforts.
...
3) EACH DAY, and "draw closer." This is gradual, ongoing, and unending. It's never all at once. There is never a finish line.
4) The "guide me" follows the petition for closeness. The very "helping me draw close" IS CONNECTED TO the "guide me through"!
5) Again, "I WANT to honor You in everything I do... but by myself I don't know how." This is why the prayer asks for inspiration and guidance immediately prior.
..
6) INSPIRE ME WITH NEW DREAMS.


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KVOTD = A really sweet thought on Revelation 4:8!
"Imagine your favorite thing to do, and getting to do that every day forever... what if every day was the best day ever? ...Well, [this verse shows us that] in the Throne Room [of heaven], they never stop praising God. It goes on forever and ever and ever and ever. Every day they celebrate and worship Jesus-- they celebrate the God Who loves us forever. Every day is the best day ever. Every day we can praise God here on earth, too, and make it the best day ever! So how will you praise God today, to practice for Eternity?"
1) The simple childlike thought that the Ophanim are having the "best day ever forever" because praising God is their "favorite thing to do" is so, so sweet, and deeply touching. Lord, I pray to be blessed with such grace to feel the same.
2) The angels are worshipping JESUS, not just the Father!
3) When we worship, we echo the joyful songs of eternity here on earth. That's ASTOUNDING.
I love the analogy of "practicing." That hits so strongly and endearingly it hurts.
...

The prayer =
"God, thank You for the hope You've given me. One day, I will get to worship You in Heaven forever! Until then, please help me to be creative and find new ways to show You how much You mean to me. As I worship You, I know it will show everyone who knows me how great You are."
1) Cling to this hope. Make it the undercurrent of your life. Sing in your heart, like your Patroness, at all times, forever echoing this holy refrain. Let this hope anchor your soul to heaven.
2) This entire concept of personal creative worship is not something I ever heard as a Catholic, but it is so beautiful and important to me. It's joyous. It's liberating. It means I CAN worship God in COUNTLESS ways, to countless people! It means my faith and love and joy and hope are not imprisoned, not caged, not bound and muted!
3) Worship SHOWS. It is inherently public, praising and proclaiming. It is naturally evangelistic, an outpouring of inspired zeal, an act of grateful witness to the Breath and Fire and Living Water.
4) Worship changes how people see me-- it shifts the focus TO GOD!! Worship redirects the attention to HIM, not me! It makes me Christ's instrument, and He is the song-- it makes me His canvas, and Him the masterpiece. The Spirit paints, the Spirit performs, and God is all in all. I am nothing; that's the bliss!

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Scrupulosity articles hitting a bullseye over and over again =


"Feeling apathetic, lethargic, or careless about religion is understandable when you struggle with an anxiety disorder that is constantly trying to crush you with toxic spirituality, overthinking, and burnout. The apathy that we experience with OCD is not a true spiritual distaste but is a rejection of the overwrought, overly intense type of spirituality that OCD presses upon us."
THIS IS LITERALLY OUR EXACT PROBLEM. THEY ACTUALLY PUT IT INTO WORDS. Reading this, every lightbulb went on. We've NEVER heard ANYONE sum it up so clearly & bluntly before-- and without having words to express WHAT and WHY you're feeling, that monster remains invisible & intangible &  impossible to deal with. NOT SO ANYMORE!!
...


"Just because I have one bad day doesn’t mean my whole life is going down the tube. It doesn’t mean a relapse is imminent. [That's] absolutist thinking. It tells me that I must never have a relapse... that, if I go back to that dark place that I once was, I will never get out. It will be eternal. I can’t handle it. What black-and-white, absolutist thinking! I can recover if I have a relapse. It’s not the end of the world. I will survive whatever life throws at me because God is beside me and He will help me."
1) In any case, we don't want to risk it. "The dog returns to its vomit." Once the tiniest speck of corruption gets into your brain, you can't get it out. We know this from hellish experience, it's why we avoid the internet & television & radio whenever possible. A relapse might very well be imminent because you LIVED like that before for YEARS, and those well-worn paths of addiction don't disappear overnight. They might never disappear; they might have dug in so deep they left scars. You do have free will, of course, but never overestimate your freedom. How compromised is your state of mind? Don't risk it.
I'm rambling. Bad mindset. Sorry.
2)
3) ...I didn't expect that last line. It stunned me.
That says a fearful lot about where our anxious brain goes.
...
But... that line also feels heretically arrogant?
....


"What about people who struggle with the apathy that they feel after having a blasphemous thought, or apathy about spiritual things? How should they deal with the anxiety that arises in response to the primary disturbance, their apathy? Again, we need to recognize that the black-and-white, absolutist thinking of OCD is trying to get the upper hand. There are NO absolute statements in Scripture that say that Christians must always feel passionate and constantly soaring with lofty flights of ecstatic religious feeling.
And as for the feeling of horror that you might think should always accompany your intrusive thoughts– well, don’t forget that you’re dealing with repetitive, ego-dystonic thoughts that are pestering you every few minutes for months (even years!) on end. It’s natural for the brain to reach a point of emotional shutdown. You can only experience emotions like horror so many times before the mind tries to block out the intense emotionJust ask traumatized war victims if their emotional response was different the first time they saw a dead body, or the hundredth time.
When you think about it, emotional numbness is actually a fairly reasonable response to the intrusive thoughts we deal with. But that’s not my main point. My main point is that there are many layers in complex situations like scrupulosity. We have to avoid pinning ourselves to the wall with absolute beliefs like, “I should always experience horror at my blasphemous thoughts to validate the fact that I don’t want them.”

THIS BLINDSIDED US.
1) The Psalms especially destroy all absolutism-- and that has actually deeply disturbed me for years.
2) "EGO-DYSTONIC"
3) THAT "SHUTDOWN" IS LITERALLY THE "ESTAR PROBLEM"!!!!!!!
4) validation and trauma
...

I am admittedly very disappointed with the conclusion of this article; it got far too carefree, seeming almost flippant. "Oh well," etc.
"Oh well. If I relapse, I relapse. I’ll get over it again."
THAT'S FATALLY PRESUMPTUOUS.
But... they also say things like,
"Oh well. If I don’t have the disgust against my intrusive thoughts that I think I ought to have, I’ll just need to leave this one with the Lord and trust Him to read my heart rather than me trusting my own validation techniques."
How can you be THAT CASUAL ABOUT THE RISK THOUGH. Maybe that's our OCD talking. Even so, that's where we're at. Feeling apathy where it does not belong-- and where, "outside of OCD," it would be a grave sin & sign of a rotten heart-- and just saying "oh well, let God be the judge" is SUPER DANGEROUS. It's like hearing the fire alarm go off and saying "oh well, if it's a real fire, I'll let the firefighters take care of it." AND WE DO THIS, SO WE KNOW. THAT APATHY IS A HUGE RED FLAG AND IT IS NOT HEALTHY.
...

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"Sometimes, our emotions just shut down, like a safety shutoff valve. This might happen when we’ve been ruminating and obsessing about our faith for too long. Numbness and apathy might actually be the brain’s way of protecting itself from too much anxiety... what most people with Religious OCD are dealing with is not true numbness and apathy towards God, but rather a sense of mental exhaustion and spiritual burnout... it’s a pretty normal thing for people to grow numb when we go through extreme experiences. This is simply our body’s way of protecting ourselves, of shutting down the emotions so that we don’t become too overwhelmed for our own good."
1) I hate this so much. I DON'T WANT A BLOODY SHUTOFF VALVE. I'M SO TIRED OF THIS BUILT-IN COWARDICE. I'M SO BLOODY TIRED OF BEING NUMB.
...


"Elijah was suicidal. He asked God to kill him and let him sleep with his ancestors. But God didn’t do that. God understood that Elijah was experiencing burnout. He was mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausted after his turmoil on Mount Carmel. God did not forsake him in that situation. He understood that the way he feels right now is not the way he really feels. And that’s a beautiful lesson for us. When we’re in the midst of our OCD struggles, and we’re burned out and feeling numbness and apathy towards God, the way we’re feeling is not the way we really feel. And praise the Lord. He understands that."
...
...God understands????

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112723

Nov. 27th, 2023 09:26 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

Shopping morning.
Mailed the intolerance test! It should get there by Friday, so we'll see.
Hit the thrifts, got essential groceries.
Felt nudged to check thrift book rack. I KID YOU NOT, THERE WAS THE FLAME OF LOVE BOOK. For two dollars. Of course we got it.
We also got ten sparkly white snowflakes to hang up in the kitchen, just in time for Advent!
...

Felt SO SICK, FILTHY, ALMOST POSSESSED upon returning home. "Bad energy" of stores & crowds. Legit hellish.
Had to lightly wash up the body, especially hair, to purge the diseased feeling. Then had the irresistible urge to sprinkle ourself with Holy water like a shower. IT WORKED.

We've noticed that when we fast for this long, the floating voices get REALLY LOUD.


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ALL devotional books were AMAZING today.

abbodfer = "BE A GOOD KNIGHT."
Laurie's expression when we read this reflection was... I have no words.
...

Passion = by Watchman Nee.
"You believe in the death of the Lord Jesus, and you believe in the death of the thieves with Him. Now what about your own death? Your crucifixion is more intimate than theirs. They were crucified at the same time as the Lord, but on different crosses, whereas you were crucified on the selfsame cross as He, for you were IN Him when He died. How can you know? You can know for the one sufficient reason that God has said so. It does not depend on your feelings... Let me tell you, You have died! You are done with! You are ruled out! The self you loathe is on the Cross in Christ. ...This is the Gospel for Christians."
This hit me like a FREIGHT TRAIN.
1) Taking belief for granted, and what we miss as a result of that. I'd never thought of ALL THREE PARTIES being united in that respect, concerning the Crucifixion. Of course I believe Jesus died, that's central to my faith-- but I don't doubt that the thieves died, alongside Him, nor do I doubt that I will one day die as well. So why has it never occurred to me that this belief hints at a deeper unity of ALL those deaths, which are ALL on Calvary-- yes, even my own?
2) CHRIST'S CROSS IS MY CROSS. I don't have a separate one!! And why?
2) "YOU WERE IN HIM WHEN HE DIED"!!!!
STOP AND REALIZE HOW TREMENDOUS THAT IS.
...
3) The gutpunch glory of "GOD HAS SAID SO." That's all the reason we need to believe Scripture. It's also why we MUST believe EVERY WORD of it-- and therefore we must READ IT WELL, realizing that it is all Truth.
4) "TRUTH DOES NOT DEPEND ON YOUR FEELINGS." And thanks be to God for that!!
5) That last line slammed such daybreak hope into my chest it was dizzying. "The self you loathe is on the Cross in Christ." 
God has said so. It is true, no matter how tormented & despairing I may feel. That "self" I war against every moment, that vain & proud & hard-hearted libertine, is NAILED TO THE CROSS, dead!! And why? Because Christ has united ME with Himself in Baptism. I have been made a member OF HIS BODY, and therefore, when His Body died on the Cross, so did mine. I may not understand it, but it's IN THE BIBLE so I CAN trust it, and bank all my hopes in it. My sinful self is DONE WITH, as far as Christ is concerned, as long as I stay united TO Him, and thus united TO His death. As long as His Cross is my Cross, then His death is my death, and through that death I have real hope-- a living Hope, hope that is a Person: the Resurrected Christ.
The "self" I loathe is crucified, as I die in Him, as I surrender to the Cross. God has said so. Remember this.


MDE2= from Eileen George.
"To be so in love with Jesus, our Eucharistic King, can give a person much pain... wherever I go I see irreverences every day... something happened at the altar, and I began to cry. My heart was broken. But this sensitivity should be in each and every one of us and it doesn’t come overnight. It doesn’t come through a magic wand. It comes from practicing your faith every day of your life.
When I hunger for Him so much, it tells Him how much I love Him. That's what I want for you. I don’t care if you move mountains. I don't care if you heal the people. I dont care if you speak many languages through the Spirit. I dont care if you fall down in the Spirit. I want you to be excited about coming and receiving Him. I want you, if you do wake up at night, not to grumble, “O Lord, let me sleep," [but] let your heart beat fast because you're going to Mass that morning. I want you to be so in love with Jesus, that your whole world will change. I want you to radiate love for your Eucharistic King."

1) People who are literally "in love with Jesus"... that affects me so strongly. It moves me, inspires me, shakes me to the core. They're in love with GOD. What is that like?? How does that even happen?? It must be pure grace, absolute overwhelming grace given to them. It must become your entire existence, such a love, for such a Beloved. It must consume & supplant everything else, without exception, without hesitation. It's a death to everything else but God. But it's love. Its being IN love, WITH LOVE. It makes my head spin and my hands shake. It's terrible in its beauty. The deepest part of my heart wants it too.
2) SENSITIVITY. I need this desperately. To say it ISN'T a lightswitch gives me SUCH HOPE. If I persevere, God give me the grace, in honest practice of my faith... my heart will become sensitive again. Lord please I hope so. But am I practicing properly? I doubt it. My conscience says "no." You're too rushed, too stressed, too bitter, too ungrateful, too cold. But Lord, please, I need help, I need so much help, please meet me where I'm at and lift me up closer to You in the right way, at the proper time, by Your grace and not my fabric labors. I can't be sensitive if I keep hardening my stupid heart out of fear of what horrors will escape if the iron bars start to soften. Please help us.
3) I need more faith, too.
4) "Hunger." THAT'S what frightens me away from this "love." Oh Lord we need to type about this. It's all food and sex and it's hell. That shouldn't have ANYTHING to do with You. But... does it? I don't understand the terms, the universal concepts, the reason why normal people in love use those terms so freely and without seeing any problem. I can't love You like they do if I'm still so bloody scared to death. I need help. WE need help.
5) THE GREATEST ACTIVE "GIFTS" ARE HOLLOW WITHOUT LOVE FOR THE EUCHARIST.
6) ...That bit about fatigue & the Mass hit so hard.
7) Here's the staggering ideal again, made even more shocking: to be "so in love with Jesus."
...It's terrifyingly ironic how His Humanity makes us so afraid to "love" Him. Trauma does that to you. It blinds your very soul to anything but itself. 
How do we honestly move past this. Does "exposure therapy" work religiously?
...


MDE1= by Rev. Edward J. Farrell, and I'M REELING=
"Each day we hear His command, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” This is the most startling word of the Eucharist: that each Christian is to Iearn to consecrate, to be drawn into Christ’s action so deeply that he becomes a Eucharist! We are to parallel Christ; what He did with His life we are to do with our lives. What a mystery this is, to consecrate ourselves, to become Eucharists! This is what the Christian life is all about; this is the ultimate conclusion and action of following Christ-- to be body given, to be blood shed. To consecrate is to sacrifice, to die, to pass over into a new world, a new life, a new level and depth of existence and consciousness.
It is easy to offer Christ’s sacrifice, to be an innocent bystander and to say, “This is His body, this is His blood.” But when we begin to pray deeply the two-edged real words of consecration, “This is MY body, this is MY blood,” something begins to happen. Those awesome words of His are stamped deeper and deeper into consciousness... They are a promise and vow committing one’s life and presence to another totally until death... Only Eucharist enables us to change ourselves into another, giving ourselves into His hands. The Eucharist is a continuum, an ongoing action, of what He and I are doing and becoming. Eucharist is not only His presence with me but my presence with Him. Wherever His is, there I am; wherever He goes, I go with Him. Eucharist is the sign, the visible witness of what we have done, what we are doing and what we will become. In Eucharist we consecrate each day, each person, each event, hallowing it, firing it, filling it with His Spirit, His Presence, being taken up with Him."

WE NEED TO BUY THIS BOOK. (Don't worry, we already found it on eBay; as soon as we get spending money we'll order it)
1) Do what in remembrance of Him? CONSECRATE. Geez man that's ASTOUNDING. It's hidden in plain sight.
Also, yes, IT'S A COMMAND. Don't forget HOW Jesus speaks-- everything is deliberate and efficacious and FOREVER TRUE. If He says "DO THIS," then yes He IS commanding it, commanding YOU personally! Those Words are living & active!
2) oh man THIS is why the Real Presence changes discipleship ENTIRELY. If we are to "do as He did," and HE MADE HIS BODY THE EUCHARIST, then we-- as members OF HIS BODY, and called to imitate His Life as Christians-- are INEVITABLY AND INEFFABLY BOUND UP IN THAT SAME SACRAMENT.
3) We "become Eucharist" through giving our bodies & shedding our blood-- NOT wantonly but in union with Christ doing the same-- and this IS "consecration"!!!
4) CONSECRATION IS SACRIFICE. IT IS DEATH. BUT IT IS BOTH THOSE THINGS TRANSFORMED IN CHRIST. Through Him, sacrificial death becomes a door to a higher & realer Life, a Life that CANNOT ever die. I reiterate this because without Him, our efforts of "sacrificial death" will just end in death. Believe me, we have tried. Without Christ there is no holiness, and therefore no Life, no matter where else you look, or how much you bleed. 
5) WE SHARE HIS WORDS???
6) Commitment
7) Change into another
8) Continuum of cooperation
9) WITH HIM ALWAYS
10) Sign of our past present & future
11) Total consecration and how



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VOTD= a VERY insightful take on 1 Peter 4:10.
It's NOT about "our gifts" as "talents" or "abilities"-- it's ALL ABOUT GOD!!
"God has given us great grace in various forms. His grace has come to us through His Love, through His being patient with us, through providing for us, through helping us, etc. These are all the gifts of God, that God has given us."
"We must take stock of our lives while we are going through troubling times, persecution, and pain. We must, in that very struggle, have a clear perspective of the grace God has given us through the gifts God has given us, and know that God wants us to use those gifts to help others around us."
"Ask yourself, "am I serving others the way that God has served me through Christ? Am I loving and patient with others, the way that God has loved me and been patient with me?" When we take stock of what God has done for us, we release that we can serve others. So take the challenge of serving people with what God has given you. As freely as you received those gifts, freely give them out today."

1) Grace comes TO us THROUGH these "active virtues" OF God!! They are ACTUAL GIFTS. That is boggling my mind. God doesn't just "show" His virtues to us, keeping them behind glass, not letting the children touch. God puts them right into our hands!!! God GIVES us Love, and Patience, and Generosity, and Compassion, IN THE VERY ACT OF EXPRESSING THEM TOWARDS US. Every single encounter with God therefore gives us something. We never leave Him empty-hearted. His sheer Presence pours graces into us, if we are open to receive, because He IS LOVE and He MUST give of Himself by definition. I never realized how far-reaching that fact goes though; I never imagined this point, that God's gracious actions concerning us are ALSO GIFTS.
2) Grace HAS "various forms"!
3) Struggles must NEVER push us into isolation, from God or others. We should use those times as opportunities to gain a stronger, truer awareness of God's Presence and Providence in our life, because pain helps us see what matters and what is real VERY clearly.
4) God gives us grace-gifts EVEN IN TIMES OF TRIAL. Furthermore, suffering DOESN'T ERASE, NEGATE, OR DISABLE PAST GIFTS.
5) EVERY GIFT WE RECEIVE IS MEANT TO BE SHARED. Jesus told several parables about this! Grace doesn't "diminish" by being poured out-- in fact, the opposite occurs. Grace flows like a river, and it NEEDS to be "given further" in order to KEEP flowing into our hearts!
6) WE ARE ABLE TO GIVE THIS GRACE, BECAUSE THE GRACE ITSELF EMPOWERS US.
7) Our touchstone and litmus test for this is JESUS CHRIST.
8) Grace is merciful by definition. It is given without cost, without conditions, without "deserving", without it "being a good investment." Grace is given with complete freedom.


The questions are beautifully illustrative of this wondrous truth =
"What gifts has God given you?
Hospitality or encouragement; Teaching, leadership, or pastoring; Wisdom or knowledge."

Character traits count as gifts. It's NOT JUST "TALENTS." Your natural disposition, interests, and personality ARE ALL GIFTS FROM GOD AND ARE MEANT TO BE USED FOR HIS KINGDOM.
...

The written reflection ACTUALLY brings in the "TALENT" perspective in harmony with this =
"Did you know that God made you unique from everyone else?
There are abilities you have that many do not. You have talents and skills in areas that others do not have. God did this so you could use the life and talents He gave you to serve Him and others. Since God designed us with unique gifts, abilities, and talents empowered by the Holy Spirit within us, He intends for us to use those to serve and love others. Another place God gifts us is in our life experiences. All of us have unique life experiences that give us the knowledge to help others... Has anyone ever gone out of their way to help you, provide unique knowledge, or assist you in a difficult task? They were using their distinct gifts and life experiences to serve God by serving others.
What gifts or talents has God given you? Do you have unique abilities that others do not have? What life experiences have you had that others can learn from? Make a list of these things, and spend some time thinking about who you can help. These are God's free gifts to us that we are to use to serve others, to bless Him and His People. By choosing to act as faithful managers of all that God has entrusted to us, we glorify His Holy Name."

1) It's not just a cliché: God HAS made you unique. EVERY SINGLE PERSON is utterly one-of-a-kind. Even genetic twins are not interchangeable. Human dignity, individual worth, and uniqueness of purpose are intrinsic to every single soul, without exception. They are an innate and permanent part of our existence, whether we're only alive for a few minutes, or whether we last longer than a century. Your life cannot be replaced or repeated or disregarded. You matter, irrefutably so.
2) This truth opens up into the next. Yes, you do have a particular and indispensable purpose in God's Design, and your purpose DOES NOT INVALIDATE ANYONE ELSE'S. Nor do their purposes make yours unnecessary. YOU ARE ALL UNIQUE AND IMPORTANT, because GOD DECIDES THAT, NOT YOU. God does nothing in vain. You, therefore, are an intentional & conscious creation, down to the very tiniest detail.
3) The absolutely essential core truths for ALL life, for ALL Creation= YOU EXIST BECAUSE GOD DECIDED TO MAKE YOU. GOD IS LOVE, AND HE MADE YOU FROM AND FOR LOVE. SO, YOU EXIST TO LOVE. SINCE LOVE IS GOD, YOU EXIST FOR GOD.
4) God gave each human being a unique life, as we said, but this is BECAUSE each human has unique life experiences, which are the direct result of how they interact with the world based on their own unique personality-- their abilities & disabilities, strengths & weaknesses, talents & ineptitudes-- as well as their unique sociocultural situation.
5) I'm avoiding the main point. YES, YOU DO HAVE TALENTS, ABILITIES, AND SKILLS, AND THEY MATTER TO GOD!!!! Furthermore, since HE is the One Who GAVE them, ONLY HE has the right to decide if they are "worthwhile" or "good enough" or "real" or even "Christian"-- and I can assure you, BECAUSE He gave them to you, AS GIFTS, then YES, THEY ARE.
Even if YOU think your skill is stupid or useless, GOD GAVE IT TO YOU, and don't claim He didn't, because otherwise you wouldn't HAVE it.
6) EVERYTHING MUST BE DIRECTED TOWARDS THE SERVICE OF GOD, and of our fellow man "FOR HIS SAKE." In short, it must ALL BE IN LOVE, BY LOVE, FOR LOVE. And not the sentimental, silly, squishy-soft fallacy of "feeling" that the mortal world passes off wholesale as love. NOR is it the scandalously sensual show of sexuality that same "feeling" falsehood fuels, which sloganizes love and casually equates it with lust.
I'm alliterating. That means I'm burning out. Gotta move on.
7) EVERY GIFT WE HAVE IS EMPOWERED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT???? This actually MAKES SENSE; if the gift IS from God, then of COURSE the Spirit is going to accompany the giving!!
8) Our talents don't just serve others, they LOVE them.
By doing this, we SERVE GOD, because every human being is MADE IN HIS IMAGE. Remember that article!!!
9) Our EXPERIENCE and KNOWLEDGE is a gift too!!!!!
10) What "lacks" can you provide for? What "gaps" can you fill? Remember, your abilities & talents are not universal; your life is not duplicatable. You weren't mass-produced.
11) MAKE A LIST. Seriously, THINK ABOUT THIS. Pray about it! But then ACT on it! If you don't know what abilities, gifts, and talents you have-- if you don't even have a grip on your own life experience-- then you cannot fulfill your God-given potential and purpose. I'M SERIOUS. If you don't know what tools and materials you have, and if you never pick them up to work, you cannot help build God's Kingdom!
...
12) Our gifts are BLESSINGS, not just to others and ourselves, but to GOD????
13) Our gifts are ALL given to GLORIFY GOD'S NAME.
...
14) In the end, IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU. YOU'RE A MANAGER OF GOD'S TREASURE. HE ENTRUSTED YOU WITH IT. YOU'RE A STEWARD OF HIS PERSONAL PROPERTY. Do you realize the GRAVITY of this??? The absolutely unmerited PRIVILEGE??? The COSMIC RESPONSIBILITY???
...
15) JOHN 15:16 YOU COWARD

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112423

Nov. 24th, 2023 10:28 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

Morning shopping WITH DAD!!! 💙🤍💙🤍💙
Three hours and it flew by. It was a genuine joy.
Also we got THREE PAIRS OF ACTUAL SHOES SON!!!
In any case I was so happy just to be with dad.
He's suffering SO MUCH PAIN, though, from medication-induced inflammation. Pray for him. Sacrifice too, remember you CAN do that!!

REFLECTION DIDN'T MATCH but it IS RECOGNIZABLE??? It's the EARRINGS!!! Somebody is ANCHORED TO THOSE, someone Core-adjacent, but FEMALE and DISTURBINGLY VAIN.
...
Social mode fallout destroying our ability to be conscious at ALL. Fasting is exacerbating it. Gotta eat sonny boy!!

Listening to Beegie Adair's Christmas music because IT'S TIME.
Honestly in heartaching tears though. The year we discovered this music, and looped it all season, was RIGHT AFTER we escaped CNC, and that was grandma's year. It was before she got sick and before we went dormant. This music sounds like her, like those last dying embers of hope we had for a healed future, before everything hit the bricks and the next 4 years disappeared.
Nevertheless, we feel actual emotion from this. That's so important. Thank You God, even for the hurt, even especially so. It means a great deal, in so many ways.
But only the System can feel the truth of it. Only the System can feel the depths of love. Not we typist foni, especially not we on phones and media. But we know you can. So please do, soon.

Knife being distracted by blood during prayer, because its IN the prayer. He has this uniquely numinous understanding of it. But it still feels wrong? Too intimate, too consumptive? He was in tears, distressed. He doesn't want to be a "vampire" anymore in any case-- there's too much difference between him and the cultural myth. He doesn't want to be corrupted or to scandalize anyone.
He may end up with ALL sharp teeth like his sister, and Sugar & Spice for the record. Albuskinned foni tend to have sharkmouths, haha.


2PM BK, to be expected.
Mild allergic reaction to the CARROTS???? We feared this actually, because we do get random hives & dyspnea & sharp stomach pain when we eat AND that one kitchen foni is TERRIFIED of green carrot ends... and apparently, as we ONLY learned YESTERDAY, carrots are cross-reactive with CELERY AND PARSLEY. We have allergies to BOTH. So it may all indeed be related.
So... just like with our past dietary staples, God may be telling us, "it's time to change." We don't know what to change TO-- there aren't many options left-- but God does. Surrender to Him, pray for guidance & patience & courage & trust. He isn't trying to starve you or malnourish you. You can rest in that. Whatever you truly need, He will provide you, and lead you to obtain. Don't be afraid to let go and move forwards. We've been through massive dietary upheavals before; if this one means we'll be finally free of even just the hives & breathing trouble, then bring it on, Lord.

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System relevance in our inbox =
"Violet is the liturgical color that symbolizes penance, sacrifice, and prayer, and as such, it characterizes both Advent and Lent. Moreover, during Advent, we meditate particularly on the coming of our King at Christmas. In this way, the color violet—traditionally associated with royalty—takes on a dual meaning, representing both the penitential nature of the season and the kingship of the coming Christ, [who we prepare for by our prayerful penance]."
THAT IS WHY LAURIE NEEDS TO STAY VIOLET. THIS IS HER HEART.
Yes, Purple is great too, but its NOT THE SAME AT ALL. The two hues are NOT "interchangeable"; they have VASTLY different roles! This applies to ALL hues, for the record-- Green and Spring and Spruce are not the same, Blue and Sky and Sapphire are not the same, etc. Of course they're related, but they're nevertheless distinct and clearly so. The separation is necessary for proper function & order. It's why blurring & sliding can kill you.
...

"The Third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete (“Rejoice”) Sunday. On this day, we celebrate that our wait is almost over and we witness the sudden introduction of a lovely shade of rose in our churches and our Advent wreath. As the liturgical color used to signify joy, rose is used in the third week of Advent in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah."
This is extremely important to us because, notably, Pink is NOT ROSE. The two are VERY different, ESPECIALLY liturgically!
System-wise, though, PINK leans VIOLET, and ROSE leans RED. Heck, Rose IS "Red," just a pastel tint of it! But PINK is ITS OWN THING. So their vibes and functions are VERY DIFFERENT.
...


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YouTube notification as soon as we got home=
HEY APATEFONI. GET SLAMMED
https://youtube.com/shorts/yUGHdG8e7A0?si=He0hmea96gJvZKnv

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Ttywpf=
"But what kind of a King is Jesus? ...He is not accompanied by a court, He is not surrounded by an army as a symbol of power. He is received by humble people, simple folk who have the sense to see something more in Jesus.
What is the relationship between your simplicity and your ability TO accept Jesus? What is Jesus asking you to put aside to receive Him? Where is Jesus asking you to be humble so that you are more like Him?"

There is SO MUCH to seriously ponder here.
1) I know nothing about royalty, but Jesus's Kingship has no attendees and no army, and that by itself in concept deserves reflection. He had no one serving Him. He had no one defending Him. He showed no military power, no physical force. He did not seek to conquer land or enslave people. He had no nobles attesting to His lineage or glory or character. He just showed up, as Himself, unarmed and unannounced by all but the Prophets. But despite all this poverty He still showed up AS KING. He arrived as one returning home. Which is why--
2) He is RECEIVED. His Kingship is REAL but hidden, and can only be recognized by hearts like His Own: simple & humble & devoted to God, and thus ABLE to be ruled by Him? Proud & clever hearts are too wrapped up in themselves to recognize any "kingship" but their own, however usurped & impotent it truly is.
3) SIMPLE FOLK HAVE THE SENSE. I love that. Pride think simplicity is stupid, but only the simple minds are clear & direct, able to discern the essence of things, unsullied & untroubled by egotistic ambition.
4) If I'm not simple, I will be unable to accept a simple King. It's that blunt. His Kingdom IS so stripped-down, pinpoint focused on God, that there is no room for complex drama & libraries of distraction.
5) The phrasing "put aside to receive" suggests that my hands & arms are involved, symbolically. I need to embrace Christ. I need an open posture, I need clean hands. What am I afraid to put down?
6) The phrasing "where can you be humble" suggests location. It's not a "how" or "when". It's bluntly practical. It's place.
...


abbodfer = "Love has room for everybody. True friends love each other like God loves us. He loves us the same, no matter how many new people become part of His family."
...I've never experienced this in bodylife and that aches.
Still. GOD loves me, and everyone, like this, and THAT gives me such comfort I could weep from sheer gratitude. I no longer have to fear being replaced. I no longer have to fear becoming obsolete. I no longer have to fear being expendable.
...

The written VOTD reflection =
"When the Church was new, it didn’t have a complete, written Bible, and access to Hebrew Scripture was limited... We now have an incredible gift in the Bible. We have the full counsel of God from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Through God's Word, we can know God's plan and purposes, the story and Truth of Jesus-- Who Jesus is, what He has done, and how we should respond-- and how we are to live a life worthy of our calling in Him... being full of love for one another, as followers of Christ. And, we can encourage one another to keep our eyes on Jesus, as we study and learn Scripture together, praising God together and being thankful for all He has done-- including giving us access to His wisdom, guidance, and teachings through Scripture in the first place, and for giving us the opportunity to worship and praise Him together as believers.
So, take time in your day, every day, to read God's Word. Study its content and context. Discover God's character, plans, purposes, and love as you allow His Word to dwell in you richly. Then, whenever possible, spend time with other believers and discuss what you've read."

1) The Bible IS an amazing gift, a privilege, an indescribable grace. But we take it for granted, just like our religious freedom. It's humbling. Sit and think about the real gravity of this.
...
2)That community focus here is actually so important, because I typically think of Scripture study as a personal thing. But it needs BOTH personal AND public aspects, because I'm not living my faith alone, AND because Scripture is NOT UP TO PERSONAL INTERPRETATION. This is why we go to Mass, and have Bible studies based on Saintly and/or Papal writings.
...
3) It never ceases to amaze me that we can "get to KNOW GOD" through Scripture, Because it IS His Word, His Self-revelation in Christ. We CAN "discover" God's character, His purposes, His plans, His wisdom, His teachings, AND His Love. It's ALL in there, written out in human language, for us to understand what was previously pure mystery, obscure and inaccessible to man.
BUT WE NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT!!!
...still. What an ineffable work of God's infinite Love, just TO give us this ability and opportunity TO know Himself, in the Bible.
...

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KVOTD = 1 Thessalonians 5:18, a timeless classic honestly.
"Big stuff tiny book," haha! Man we used to LOVE making those, we SERIOUSLY SHOULD AGAIN.

"When you feel empty of joy, gratitude can fill you with joy. Gratitude reminds us of how much God cares for us. It brings us back to what matters, even on our worst days."

Just like hope, true joy is NOT contingent on circumstances, but anchored securely in GOD'S CHARACTER.
We must actively remember and assert that God is merciful, righteous, just, loving, wise, attentive, compassionate, understanding, trustworthy, and faithful-- and we must declare this DURING our most frightening trials, because they are CONSTANT EVEN THEN. This Truth of God is the bedrock foundation of ALL gratitude, and therefore of all joy. We CAN Rejoice IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES through Christ Jesus, Who reveals and manifests ALL those divine characteristics to us in His Person, and Who is PRESENT WITH US THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT. The Trinity is always together and the Spirit is WITHIN YOU, even when you're on your cross-- even especially then! God cares for you THAT MUCH. Your suffering is even a blessing, conforming you more closely to The Son. THAT is what matters most-- our salvation, our Savior, our hope of heaven, our Christian walk. We have an unshakable Source of grateful joy, a Good Shepherd even in the valley of the shadow of death.

"There are joyful blessings all around you-- even right now, in this moment-- and practicing gratitude enables us to offer God our full appreciation of them."
It's a very good habit to recognize blessings in everyday life, in common situations and routine, in otherwise uneventful moments. There are no unblessed times. Everything is overflowing with grace. We just need gratitude to see it, to recognize and name it, and therefore to thank God for it. We owe it to Him, not just as His children, but also simply because He gives everything to us at all times. That sort of limitlessly loving largesse deserves all the thanks we can ever possibly give, by virtue of justice alone!

"Ungratefulness causes cynicism, entitlement, and jealousy."
THAT'S SCARY. We forget that both virtues and vices are terrifically proliferant. They naturally emanate from one another. Of course, some are more powerful than others, for good or ill, and ungratefulness is actually quite high on that list. Why? Because it is a disposition of denying the goodness of God. That's LETHAL. It will absolutely kill your soul if you persist in it.
Its "offspring" are further proof of its malignity. It causes cynicism by rejecting hope, refusing to see the goodness of God in all things. It causes jealousy because it cannot see the abundant blessings in its own life, and suspects that others are hoarding all the joy. And it causes entitlement, which is effectively luciferean, by insisting that "God owes ME," and has failed to provide. Every one of these vices is based on a total lie.

"Even on a bad day, you can always think of three things to be grateful for! They can be big or small things. Name them, and write them down. Be sure to keep a record of the things you appreciate so you can revisit it later."
The immediate thought: THAT'S THE ARCHIVES!! And God knows they DO perform this function too.
This is also obviously why the nightly entries MUST begin again soon. Without them, we forget everything. The days blur together into a colorless haze, and we lose all memory of tiny precious blessings.

"Don't be in a rush. Enjoy good things in the moment they happen. And when you appreciate someone, tell them."
This is Christian mindfulness!
I immediately think of people at concerts, forsaking the actual experience in order to film it on their phones, but life doesn't even give you such an opportunity for a rewatch. Either you experience it RIGHT NOW, or you don't. It's that stark. Either you are present in this moment, or you are not. Believe me, we struggle with dissociation and depersonalization, you know this, we are warning you from experience. Nothing is scarier than "waking up" in your own head and not knowing where the past year has gone. Altered states, addictive cycles, media binges, timesink phone apps, et cetera... they all pull you out of the moment, out of the NOW of God, and therefore out of gratitude. And of course, so does simply rushing, the result of trying to survive the rat race of a career, or of trying to outrun the shadows dogging your steps, or of trying to reach some horizon that keeps shifting red... rushing has its sights set on some "better tomorrow" and so it is unable and unwilling to see or admit that today-- this very moment-- could actually contain all the joy they've been chasing blindly after.
We have to listen to Jesus. "Do not worry about tomorrow." God WILL provide. He is providing right now. Just open your heart and look.
Next point =
Telling people that you appreciate them, even "at random," is such a good and holy habit. You never need a "right moment" to express gratitude because EVERY moment is a right one! Send a text, send an email, leave a comment, make a phone call, pay a visit, mail a card, whatever-- but ACT ON IT IMMEDIATELY. Do not quench the Spirit! And if you genuinely have no way to contact that person at the time, PRAY IN THANKS FOR THEM. Really, do that all the time. Make that a habit. Give thanks to God for their very existence, every day. Watch how that changes your heart.

"Find gratitude in your challenges. What can you appreciate, even when things are tough?"

This takes faith and practice but it is a HUGE GRACE and it HAS SAVED OUR LIFE, so to speak.
Honestly, reading the Archives is SUCH a powerful practice of this very thing. If anything is going to flood our heart with gratitude, it's seeing how even the darkest days were still woven into our System's ultimate Good, BY GOD.

...


The questions genuinely surprised me with their insight=
"How can you choose to notice good things today?
1) I can list three things that I'm grateful for in a gratitude journal
2) I can be vocal when I see something I'm grateful for.
3) I can serve people who need something to be grateful for."

1= We've mentioned lately how we need to start a gratitude journal again, to have that running log, and really it SHOULD be on paper. That makes it more immediate, more sincere, more intimate, more warm, more childlike.
2= We've been actively making effort on saying we're grateful in the moment we feel it! We may never get the chance again, after all. The Holy Spirit is absolutely enabling, nudging, & helping us to do this.
3= This HITS HARD. Think about the weightiness of it. Right now, in my immediate community, there are people who "need something to be grateful for." That's heartwrenching, and it's TRUE.
...
...


The prayer seems commonplace but that means we must take it more seriously; if we are tempted to skim over or skip something because it's "obvious," we're actually blinding ourselves to deeper truth. All such judgment & resistance is proud & of the devil.
Most importantly = the devil never wants us to take our faith seriously. So if you EVER make an excuse to "lighten up", "brush off", or even "laugh/ scoff/ roll your eyes at" something Christian, then you're denying Christ in a very real sense. You're treating His Calling as a joke. It's just as bad as outright avoidance, flinching & wincing, keeping your mouth shut, hesitating & neglecting to admit or own your faith.
We must ALWAYS take our faith seriously, no exceptions. It is nota hobby or game. It DOESN'T lose its gravity when taught to children, even when the language is gentler. It still speaks the same immortal truths of power.

On that note, here's the simple prayer.
"God, thank You for every blessing You have placed in our lives. Thank You for our home, our family, and the life we get to live for You."
How easily would we say this without thinking, or truly feeling? We should be ashamed.
First, SAY THANK YOU AND MEAN IT.
Second, there are no exceptions. When we realize that "God IS blessing", and only sin is a curse,
Third, God has PLACED each blessing. This is DELIBERATE, purposeful, perfectly timed.
Fourth, do you ever really sit and think of WHY these "typical responses" ARE typical? It's because they're ALWAYS BLESSINGS. Faith, family, and home are really basic needs, on a spiritual level, and can ONLY be given by God because they are pure gift, meant for good, purposed for Himself.
...
Fifth, we "GET TO" live. A Christian heart rejects the devilish lie of entitlement, as it recognizes that all is grace, all is gift, and all is also God-directed.
...


"God, please keep our eyes open to just how good You are to us so we can reflect that goodness to others."
We cannot reflect a light we cannot see. The mirrors of our hearts must be facing the Son in order to catch His Goodness, but also turned to face the "room", the world we live in, as well, in order to "shine" that Light into dark corners even across the expanse.


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112123

Nov. 21st, 2023 10:24 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)


SHJ Mass today because schedule different.
Lauds in car, guilt wouldn't let me skip it, thank God
Wegmans stop, asked for more prayers, got some more sacramentals!
Traffic trouble and "doubting the Spirit". Very humbled & chastened.

Unexpected laundry, Jesus recommended
TALKING TO HIM btw. Church too.
Also. We had to do the wash twice to get the suds out, and now I know why God did that-- because when we went to the dryer now, 40m later than it would've been, we met a NEW NEIGHBOR and were able to help him out with instructions!
Oh but we LEFT FIRST. We were already up the stairs when the Spirit elbowed us in the gut, haha. We legit TURNED AROUND and went back down to offer help.
Man I might even go BACK in a half hour to offer change for the dryer.
...I've never lived as a Christian before. Is this what it's like? It's ineffable. It's real. I'm not used to things being tangible, being actual and active, in time and space with people!
But this is exactly what that article I started reading last night told me. It literally turned my world upside-down. I need to quote it, type about it. But this is exactly what it was talking about.
God I WANT to live like this. I WANT to be a real Christian, a true disciple, a servant of God by serving His People. I've never known what it was like before. It's joy, even especially in the effort. Remember grandma. Remember SLC and CNC even, what we wanted them to be: serving others. Deep down my soul truly yearns for it, as a female especially, I'm wired to serve. And such acts of sacrificial charity are what need to grow in my faith WALK. I've just been talking! But Christianity is worship AND service, both symbiotic, united, inseparable. We are anointed to be like Christ Jesus Himself, our Head and Lord-- and His ENTIRE LIFE was serving, even to the point of giving His Life for our salvation, in redemptive death AND in Sacramental Food! Dude WE ARE OBLIGATED TO IMITATE HIM TO THE END. That is the highest privilege and it's TRUE JOY.
Don't forget, though, that we get our "fuel" TO do service THROUGH PRAYER. So did Jesus. It's inhale/exhale. We are given grace in order to give grace.
...And quarters for laundry, too, if the Spirit nudges you to it.

FOR THE RECORD = bliss isn't an emotion. Christian joy isn't about "feeling good" at ALL. Like all truth, it is beyond the sensible and temporal. When you do "good deeds," you must NEVER do them for a reward, or in the hopes OF "feeling good," like Professor Marmalade. You all know how he turned out! Rather, a Christian does "good" because God is good, and we are His Children-- we do good because Christ is in us doing the work for His glory and purposes. We do good because true goodness is found in Self-giving, in sacrificial Love, in tireless charity and boundless generosity, and we are able to do all of those things though the Holy Spirit given by the Son to glorify the Father. Our joy is in GOD.
And THAT is true bliss. Even when you "feel" empty, hollow, unappreciated, rejected, suspected, even slandered, if you are working by the Spirit, and for the Father's sake, as part of Christ's Body, then no matter how you are received by men you WILL have genuine joy in your heart. As divine mysteries are, it is quiet and deep, still and serene. You may not "feel" anything like secular "happiness," but you will have joy, and peace, and hope, and love-- all from God and for God. You are never the end of your own means. You are never the goal, never the summit, never the reason, never the cause. You're never "doing good" because of yourself; you are doing good and serving others and worshiping in action because God wants to use you to do His work. He has given you the opportunity and the grace to meet it... but He has also given you free will, even now. Will you choose to obey, even knowing you might not receive so much as mere consolation? Will you obey solely because you love your Master, and since He so loves this world of His, loves all the people He sends you to serve, then so will you?
You are an unprofitable servant. And yet, in your very obligation, you may come to share the Master's joy.



Timing the eggs today.
Siobhan did the dishes, telling us that when we're being timed OR waiting on timing-- the eggs & laundry respectively-- the Front is in a DIFFERENT SPACE??
It's NOT social; it's actually SUPER INTERNAL. It's laserpoint focus on the "time ahead" to the point of debilitating distraction in the present. It CANNOT interact socially as a result.
...

⭐Shirley, Sirius, and Penny TRUE JOBS MATCH THEIR NAMES!
Also Penny is "maturing"; she's "growing out of" her initial "infant" stage of root-likeness, when she resembled Razor a lot, because they're tied to the same chronological era?

⭐EVERYONE PRAYS DIFFERENTLY!! When people front, they FEEL the sentiments uniquely, to their color especially?? Anima Christi proved this unexpectedly and movingly.

Wondering about "color virtues" in light of this.
Violet is TRUTH?? Laurie's ESSENTIAL role!!

Evening =
Adoration!
Could not focus.
SEVERE PANIC setting in the darker & bluer it got.
Eased up a bit at home, alone & warm light, "smaller soundspace"??
BUT THE PANIC RETURNED and was DEBILITATING.
Got on the bike, put on liquid funk and BOOKED IT for 12m. INSTANT CURE.
Man we SERIOUSLY want to go back to being a gym rat, but I'm afraid that fast, strong, bright lifestyle would be in conflict with our quiet, slow, soft "cloistered life" now. Is a balance possible??? Because honestly the FORMER is true to "my soul." I'm still RED. I still have this FIRE in me that I keep dousing to be a "good Christian girl." But... God made me a spark? God knew I would have this disposition? My ENTIRE CHILDHOOD I was like this? Is it possible to be a "good Christian" and still be honestly entirely "ME"?
I want to be MYSELF for God, absolutely blazingly myself, hiding nothing & holding nothing back, giving all my fire to Him.
When did I become this? This frightened mouse of a person, a wet blanket that cries at the drop of a hat, not from sorrow but from terror. "I'm" watered-down and washed-out. What the fish happened to "me"?? This isn't a life, this isn't even a personality; how am I ever supposed to give THAT to God? I won't own it. That's dishonest. It's not my heart. My heart is still a thurible, full of fire and burning itself up for the Lord in joy. I don't know. I'm starting to slip away. I'm going dormant. That pinkish girl is taking over again, she uses flowery powdery language, not me. I apologize.
I'm a nervous wreck there's 8 minutes until Vespers what do I do until then??
Then I'm going back on the bike, before we totally pass out from anxiety. Chill out, it's only 6 minutes now. Don't be so terrified!


Dinner over an HOUR LATE haha. Our panicky brain CANNOT relax until Vespers is said. Hence our inability to get done earlier, especially when churches have evening events.
Seriously though we NEED TO DO ACTUAL NIGHTLY JOURNALING AGAIN. Not this overwhelming, scattered, perpetually unfinished datapasting for the sake of "piety."
We would probably actually grow so much more in our faith if we STOPPED just ctrl+v'ing everything to the point of never thinking about God on our own. If we do paste something, we need to talk about it RIGHT THEN. Hoarding religious text for the sake of "doing something with it later" is carelessly irreverent.
...

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VOTD = Psalm 23:6.
"Perhaps it may take a while to see the goodness God, but make no mistake, God is always good...even if your situation does not seem good, we follow a God Who Is always good. [So] trust Him today, that His Love and His Goodness will follow you, not only today, but very single day of your life."
Trust Him even in the pit, even in prison, even in oppression, etc. Like Joseph in the OT. It took YEARS for him to see God's goodness in his life, BUT he trusted the entire time he waited, KNOWING that God had promised him goodness, and it WOULD come, when God decided it was time. Until then, he trusted that God was working, everywhere, everyday, for that very goodness. You can't see who is following you until you turn around, but they are there! Likewise, we may only recognize God's constant lovingkindness in hindsight. But it has been following you the entire time. You have never been abandoned or forgotten. Even in the pit, God was with you, and not only that, He followed you there! He didn't "show up later." He goes with you always. That's how caring & devoted His "following you" is. It isn't passive or casual, it's active and involved. That's how dear you are to Him, that He will not leave you, even in the grave.That's love.


"At the end of Psalm 23, there is a promise for us. For those who follow God and listen to His guidance, the writer says that goodness and mercy will follow us."

Wait up, THAT COUNTS AS A PROMISE???
Gosh, I guess that does make sense-- the Psalms are inspired writings, typically prophetic, and the Holy Spirit is living and active in speaking to us through them NOW. Jesus says "Scripture cannot be broken," and "my words will never pass away," and Saint Paul says "all Scripture is God-breathed." SO, if Scripture says something "WILL" happen, even in the Psalms, it's still God's Word;  it's still inspired by the Spirit; it's still Truth.
Man that seriously puts EVERYTHING on a whole new level. I honestly never caught the truly deep & sacred implications of "ALL Scripture is God's Word" before. No wonder I never understood what people meant when they did talk about "God's Promises"-- I didn't even know what to look for, let alone how to read them!
Honestly this is eye-opening, and heart-opening. Mimic and Chaos 0 will both be happy, haha-- especially because honestly we REALLY SHOULD RESTART OUR BIBLE PLAN. "We" started it during the E.D. and so NO ONE REMEMBERS IT. What little recall data we have is from traumaburn data. That's not right. God's Word deserves our wholehearted attention and devotion.
After we finish John we will have to do that. So GET CRACKIN' ON THAT COMMENTARY SON!!

"What does it mean that God's goodness and mercy will follow us? It doesn't mean that life will go according to our plans. It also doesn't mean life will be free of pain and problems... we will still have to walk through dark valleys in life. Here's what it does mean: God will always be with us. God will always be good to us. Life may not always be easy, but God promises to always Be Good... His goodness and mercy will never end, [and] it’s because of God's goodness and mercy that we will one day join Him in heaven to be with Him forever."
1) That initial distinction is important. Yes, we are being followed, but that doesn't mean we're leading the way!! There's a CONDITION attached to the following, even in the Psalm, and that is, so simply & starkly you could miss it, that "the LORD is my Shepherd." If He doesn't go ahead of you, then nothing of His goes behind you, either.
2) Pain, problems, darkness, low valleys, shadows and even death itself cannot stop the pursuit of God's Goodness.
3) God will always be good... TO us.
4) God's "always" isn't stopped by death, or even time itself. For God, "always" truly means forever.
5) WE CAN'T GET TO HEAVEN OTHERWISE.


"Lord, help me to dwell in the awareness of Your goodness and mercy each day. May I be a vessel of Your love to others. Open my eyes to recognize Your leading in every circumstance, and teach me to follow after You."

1) We CANNOT be "vessels of God's Love" UNLESS we are RECEPTIVE TO THAT LOVE, and we cannot receive it unless we are AWARE of it, and even then, awareness alone won't fill us up unless we DWELL in what we are aware of and open to receive! IT'S A WHOLE PROCESS.



111723

Nov. 17th, 2023 10:40 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)
 

Shop morning. No other time to do do until Thursday and we'll be out of broccoli by then.

Called hospital, bro isn't there???

Genesis helping me out at Wegmans. Kept me stable, God bless him.
Mary Ann cashier, asked for prayer for bro, she gave us more Eucharistic Miracle cards AND a "miracle rosary"! Simple but powerful prayer. Also Saint John Bosco medal; feels oddly relevant? Look him up; I KNOW he had all those dreams!!

Home for 11. Unpacked frozen food, then said Saint Michael Chaplet & Divine Office before doing anything else. 40m of prayer priority son!!


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Ttywpf =  You know how God sometimes asks us to do things that go against all human reason?  This is one of those things for me.
"We must pray with parresia — with courage, boldness, and confidence. We cannot sit still after having prayed once. True Christian intercession consists of insisting to the very end.
What are you praying for right now? Take up [this] challenge and pray with greater boldness and consistency."

This contradicts EVERYTHING I was taught growing up, as to how to be a good child. Good children ask ONCE, politely and reservedly, never insisting, never repeating. If you act pushy or "brave" in your request, if you're evidently "confident" that you will get what you want, all that boldness WILL be PUNISHED. You're being arrogant, presumptuous, greedy, and proud. Bold children get beatings. You ask ONCE, and you ask with fear. If you don't get what you asked for, you DROP THE ISSUE. They heard you the first time-- asking again will only make them angry, offending their authority, and in return for your rebellious refusal to accept their decision they will specifically do the exact opposite of what you want done. Your punishment will be just, public, & humiliating, and you will learn not to ask any more.
THAT'S HOW I WAS RAISED. It's buried in my brain almost as instinct. It's full of tremendous fear.
And you're telling me-- the POPE is telling me-- man, even JESUS is telling me-- that God WANTS me to keep asking???
There IS a key note, though. "INTERCESSION." God wants us to pray insistently FOR OTHERS, NOT FOR OURSELVES. And that makes sense. Then we can risk being bold, even being punished for it, because we no longer care about ourselves. We only care about the person we are interceding for, no matter what it costs us. THAT'S the REAL message here, you dingbat. You always get hung up on whining about your childhood. Grow a pair already. You're spoiled rotten and you are appallingly disrespectful towards your parents. Stop complaining. Stop thinking about yourself all the time.
No wonder we're so depressed, if you girls talk like THIS in all our daily reflections! You're not glorifying God at ALL, I hope you realize.
...


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VOTD = Max Lucado himself!! on 1 Corinthians 2:9=
"God rewards those who love Him-- not those who love doctrine, or religion, or systems, or creeds. Many settle for these lesser passions, but the reward goes to those who settle for nothing less than God Himself. And what is that reward? What awaits those who love Him? Nothing short of the Heart of Jesus! 2nd Corinthians 3:18 says, "As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him." Can you think of a greater gift than to be like Jesus? ...Jesus had no had habits. God wants to remove yours. Jesus had no fear of death. God wants you to be fearless. Jesus had kindness for the diseased, and mercy for the rebellious, and courage for the challenges. God wants you to have the same. Today, reflect on ways that you can show God you love Him."
The ways they suggest:
+Pray for wisdom when making difficult decisions, instead of following the world's advice or your own opinion,
+Praise Him even when doing so goes against all worldly sense, especially during crises & losses,
+Turn to God's Word when anxious or bored, instead of distracting yourself with entertainment or addiction.
It all requires PRIORITY and TRUST, but it is also ALL based on RELATIONSHIP. That will always be integral in Love... and "we love BECAUSE He first loved us!" We only know HOW to love THROUGH JESUS.
You cannot "love" a religion, because it's not a person-- and to love means to "consistently seek the good of the other." It means INTERCEDING BOLDLY, disregarding personal cost. JESUS DID THIS FOR US. And He charges us to do the same-- for each other!! Remember there are TWO "Great Commandments," love God AND love your neighbor-- with the latter DEPENDING ON the former.
...
Stop blathering, you're overcomplicating a simple truth and missing the entire actual point.

"God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world His only Son so that we could have life through Him; this is the love I mean: not our love for God, but God’s love for us when He sent His Son to be the Sacrifice that takes our sins away. My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another." (1 John 4:9-11)

Here, get chastised:

"Only the Holy Spirit can reveal God’s mysterious plan. Without the Spirit, we are blind, deaf, and incapable of comprehending His power. Without the Spirit, His wisdom seems foolish to even “the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters” (1 Corinthians 1:20). It takes the Spirit of God to reveal the mysteries of God. Only the Holy Spirit can divulge what was previously hidden— what cannot be seen with human eyes, heard with human ears, or imagined with human minds.
And Jesus Christ IS the mysterious Plan-- Hope 'in the flesh', and the long-awaited Messiah Who has come to rescue His people: “In Him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:2-3). And because His Spirit now dwells inside of His people, we can also “have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).  So don’t forget: “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18)."


You're not talking about Jesus. You're talking about yourself. Therefore you're not speaking with the Spirit. Does He really dwell in you at all, the way you ramble on about nonsense & try to sound so smart when it's all just garbage? Who the heck are you preaching to? You have no right to do so, woman!! Shut up and LISTEN for heaven's literal sake, you know NOTHING and you're not helping ANYONE.

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1) We are "rewarded with Jesus" by loving God. Jesus is God, and we love God by loving Jesus. He gives Himself to us completely and we must do the same. We receive His Spirit by faith, by grace, and through Him we "have the Mind of Christ." We become able to understand Jesus, through Jesus... words fail me. As usual.
Saint Paul says it better. That entire chapter is gorgeous. I want to just soak it in.

2) Do I love God? Or do I love religion? How do I tell the difference? Isn't my entire religion about God? Isn't the whole point of being Catholic to be united with Christ? Isn't that the joy of it? What else IS there to my religion but Him?
And yet here I am, obsessing over prayer rituals, typing instead of studying, in love with Christ as a character but not in person. I keep myself at a distance because I hate myself and I couldn't stand the self-awareness that a personal relationship would mandate. That's my problem.
I love reading about Jesus. I love learning about the Faith. I truly love going to Mass and reflecting on the Gospel mysteries and trying to live them better every day.
But do I love God?
Why am I still asking that question? Why does it still elicit such fear in me? Is it because it requires relationship? Is that really all it all boils does to?
I'm so afraid to get close because I'm afraid of being touched.
It's all this bloody cursed trauma. It's all this ugly frightening gender. God i still need help, i still need so much help, this is the number one biggest obstacle between me and You and the human race and I cannot move it an inch by myself. I'm too afraid of touching it to even try. Please help me. Please change my heart. Destroy me and remake me. Redefine me completely. Make me new, make me different, please. Don't damn me to being this spineless & heartless girl that I'm stuck in the brain of. It's just like childhood. THIS ISN'T ME and that's terrifying but I'm helpless. It's like having a Yeerk. I just want to get her OUT OF ME but then I'm still stuck in a body that's hers-- a body that's built for sex and smells like sex and looks like sex. But there is no other alternative. The only hope I had-- the hope I desperately clung to for twenty years-- was crushed by the Church I love and so I must accept it, even if that means my death. I have no other choice. I'm doomed no matter what I do. I don't know how to exist like this. I cannot live like this. I don't know how. God help me.

This is why you need to take time to "know yourself," not just monologue prayers. Don't you accuse me of blasphemy, you JUST LEARNED in Religious Education that the Holy Spirit GAVE YOU A GIFT that you apparently wrapped back up-- the Gift of KNOWLEDGE, the "science of the Saints," which is given "that I may know God and know myself"!!!
How do you EVER expect to have a relationship with God if you no longer want to look at who you are?? You don't journal anymore, you don't do daily reflections, you have crucified all your dreams and feelings and preferences and quirks, leaving nothing but a social-mode shell and a hyperreligious craze. In-between the two you're nothing but a husk. You run from consciousness by those opposing extremes. You won't look God in the face because then you have to have a face to be looked into in return.
You need help. The Spirit is with you to do just that. But you need to use His Gifts, and not reject them and run, because they were given to you FOR THE GLORY OF GOD which means that getting to know who you truly are IS for His glory-- because your "true self" ISN'T AN "EVIL GLUTTONOUS WHORE." That "self" is DEAD. So is everything that makes your female body a living nightmare. You AND that body ARE a NEW CREATION IN CHRIST. You are part of HIS Body, you are a member of the Church... but you are still also a unique individual. I know it makes no sense. But it's true. And you need to understand that facet in the light of Christ now.
But I'm rambling again. Every time I start speaking spiritual encouragement, I begin to parrot platitudes and I lose all sense of self. My words become empty echoes of what I've heard. I'm no longer a person, I'm just a playback machine.
And that is absolute proof of the problem. Religion is a relationship, sure, you say that all the time, but you're just talking. You're not BEING. If you stopped the plastic smiles and happy chatty church talk, and got down into the bloody gravel of the faith, what would "you" do, little miss pink pew princess? You'd disappear. I KNOW you would. Your faith is as shallow as a sink. You don't actually know HOW to have faith "at all times" because YOU DON'T EXIST "AT ALL TIMES."
The rest of us do. And WE believe, too. Don't say we don't. We pray too. We have faith.
I'm sorry. I'm bitter. It hurts so much. It hurts so much for you to stomp all over our skulls like broken Easter eggs and claim its for the glory of God. But you have never... you don't know what "relationship" is. You don't get close to anyone. You don't bleed or ache or sob. You just smile and pray, and your sisters panic and do the same. All of you keep your distance from God. I'm tired of being distant.
I want wounds. I want warfare and weeping. I want to punch sin in the teeth even if I'm spitting blood through my own. I want to LIVE my faith, OUR faith, not just "go through the motions"!! We're SO TIRED of endless silly rambling and nonstop chaplets and we never even give Jesus the time of day. Why don't we just talk to Him? Why aren't we just LIVING with Him? Just like we live as a System, which you won't let us do either. Why can't we just be a Christian? Why can't we just be us, with Him, for Him? Why can't He just be our everything and all-in-all? Why do you have to shove our Lord in a neat & clean & fancy little box? You just treat Him like one of your expensive Rosaries, you gilded hypocrite.
God I'm sorry if I'm being mean. I don't hate her, I just pity her so much it hurts. And we're all so tired, Lord. We really do want to heal from our past, and live for You entirely, with all that we are, with all of us.
But she won't let us. She won't even admit that we have a past to heal from. She won't even look in the mirror.
God I'm tired. I need to stop typing for a bit. "We" do, rather. Going solo just kills everyone involved, it's a miserable way to live.
I think we're just going to read for a bit. Whatever we do, Lord, guide us. Hide us in Your Wounds. Please make everything we do into a means of Your Glory, not ours. That's all we want.
Help us heal from sin's disease. Help us become able to draw truly closer to You without wanting to die from fear of ourself.
I can't talk anymore, it's degenerating into programmed language again. We need to learn to just cut our words short because "fancy endings" just call out the socials. Pride wants to make everything a speech. To be truly humble, we need to be detached from all thoughts of reputation. If we end a paragraph on a completely banal and unresolved note then so be it. Let it crush our lingering pride of performance.

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Today's SPARK =

"As followers of Christ, we are called to serve those in need. But... we aren’t called to serve others when it is easy, or even when it makes us feel good about ourselves. Christ gave of Himself even though we didn’t earn it or deserve it. When that truth dwells in our hearts, “love can also blossom as a response within us” (Deus caritas est, no. 17). When you have experienced the grace of God, you want to show the grace of God. When you have received mercy, you desire to extend mercy. We can look to Christ as our perfect example. He nurtured people spiritually and healed them physically. He didn’t just do it for those that He knew would reciprocate the gesture. He didn’t reserve His grace for only those who would follow Him as a disciple. His mercy didn’t discriminate."
That truth is STAGGERING when it really hits.
1) Serving others for personal gain and/or without cost is NOT CHRISTIAN SERVICE. We are called to serve, yes, but AS CHRIST SERVES-- sacrificially and selflessly, and in the most critical circumstances. That is the only true service, because it is empty of pride & ego.
2) Christ knew we didn't earn His gift of Himself, nor could we ever. He knew we didn't deserve such a Divine gift, and we never could. That knowledge "didn't factor into" His Love or His Mercy. Those holiest virtues by nature operate quite independently of "whether or not we deserve them," and they actually CANNOT be given "as something earned," or "as a reward." They can only be poured out without reserve, impelled by themselves, compelled by Divine Character.
3) THAT is the sort of generosity of self that WE are called to imitate as Christians-- and therefore, by absolute necessity, we CANNOT DO SO WITHOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT. This is NOT human capacity. No mortal man can love so unconditionally; no mere creature can fathom such mercy, let alone offer it to others. It MUST come FROM THE SPIRIT... Who literally IS that "Truth dwelling in our hearts"!
4) The Holy Spirit is, by His Own Nature, that very Response of Love for Love, and Mercy from Mercy. The Holy Spirit IS Grace! Christ's Death & Resurrection were the very event that allowed His Spirit to be given to us who believe in Christ, and He moves in us in response to that Eternal Event, the ultimate snd Infinite Gift of the entire Trinity. The Holy Spirit Himself is a Gift, unmerited & gracious. It is HIS INFLUENCE that enables us to experience God's Grace and Mercy, and TO want to reciprocate-- because both those things are IMPOSSIBLE for a worldly & faithless soul. 1 Corinthians 2:11-12 etc. The very event OF receiving grace & mercy shows that our hearts CAN receive them-- that we have been made receptive, trusting, and open enough-- and this, too, is the work of God's calling. I'm starting to ramble. I honestly don't know when late-life believers come to receive the Holy Spirit; cradle Catholics receive Him at Baptism & Confirmation, and yet, those very people might never cooperate with those graces, let alone acknowledge them! So it might take decades for this Truth of Love & Mercy to hit. It did for me. It means I never received those Gifts until now, because my ignorant, frightened, stubborn, misguided will wasn't open to the Spirit’s Inspiration, wasn't listening to Him? I don't know. I can't phonetype such a deep reflection. But I must return to this topic later.
5) Christ doesn't demand reciprocation. That's what sends me reeling. Oh He ABSOLUTELY DESERVES IT, as He is GOD, and yet... He never demands it, in order to receive what He gives so freely? He gives & heals & serves & nurtures & loves & sacrifices His very Self, and not once does He hold those things back from the unworthy... and we're ALL UNWORTHY.
He DOES warn the ungrateful of consequences, of course. Christ is just and honest and loving; He must do do. But He still offers everything to everyone. No one can earn it, or deserve it, and yet He WANTS to give it ALL. His Love won't let Him hold back His generous Hand from anyone, even if they bite it. He won't draw back even then. He knows our foolish hurting hearts, and He knows that the only thing that can heal them IS His Merciful Love. So He lavishes it out, unable to do anything less, because He IS Love and He can ONLY Love. He cannot change. Remember this.
To take advantage of this Love and not respond in kind is a grave sin. To receive it as if you DID earn it, to feel entitled & honored, and to keep it to yourself-- this is a grave sin. And yet Christ does not exclude you from the giving. Your response is your moral responsibility. You have free will to embrace this Grace or to resist it.
6) This is how we must serve. We must seek no reward, no recognition, no honor, no thanks, no recompense, no gratitude. Those are all good things, but they must NEVER be our aim, or desire, or goal, or hope. Our SOLE MOTIVATION and SINGLE PURPOSE must be to LOVE FOR LOVE'S SAKE-- we must love "because Christ first loved us" and AS He loved us, and the two points are CONNECTED. 1 John 4:7-13 etc. Like Christ, we MUST love by giving and serving, especially when it costs us much, for this proves its sincerity and gives it strength of grace. We must love without discrimination; if we see someone in need and we know that person will treat us badly despite our help, that they will be ungrateful or demanding, that they might even take offense at our kindness... nevertheless, we must never withhold our generous hands, for Christ is using them for His Work. If your worst enemy is hungry, feed him, and feed him well, with genuine care. Do not expect any change of heart. Do not be disappointed if they still despise you. That's not the point of your charity. The point is love, and being changed by it yourself, to truly reflect Christ to the world by His grace & for His glory. Feed your enemy and don't stop after one meal, either. If they're hungry again tomorrow, feed them again. Put no limits on your love. Christ didn't.
7) Again, to conclude, this sort of love is impossible by human will & decision & feelings. We cannot do it. But Christ can and will do it in and through us, and when we let Him, when we cooperate with His Spirit moving in our hearts, then this sort of love becomes impossible to resist. We MUST love. To not love becomes unthinkable. We become channels for the Living Water. We become truly merciful. We become like Jesus.

"Lord... as You have loved us, let us now do the same for others. We pray that we may be given the opportunity to be Your Hands and Feet in this world. When it is difficult, grant us the grace to pour ourselves out for others, just as You have done for us. May Your Holy Spirit give us the strength needed to serve those in our path."
1) The part that struck me most: the grace to pour ourselves out, specifically WHEN service is difficult. This is the alabaster jar!! It's SUPPOSED to be difficult to break, that's the point-- the very breaking is what releases the greatest beauty, the "fragrance of Christ"!
2) Thinking on the words "given the opportunity." It's a GIFT, a grace, to act in the "person of Christ," even just as a servant. We cannot "force opportunities" out of pride.
3) Christlike service requires divine strength. We cannot love as He does without grace. We're literally incapable. We are not God; we are not Christ... but Christ wants to unite us to Him, and so to unite us to His Love, and enable us to pour ourselves out for others just like He did, through Him, with Him. The Holy Spirit does that work of grace in us, but again, it's never a "giving alone." It's a giving WITH. The Spirit gives HIMSELF; God IS Love, and when we are able TO love like this, then God is within us and we are together and THAT is where the grace exerts itself. I'm not making much sense.
I guess I'm trying to say... we cannot love others as intensely as the Spirit inspires us to love without that exact same Spirit enabling and empowering us TO do so. It all comes from grace, from God's own Heart. But He gives it, through giving Himself. And that is what we do when we love others, after all.


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111323

Nov. 13th, 2023 08:42 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

More nightmares & hacks. Miserable. Exhausted, no rest

Barely remember Mass. Someone we know from SHJ was there & it set off both social mode panic AND "feminine service" fear. I don't have jargon for that yet, but it's this intensely frightened & depersonalizing compulsive reaction to being the object of ANY male attention, even just our assumption of it. We go into blind, smiling, robotic maid mode, and it is CHOKED WITH TERROR of being sexually used as INEVITABLE.
...

Homily note= a mustard seed, despite its tiny size, STILL contains all the capacity needed to become a full-grown plant. It just needs the right environment & sustenance; but the ability TO become is already within it, absolutely. Likewise, we are "fully equipped" in Christ with ALL virtue; He is the SOURCE of them all. There is no lack, no deprivation. It is all there available in Him. We just need to learn how to "tap into" that flow from His Heart, and to open ours to receive & use it-- and that happens by FAITH.
Just like a mustard seed, however small, if we have faith in Christ, then Christ's power is there within us. Faith is faith. It does not occur "halfway". If it exists at all, it has its full potential already inherent, by grace, by definition.
Do not despair if you lack it yet. We can pray for this faith. God is the Sower. He will give us the seed we need.


Flame of Love Rosary, looping chouchou. PERFECT.
Thank You God for giving that song to us on Shuffle instantly, completely unexpected but just what was needed.
It's much easier to focus with ONE instrumental song on loop as a BGM, than an unpredictable playlist of several. Plus, higher tempo tracks AND "too many notes"-- like Alfonso Peduto, bless him-- are impossible to use as a BGM because they are too active and even distressing to the mind, which diverts all our attention out of anxiety & "fight or flight" readiness. Yes, even music does it. Certain sounds instantly switch both our body & brain into a coiled-spring state of "impending danger vigilance", and we're not sure why. But it happens far too often. We have to be VERY careful about audio exposure, even from minute to minute.
But yeah, God bypassed all that trouble today with one perfect track and we thank Him. We were able to focus better than we have in weeks, even, and with the new phrase in the Hail Mary demanding our performative attention, we didn't feel the guilty & scared compulsion to repeat every other prayer to "get it right this time". So it actually all worked out very well & smoothly-- which was a HUGE MERCY, actually, with how crushingly fatigued our body & mind both were, and how late it was as a result of said fatigue hampering our general speed.


We are bravely yet humiliatedly choosing to do the Flame of Love fasting for Monday, which is that "We should not eat to enjoy," BECAUSE "There are some people who should NOT try a bread and water fast because of age, illness, medical conditions, or other restrictions. If it is too difficult for you to do, please do not be discouraged. You can find another way to keep the spirit of loving sacrifice intended by the fast."
SO we are not taking any extra pieces of anything-- even one single carrot slice-- and we are NOT HAVING ANY SALT.
This has actually revealed to us that we are "ADDICTED" to the salt??? That "panicked starvation girl" lotophagoi immediately started freaking out, "what if our electrolytes bottom out," "what if we get dehydrated and pass out," "what if we're losing some trace minerals that our body actually needs to function properly"-- dude it's ONE DAY, we have Powerade if we need it, and besides, with how MUCH salt we've been eating lately our body could USE a break!

But most importantly, remember, the whole point of this fast is that we MUST OFFER THIS UP FOR THE HOLY SOULS, and we must pray for them AT NIGHT as a sacrifice, too. 
This isn't about us. The shockingly simple sacrifice of our time & enjoyment is being given the unmerited grace to free suffering souls from Purgatory. Jesus said, "Let ALL your actions [today] be done with the purpose of helping [the Holy Souls]. In union with Me, desire that these souls contemplate My Face as early as possible." This is an act of loving mercy & charity! Do not treat it lightly. Do not cut corners or count costs. Have compassion and think about others for once!! Learn to be selfless!!!

A note from EWTN=
"Fasting or penance should never be done for the sake of fasting itself or for the sake of penance itself! But they ought to be done with the intention of deeper union of will with the Lord! They ought to be done with the intention to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord!"
...


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Universalis=

Oh man I remember reading this last bit of commentary YEARS ago, when we first started the Liturgy of the Hours, and back then it was honestly a game-changer =
"It is a great mistake to apply the saying on prayer [in Luke 17] too closely to our simple petitions. Faith demands a deeper commitment than that. The issue is not the prayer that a business deal should succeed or that it should be sunny on the day of the wedding. Real faith is the confidence that our Father will give us what is best for each of us, even if the business deal does collapse and it does pour with rain at the wedding!"
THAT is the PROPER way to view God's responses to our prayers, in ALL circumstances. He's not "doing it to spite you" or to "purposely do the opposite of what you asked, because you asked," or "because you left a loophole open so technically this is answering your prayer" or something similarly cruel & fickle & utterly ungodly.
...


"You have left all things and have followed Me; you will be repaid a hundred times over, and gain eternal life."
...I always forget this. I literally never remember that yeah, Jesus did tell us to sacrifice everything for His Kingdom, BUT He ALSO told us that HE WILL REPAY US FOR IT, with more than we even gave in the first place. I don't know how, and I can't imagine it, but He has said it so it IS TRUE, and it IS a GOOD thing BECAUSE HE SAID IT.
...


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Passion = MAGNIFICENT reflection on justice & forgiveness =
"Couldn’t God simply pronounce forgiveness? Was it necessary for Christ to go through the painful process of dying? ... If God simply pronounced forgiveness, that would make forgiveness cheap. Our sin is too serious for such a response. WE are too significant for our wrongdoing to be taken so lightly. People who have not been corrected during their childhood, whose wrongdoing has been regarded lightly, will invariably be insecure people. Subconsciously they reason that if they were significant individuals, their actions would be taken seriously...
Because God regards us as significant people, He cannot simply pronounce forgiveness for our sins. They must be punished adequately. And Jesus took the punishment because God knew that if we were to take it on ourselves, there would be no hope for us. Besides, to simply forgive would make a mockery of justice.
A world without justice is an insecure and chaotic world. There is right, and there is wrong. And when wrong is done, it is serious. So something serious must be done about it."
THIS IS AT THE HEART OF THE SYSTEM, TOO. Look at the Retributors! Look at Laurie and the other Protectors! Before we got softened to rot by CNC's relativism, we took sin VERY SERIOUSLY and we have the scars to prove it.
...
But oh MAN, that bit about insecurity HIT SO HARD. Is THAT why we started LOOKING for punishment, literally begging people to "hit us" so we would feel forgiven-- so we would feel like moral justice still mattered?
...


MDE = setting off my scrupulosity but nevertheless inspiring =
"Not only did she [Mother Cabrini] prescribe a daily hour of meditation, but she urged also that two hours in the morning and two in the evening be devoted intensively to community prayer in addition to the other pious Practices of the day."
I'm... admittedly panicking over this, haha. I only have a half hour of daily Adoration after Mass, and one of my two hours of morning prayer is done while I'm cooking, to "fit my schedule"; is that sacriligeous? And I only do an hour of night prayer right now because I'm so exhausted. I could do another, but then I'd be... I'd be falling asleep at the altar, and I'd be losing sleep. It's happened before. But maybe I still should do it, for piety. It's just honestly scary, to my body actually, to be exhausting itself so constantly. I'm so bloody weak. God forgive me.

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VOTD = Psalm 25:5.
"Here's what you can count on in life. Sometimes the path is not easy. God will guide you into situations seemingly beyond your capacity to bear. You will be stretched beyond your abilities. You will come to moments of despair. But stay on the path! Keep your hope in God, all the time. He has your best interests in mind. If you stay committed to following the path, however challenging or difficult it may be, you will arrive at exactly the place God meant for you to be."
This came at the perfect time.
To open this entire topic= it is often said because it's true= God never promises to give us an easy life, in fact He promises that we WILL struggle: "in this world you WILL have trouble"! And we must expect this. We must not be scandalized by difficulty or trial, by suffering or loss. God has promised it will happen. Isn't that strange? Why would He promise such things? It is because He is True, and will not give us false hope. Christ suffered, and He suffered because of our sins. That's what ALL suffering originates from, ultimately. There is no suffering in heaven. But that makes this a holy paradox-- when we unite ourselves with Christ by His grace, His Presence can TRANSMUTE our suffering into GRACE, because His Cross has PAID OFF THE DEBT OF SIN. We now have this amazing privilege and ability to SUFFER FOR LOVE. We cannot do this in heaven. We cannot do this without "heaven on earth," which is Jesus within our hearts. And that is why God "lets" us suffer even as Christians-- so we can be entirely united with Christ, Whose very Incarnation required that He suffer, because in this world "Love IS suffering," even for God Made Man. Love seeks the highest good of the other-- their salvation and Life-- and therefore it willingly and joyfully takes on suffering in their place, on their behalf, and/or in unity with them. ONLY LOVE CAN DO THIS. And only God Is Love. It is only by fusing ourselves with Jesus's Life and Death and Resurrection, with His Passion and His Redemptive Sacrifice, that we can become "co-redeemers"-- again, only inasmuch as we let Him suffer IN us. The path to Calvary is not easy, because it was never supposed to be, and cannot be, if it is to have any efficacy and power at all. Our love-- the love of God, Who Is Love-- is proven in the sacrifices we make in His Name, by His Love working in us to achieve its constant and unchanging Purpose of Redemption. We must "take up our Cross" in order to resurrect. We must die in order to live. God the Son promises eternal life to all who believe in Him, and to do so requires believing in His Divine Mission perfected in the Cross. He promises that if we eat & drink of Him-- if we partake in His Sacrifice-- we will never die; we will have Life within us. But that Life had to die in the flesh before He could give us His Resurrected Body and Blood for food, now deathless and purified by Love's Sacrifice of Self. What I'm trying to say is, Christ promises us eternal Life in response to our partaking, however indirectly, in His Passion. It is therefore inevitable that we will suffer while we are in the body as well. It will not be easy. But it will be blessed.

Now the next bit has so many important words. Let me break it down.
1) God "WILL." This is an inevitability. His Character can be counted on; it will not change, and it is ALWAYS loving & just & true & merciful & righteous, etc. Remember this for everything He "will" do.
2) What will He do? GUIDE us. He never pushes or barks orders or lazily tells us to go on ahead. No, like a Shepherd He GUIDES us. He walks ahead of us! This, too, is consistent.
3) Where will He guide us? Into situations. This is an ACTIVE word. Our Christian life is one of BOTH being & doing!
4) What kind of situations? "Ones seemingly beyond our capacity to bear."  Consider this at face value. God WILL GUIDE us into such challenges. This means it is INEVITABLE, it is OUT OF LOVE, and HE GOES WITH US, right up into the front lines.
Now break this down further.
5) "Seemingly beyond." We cannot trust our own understanding or perception. This is NOT incentive to pride-- on the contrary, it is a humbling testament to God's Knowledge and our utter ignorance in contrast. For all we know, this situation might actually be "within our capacity," and we're either too afraid, too proud, or too weak to even consider that possibility.
6) "OUR." This is really the key. Where is your FOCUS? Is it on YOU, or on GOD? Because, remember, you were GUIDED here! YOU ARE NOT ALONE, and in truth, you AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE! You're NOT supposed to be able to do this on your own, and God doesn't expect you to try! That's the whole point! 
7) "Capacity to bear." What determines our capacity? If it is our own mortal strength, then yes, we will stumble, we will slip, we may even fall flat on our face.
...


The reflection =
"Pause and take a moment to reflect on the last time you truly allowed yourself to be led by someone else— the kind of leading that required you to give up control and trust the person leading you..."
Oh boy. THAT'S convicting.
I thought about this for a minute, and I realized-- I don't let other people lead me, because I don't trust them to LEAD. I apparently have this innate conviction that everyone is going to harm me. I can "trust" you to lead me, sure-- to certain doom! And it's ALWAYS malevolent, always violent, always abusive. I "trust" everyone to lie, in order to take advantage of me & use me. I EXPECT to be manipulated & misled. I ASSUME that everyone I ask for help will "trick me" into punishment for asking, like a genie twisting a wish; and I likewise BELIEVE that anyone who OFFERS to help me, to lead me, is effectively offering me candy from an unmarked van. Even if I do accept, and things seem to go okay, I'm waiting for the bomb to drop-- waiting for the "GOTCHA" or the "viral incubation period" or the "oh, by the way..." Basically, I trust that you want to hurt me.
What the heck does this say about my subconscious.
But yeah, all this is why I'm apparently a control freak. It's humiliating to realize & admit, but I must be honest now that the Spirit has shown me. The problem is, it won't change unless my mindset changes concerning motivation. Right now I am STILL CONVINCED that everyone, INCLUDING GOD, is throwing daggers at my mugshot.
...And you know what, that's the other weird thing. I'm so convinced that I'm a convicted criminal that I don't even trust myself not to harm me!! Headspace can attest to this. I literally ASSUME that I'm going to screw up big time and end up dead, by my own fault & foolishness. I don't trust my opinions or judgments or plans. But with awful irony, I'm so afraid of the "GUARANTEE" of malice from others, that I would rather take the risk with my own fumbling efforts because at least I'M NOT ACTIVELY TRYING TO KILL MYSELF. I have hope that, on my own, maybe I'll have a freak success or minimal damage, and I can breathe & sob in relief that I survived, somehow I made it through, it's over, I didn't die-- at least, not until tomorrow.
This is the mindset that ruled my every waking moment during the hacks & hijacks. Nothing & nobody can be trusted to do anything but try to kill you.
...You'll notice this mindset doesn't consider God on either side.
...

"If we're honest, many of us struggle in some way to completely surrender trust. And even when we do decide to surrender, we might still slightly find ourselves trying to take back some measure of control.
We fear being hurt. We fear vulnerability. We fear being misled. We fear rejection..."

1) "SURRENDER" trust. The very language implies that I have to stop fighting, stop resisting, at the very outset. It implies that my will is at war. I see the other person as a conquering army. I see their interaction as an invasion. I am terrified to trust because it means I am putting my hands into shackles. It means I am giving up all control, all autonomy, all identity, all safety, all hope for the future as I imagined it. It means I must hand over the keys, put the weapon down, close my eyes, and shut my mouth. It means I must die to myself. It's terrifying. And it's what Jesus calls me to do.
2) How do I define "hurt?" It's inextricable from "vulnerability." The latter guarantees the former.

3) I already talked about being misled, but it's important to note that it ties directly into the "being hurt." Being misled is not a childish prank, and never an innocent mistake. Misleading is always done like an anglerfish-- with the conscious intent to devour. If you mislead me, you see me as prey.
4) I actually didn't even consider "rejection," because coming from this terrified mindset, being rejected would actually be a liberating relief! It would be the ONLY "PROOF" that the rejector DIDN'T CARE ENOUGH TO KILL ME. It sounds so brutal but it's true. They can't be bothered to waste precious attention & energy on hunting me down. I'm not worth the chase or the bullet. If they refuse to take a position of power over me, that's an ACT OF MERCY, not "rejection"! The only thing they've "rejected" is the social-mode song-and-dance I'd otherwise have to force my frightened body through. By cutting me off at the start, they shut down the whole operation, and I'm free. I don't have to panic. I can try myself, safely as I can, with no risk of outright intentional death. If I fail and get hurt, at least I know it was innocent. Stupid, absolutely, and idiotic, but innocent. On my own, trusting no outside invader, I can at least breathe, if only a little.
It's so miserable.
God still isn't a positive factor. How did I get like this?

Better question-- WHO IS TYPING THIS???
They're evidently female, but they're faceless, and don't identify with the body at all.
We can't find them once they leave the typing front. We can't tap into their mindset. But apparently they are tapped into some very important albeit distressing information. We have to thank them for their honesty with this.


"But here's the truth: when we place our fears in the hands of a loving God, it readies our hearts to cultivate a deeper intimacy with Him. God knows your heart, He sees your struggles, and He's aware of your weaknesses. And He's there— right there, in the midst of your anxieties and fears— ready to guide you, teach you, and lead you to TRUTH."
God cannot mislead you. Start right there.
...


Points from the prayer=
"O Lord, I acknowledge my need for Your guidance. Guide me in Your truth. Teach me Your ways. I place my hope in You."
1) We need to be guided by God, because by ourselves, we are totally lost & confused.
2) That guidance is IN God's Truth-- His Truth is both the means & the goal of His guiding us. He guides us TO the Truth, but He IS the Truth! All in all, we cannot find our way to Him on our own. He must take the initiative-- He must lead the way, paradoxically, to Himself.
3) We likewise cannot "learn" His Ways on our own; we must be taught.
4) Remember from the other day what "hope" actually is=
...

"I trust that You are the Source of all wisdom and that You give wisdom generously to all who ask."
1) Do we ACTIVELY trust that ALL wisdom comes from God alone? Of course we trust this "in theory," but do we still find ourselves trying to "figure things out on our own," relying on human authority & advice, or panicking that we "don't know what is the best option"?
2) On that note, DO we TRUST Him TO give us HIS wisdom? Every capslocked word there is vital.


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From an email =

"[Although 1 Corinthiana 10:13 tells us that] God will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear... [in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9] Paul’s agonizing choice of words, “under great pressure,” “far beyond our ability to endure,” and “despairing even of life,” show us that the difficulties he and the other disciples experienced were well beyond their human ability to handle."
TRIALS & TEMPTATIONS ARE NOT THE SAME.
That is a HUGELY IMPORTANT DISTINCTION, because these verses show us VERY clearly that they CANNOT BE DEALT WITH IN THE SAME WAYS.
...

"As much as we’d like to make Satan the scapegoat for all our bad choices, the concept just isn’t biblical. While Satan IS the driving force behind much of the evil in our world today, we have our own sinful nature to blame for most of our sins. James 1:14 says, “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”"
This is something we must remember vigilantly, because it actually empowers us to FIGHT our "evil desires," by ADMITTING WE HAVE THEM. Constantly pointing fingers at the devil actually works in HIS favor, because it robs us of the opportunity for repentance & correction, forgiveness & restoration! Blaming the devil for our sins blinds us to the root causes in our own wounded psyche, preventing healing and promoting despair.
...


"When we’re in the midst of a temptation, resistance seems impossible... we often feel helpless and powerless. [But] God knows the weakness of our flesh, and (in 1 Cor 10:13) He gives us a promise to help us have victory over it... God will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. This tells us we can have victory over any temptation we encounter. Nothing is too hard to resist... [because] God will always provide a way to escape.
...As long as we’re alive, our sinful nature will tempt us. Notice the wording in the passage above. It doesn’t say, “if you are tempted.” It says, “when you are tempted.” Knowing this, we’d be wise to set up this three-fold defense before we encounter a temptation: First, memorize 1 Corinthians 10:13. Second, look for the way of escape. Third, take it."

GOD PROMISES TO HELP THAT MUCH??? EVERY TIME???
Man that is AMAZING and LIFE-CHANGING news.
...

"People who [say "We're all God's children"] really mean, “God created us all,” which is accurate. God is the Father of us all in the sense that He formed us and gave us life. We are not, however, all God’s children. Because God is a relational Being, until we accept His gift of eternal life by confessing and repenting of our sin, accepting Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross on our behalf, and surrendering our lives to Him, we cannot be His children in the truest, most Biblical sense of the word. We are just one of His created beings."
THIS JUST SHOOK ME TO THE BONES, DUDE SERIOUSLY????
The scariest part is that THIS IS APPARENTLY TRUE.
That one line cements it: God is a relational Being. That Truth carries such inexhaustible significance and weight; how did we miss these grave implications?
...


"Initiative and hard work [both affirm] biblical virtues [and should indeed be practiced]. It’s important to note, however, that God is most well known for helping widows, orphans, and other needy individuals who are unable to help themselves. This brings great comfort to many who fall on hard times."
Oh man that really is, and it's also the biggest incentive & order to do the very same whenever & however we can!
We are all entirely dependent on God, this is true. But it does not mean we "wait for Him to do all the work"! Remember, God is RELATIONAL. Just like in Eden, we are created to cooperate with Him. That's where heaven kisses earth. That's where the miracles happen.
...


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I've realized why I feel so crushed & exhausted all the time.
I am absolutely overextending myself with prayer.

I'm reading 5 daily devotional books, doing all the Youversion daily reflections, saying 3 novenas, getting daily news & prayers in my inbox, saying the Divine Office, and then doing ALL my daily prayers of routine-- the Rosary, chaplets, cards, etc. AND going to Mass.
This literally takes about 12 hours total. Twelve hours. It's wrecking me. I feel pulled in every direction. There's no focus. There's no "finishing" anything. Everything feels incomplete, unstructured, disordered, random, and overwhelming. I feel lost & scared & anxious & alone. I feel like a total failure. I feel so far away from God.


Here's the basic schedule, by the way:
***all times are approximate and WILL be altered in length by OCD, panic, and/or dissociation, as well as by family phone calls & messages***
630-710 Wake up self & house, morning wall prayers
710 leave house for Mass, pray on the way
730-800 Mass
800-830 private adoration & Lauds
835 run home, pray on the way
845-900 get into daily clothes & clean up
900-1030 Daily rosary, Saint Michael chaplet, Terce
1030-1130 Cooking while saying Bridget prayers & Seven Sorrows
1130-1200 Cleanup while saying Two Hearts Chaplet, Sext, and reading all devotional books
1215-330 IDEAL TIME: eating while doing all Youversion devotionals & typing on morning prayers, Bible study focus
300 pause for None!
330-345 Cleanup & dinner prep
345-500 THE PANIC HOUR. Right now we keep pushing breakfast later & later, saying more unscheduled morning prayers on the phone, just to "prevent this free time from happening". We should say our prayer cards during this time.
500-530 Wall prayers
530-615 Divine Mercy chaplet & Vespers
620-750 Dinner while doing Bible study & reflections, or reading religious articles
800-830 Night cleanup & chores, prep for bed
830-900 Altar prayers
900-1000 THE ONLY FREE HOUR WE HAVE TO REST.
1000-1030 Bed prep, night wall prayers & Compline
1030-630 SLEEP, AT LAST, if our schedule isn't running overtime


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nov 11

Nov. 11th, 2023 09:13 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)

It's the last half hour of the day, our only free time, and i'm insane for not sitting down and actually resting but i need to type. i need to type. if i don't it will just perpetuate the problem.

We have turned prayer into an addiction.

I don't know how to type about this, coherently. in my head it works.
you know what, stop trying to be formal. stop trying to pander to an invisible audience. just list the problems.
- we spend 3+ hours a day in prayer and 3+ hours "faithpasting." it's utterly exhausting. yes we love God but this is draining all our reserves?? what are we doing wrong??
- we are so tired. all the time. mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, we're EXHAUSTED, often to the point of weeping. we don't get to rest. we get ONE HOUR at the end of the day, if we're lucky, to collapse on the couch and cry from the pain & fatigue and basically just crash into unconsciousness until we have to do it all over again tomorrow. no breaks. no brakes.
- we are running away from our identity. we are denying our own existence. our sense of self is totally shut down.
- we spend ALL our "silent time" in prayer and THAT IS A CRUTCH. it is NOT HEALTHY. the instant we have ANY "free time" we PANIC and start to pray again, and although it's mentally justified as "using our time prudently" really dude you are RUNNING FROM SELF-AWARENESS.
- we can't feel anything but bitter numb exhaustion weeping confusion anger, UNTIL HEADSPACE KICKS IN.
- this obsessive praying is specifically trying to erase headspace entirely
- we have stopped writing. we have stopped drawing, composing music, reading books, dreaming, imagining, et cetera, because it's "all garbage compared to Christ" but dude DO YOU EVEN KNOW HIM???
- we are literally burying our talents six feet deep and claiming it's "God's will," that "they were a trick designed to see if we were brave enough TO bury them" but honestly it's just an excuse. it's an excuse to not feel our conscience nagging us about abandoning everything but prayer
- whoever the heck is spending all day in "prayer" DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO LOVE.

that's our dilemma.

oh of course we love God. but there's this bizarre and deeply distressing disconnect still. the thriskefoni either are afraid of God or they view Jesus like a fangirl. there's no personal closeness because those foni REJECT INDIVIDUALITY. anything that might let us in is VIOLENTLY DISREGARDED.


and right now we're listening to "sandım ki" again and i want to sob because i love everyone in here so much,
can we reconcile that with our religion?
are we allowed to exist and love each other? or is that a sin?
if we're all going to be destroyed when the body dies anyway, if no one is going to survive, if nothing is going to survive-- no art, no music, no writing, no hopes, no dreams, no memories, nothing-- nothing is going to survive, there's only going to be God. everything except Him will be annihilated forever. that's how it works. we have to be stripped completely, emptied out, made hollow and naked and helpless, with absolutely nothing to comfort or console us. just God.
...and then what?
He's supposed to "fill us with Himself" but we... we keep forgetting that God is Love and therefore that is a good thing, whatever He gives us in recompense will be infinitely better than whatever was destroyed because God is Love, He can only give Love,

i don't know what to do, what to think,
are we really all doomed to die?

i feel so guilty and filthy and dirty and wrong even thinking about love now
isn't that ironic.
when you "love God" all other love seems disgusting
that can't be right.
but the shame is unbearable


Not much happened today.
Last night nearly killed us from exhaustion. We couldn't get any extra sleep, we barely got seven hours. Our morning was busier than usual. Everything blurs together. Our mind just feels numb and rushed and constantly in a panic, "never praying enough," "never good enough," et cetera.
But. for some reason we ended up listening to Karen Clark Sheard on the drive to Mass and Knife loves that kind of music, it's adorable,
but the point is we could feel headspace and EVERY time we do our heart wakes up
and then the thriskefoni completely & angrily stomp it out

while we were saying the wall prayers tonight, we absentmindedly moved to rub some of the bloody-rough skin on our winter hands,
and, the action itself and the hands, the different harsh skin, the gentle gesture directly tied to it,
for a split second our tired brain literally thought it was laurie consoling us,
and we felt our heart just break and we nearly cried,
and then the thriskefoni shut it down
as usual

i'm so tired of not having any relationships anymore
i'm so tired of not being able to talk or think or feel or laugh or love anymore
everything is just prayer prayer prayer prayer hurry up pray more the world's gonna end if you don't pray you will die etc.

our OCD is really bad lately too. it's driving laurie up the wall.
we've noticed it's focusing on the body, on "cleanliness," just like fulton sheen said, it's the compulsive washing and scrubbing that can never get the "stain" out, as it were. it's all a physical rerouting of guilt. we did this as a child, too. we'll literally walk out of the bathroom then immediately turn around, go back in and repeat the loop helplessly, wanting to cry from feeling so trapped and powerless and terrified, the body feels so filthy and wrong, something is very wrong, YOU are wrong, it's your sin, your evil, your GUILT, if you sit down and feel dirty well then you're going to hell. it's a nightmare. we can't shut it off.
and of course the whole time we're repeating ritualized prayers with the same driving mindset
"if you say one word wrong, if you are distracted for even a second, you have to say the whole thing over," "you have to kiss the pictures on the wall a specific number of times in the way they tell you to or else you don't really love them," "you have to say these exact prayers in this exact order or else the whole thing is meaningless because you're shirking orders and insisting on your own way," etc.


i keep feeling infinitii around the edges. that's not hir name anymore, i know. but they're still just barely perceptible
the thriskefoni are terrified of hir. they hate hir but won't show it. but i can feel it, roiling beneath their emotionless facade like poison lava
i want hir back. i really do. ze is necessary for the health and proper function of my soul, and for healing trauma, and for feeling emotion at all. i know this.
i'm being mocked and jeered at for talking about hir, virtually spit at in hate
but i cannot be ashamed. i can't. i know ze loves God more than those pharisaical foni ever have or will or even can.
at least i hope so
am i being blasphemous
i'm sorry
no stop listen. you aren't lying. you aren't trying to be pretentious. you have seen infi in a church. you know how ze adores the Eucharist, how ze is able to forgive with a depth of sincerity you cannot fathom without hir. you know how ze loves, and how that love was taken advantage of by those who didn't know that love is God.
ze wants to heal, too. infi wants a new name and a new role and maybe even a new face as much as God allows and decrees, whatever happens, infi wants to be free of that evil history, free of the corruption, free of the sins and shadows, so ze can help you do the same. you are both supposed to draw closer to God together. that's the whole point, that's her real reason for existing, you know that too,

ten minutes. i need to get to bed.

here's our problem:
our prayer life is not genuine right now. not as long as it is tangled up in the OCD. and especially not as long as it is also being used specifically to run away from everything else in life.
to claim "religion is all that matters" to the point of refusing to be a person is not going to help you "have a relationship with God" and honestly, that is the BIG THING MISSING in this whole obsessive prayer ritual thing. we're just repeating words. we're not talking TO God. we're not even letting ourself have time alone to LISTEN because "God forbid," ironically, "that we have free time that isn't full of prayer!!" DEFINE PRAYER, PLEASE, because all the panicked recitation YOU'RE doing hardly counts at this point.

i'm sorry. i'm just so upset, so pained, so brokenhearted,
i want us to be A SYSTEM again, and STILL BE RELIGIOUS,
God knows we WERE, i know we were in the past, even if we did get lost and struggle many times, we still loved God and never stopped trying to draw closer to Him.
now what? now this stagnancy masquerading as piety?
if we've made any progress it's not through your obsessive faithpasting, it's through our RESPONSE TO IT,
and now they won't even let us do that,
i'm sorry. i don't want to condemn anyone. i don't want to give up this faith practice, this reading and learning, but, i think we're taking it to unhealthy extremes, it's not about faith anymore it's about that bloody OCD, it's about "i must learn everything," it's becoming an intellectual power grab, we're not internalizing anything, it's just mad hyperpasting like we used to do on Tumblr, we don't remember a bloody thing, we'd be so much better off just typing about God at this point.
"no," they spit, "that doesn't count because it's YOU talking. your opinions don't matter. self-opinion is of the devil. the only thing that can be trusted is church authority, which is NOT YOU."
we never claimed to be authority. we just... want to respond and not just read.
is that really a sin? i'm genuinely scared now

i want to cry and throw up and sleep forever
i'm already shaking again
the moral terror is unbearable. it never stops.


is it a sin to want to spend time with the system?
are we a sin by being a system? is that word evil?
are we evil because we're multiple
are we a sin because we are many people of one soul
it's only supposed to be one?? that one girl, but she's mean, why does she get to stay and nobody else?

are emotions a sin?
is it a sin to want to feel something? to want to cry, and laugh, and wonder, and ache, and love?
is that a sin to want to feel alive and moved and inspired and real?
holiness is detached, holiness is cold like a diamond, no it's not, jesus wasn't cold,
but he never laughed, they say. he never smiled. he cried and was angry. but no "warmth" ironically
something is wrong, our perspective has to be skewed, that can't be right,
God is Love but everyone always taught us that Love showed itself as dispassion, which is even more ironic
but it's so hard to even question
emotions are "sensory" things and therefore sinful, right? they are "of the body"
dude that's gnostic junk don't even go there

listen. we're not in the right mind to type any more about this right now we're too melancholic and distressed
besides it's 10pm buddy we have to get some sleep or else
sundays are burnout days and tomorrow is going to be even busier than usual so go catch some z's

one last thing

i wanted to type about this several days ago and made a note to but never did.
this is the big thing that our moral panic is hinging on, when you get down to it:
we only learned love and virtue through the system and the league.
it sounds blasphemous. it's awful. but it's true.
we learned compassion, and mercy, and hope, and joy, and forgiveness, and love, through the system and the league and GOD PUT IT THERE because our religious upbringing had stripped God of those virtues for the sake of discipline i guess.
but even now, even now, when we read about all the "positive qualities" of God and we have no idea how to understand it,
at least, the thriskefoni don't, go figure,
we can only grasp what God is like by remembering the innerworld.
i'm serious. i want to sob. i'm not lying. we miss it so much.
the other day i couldn't understand God's mercy, i couldn't understand how He could be kind even when i treat Him like garbage,
and i suddenly thought,
well, look at how Laurie loves you,
even after she's seen the absolute worst of you,
she literally carries your wounds up and down her arms,
remember how she sobbed when you died,
that's how God loves you.

and
that just turned the entire world upside down

but it's the truth
it's the absolute truth and i don't know how to deal with it
look at how chaos 0 loves you,
look at how HE looks at you every single night,
look at how he refuses to abandon you even after you've stupidly kicked him out, several times,
look at the past 20 years for heaven's literal sakes
you think God loves you any less than that??
and remember infi,
seriously that's WHY you want her back so badly

think of everyone. everyone.
julie, lynne, leon, scalpel, knife, razor, sugar spice, wreckage, algorith, mulberry, jeremiah, audrey, siobhan, shirley, sirius, penny, mimic, genesis, phlegmoni, xenophon,
everyone who is still missing and blurry and hidden and lost,
all the children, all the protectors & retributors, everyone,
and think of the league!
think of the friendships there, too, think of the love,
there's so much love that it sets my heart on fire,
in the spectrum and the spheres alike

could our life be a prayer too?

god please help us.
we need to sleep it's too late we need to get to bed

but please
keep us close to you
and to each other
please.

if it's possible at all
please let us love each other
and in doing so
let us love you.







prismaticbleed: (Default)

Hey kids.

Just a quick non-faithpasting update because we need to be honest and break this ice.

We've been using prayer as an escape from our problems.

It's true. It's the exact same thing that fueled the eating disorder. It's an OCD-driven "mechanical repetitious compulsion" that "turns off conscious thought" and "puts identity on hold" and the best part is, with prayer you can be a "Good Christian Girl™" while you're refusing to exist as an individual with a history and a future! I apologize for the bitterness of that sentence, but it's what Tilly exists for, and she was driving for FAR too long.
The point is: you can see the chance in recent entries. We're still spending at least four solid hours a day reading & typing on religious topics, but now we're typing about how our own life is involved in those topics. We're talking System stuff when we can, because that IS our soul, and... well. We can't run anymore.
Today crashed into us so hard we thought we were going to actually fracture. But no, the religious obsession stomped everything down. No one woke up. No one was even triggered. All that was "activated" was BULIMIA URGES. What the heck, dude.
But that's what revealed the truth of this to me. Prayer is necessary, yes, but not four hours of it by rote. Our prayer feels far too sterile. And even worse, like I said, apparently we're using it as a spacefiller crutch to AVOID OUR PROBLEMS. We no longer have ANY TIME OR ENERGY TO TYPE, let alone reflect or talk or feel, because we feel terrified of NOT praying in every single spare moment. That isn't real prayer. And yet the moral panic wins out.

Long story short: we need to somehow change our schedule with this. We need to pray without using it as a numbing automation. We NEED to take time to EXIST in the sensible world, too, as "sinful and abhorrent" as the thriskefoni immediately label that as. Is that a Christian mindset, girls?? Or have you internalized more subtle heresies? You think the created world is pure evil, huh?
Hey, stop talking them down. That's not going to change their hearts, it's only going to fuel their anger and dislike of us.

Okay we need to stop. Isn't that ironic. Let us talk.
Listen kids I have formatting to do and while I do that we can talk to each other. We literally don't have the time or brainpower to have a real entry tonight, let alone one about everything that happened today. I know we need to. But that's what this entry is for-- we need to start again, but slowly.

I'm "rambling" again. It's what happens to our brain when it gets so exhausted and overstimulated that it just starts throwing out automatic phrases and generic language, just to "keep the conversation going." It's a social mode survival instinct. It has no helpful purpose here.

We need to pray that we have time, soon, to talk for real on here, with each other, about our heart and soul, not "separate from" our faith but the active manifestation of the essence of it. Religion doesn't exist in a vacuum. If we keep isolating and ostracizing it from everything but itself, it will stay impotent and "we" will continue to be an anxious miserable pseudo-singlet wreck in the body.

Have a good night everyone.





110423

Nov. 4th, 2023 11:31 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

Anxiety hell morning.
No idea which of FOUR OPTIONS was "morally right" and "prudent" for going to Mass. POSSIBLE MORTAL SIN EVERYWHERE.

So anxious we were paralyzed and shaking. Unable to think, pray, eat or drink.

Fulton Sheen
Mom call
Knock Mass
...

Walked to SJE
LEAF HOMILY!!! third time, haha. we don't mind it hit THAT HARD
"When autumn comes, every year, I wish it could last forever, but that isn't possible. Within a week, the leaves will already start to fall... When we see the maple trees exploding in red, we say, "how beautiful!" But then we realize what is happening. The tree is dying. Something is dying, and it is beautiful."

Some archiving!
TOUCHPAD FAIL
seriously dude i have no idea what the heck we were thinking but we were trying to fix our touchpad's jumpy sensitivity and we clicked the "off" button. 
Cue two solid minutes of panic so intense it turned to numb dread, until we realized we could use the tab key and spacebar to fix it. Oh man it felt like the world was ending, haha. Looking back it's hilarious, but in the moment, it was literally a possibility that we had been locked permanently out of our only means of archiving and typing. We would have lost our ONLY coping mechanism. So yeah, we freaked out, in that respect.
STILL BUDDY WHY DID YOU CLICK THE BIG RED BUTTON, i'm telling you man this is what sleep deprivation will do to you

Jade pickup
telling them about the touchpad stupidity and laughing so hard at ourself. i cannot remember the last time we laughed at ALL.
Sandım ki drive home

------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

MDE = two very striking ideas.
First, THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS, and visionaries who can see them calling them "their friends," praying to them that familiarly and living in "close proximity" with them. And THAT HAS TERRIFIED US SINCE CHILDHOOD. It still does, tragically. We know we need to get over this, but we're genuinely so scared of being "haunted and watched" by literally thousands of invisible souls, as we struggle in our panicked mess of a life, and we're OBLIGATED TO TALK TO THEM. It's like unending social mode and the very thought of it drives us close to despair. That CAN'T be what the reality is.
We're so ashamed of our mental problems. We have so many intrusive thoughts and automatic words, we suffer from constant OCD compulsions, our body is a humiliating filthy wreck, our brain keeps looping sounds and flashing images to distressing extents, et cetera. The thought of ALL THESE HOLY PEOPLE WATCHING US AND EXPECTING US TO TALK TO THEM THE ENTIRE TIME is torturous.
We refuse to call any Saint our "friend" because 1. We don't have that right, and to claim it would be unspeakably proud and rude, 2. We don't know how to have friends or be a friend, 3. To make such a claim of holy association and then to keep struggling as a wicked sinner would be a grave sin, 4. Our intrusive thoughts LATCH ON to the "friend" concept and immediately start spitting blasphemies about them. 
Also, don't forget we're technically an ex-pagan. We have DEALT WITH THIS BEFORE, with plethoras of "guiding spirits" and pantheons of "lesser gods" ALL haunting us CONSTANTLY, all giving instructions and advice and teaching and warning, causing nonstop noise and moral panic. And the INSTANT you "give one your attention", the SECOND you think of a name, the VERY MOMENT you even consider their existence, THERE THEY ARE, TALKING AND WATCHING YOU, and you CANNOT REVOKE THE "INTENTION". Now that you "called them to you," they will NEVER LEAVE. At least, that's the fear. As it turns out, ALL OF THEM would turn tail and FLEE the premises IMMEDIATELY, WHENEVER LAURIE WALKED IN. And people wonder why my biggest fear is "having to sacrifice headspace to be a good Christian!" I CAN ONLY BE A "GOOD CHRISTIAN" WITH HEADSPACE!!! Who prays when "I" refuse? THEY DO. Who keeps "me" from giving in to sin? THEY DO. Don't you DARE tell me that they aren't from God-- I cannot even count the days where HEADSPACE HAS BEEN MY ONLY CONNECTION TO GOD.
This bland and empty Tilly-brand Good Christian Girl™ pseudohell we've been living in since 2018 is so far away from God it's horrific. The scope and magnitude of the SINS we committed DURING that fake-pious lifestyle are demonic proof of this.
...I'm afraid that if I spend my whole day and all my mental power "talking to Saints," it will cut me out of headspace-- out of my own heart-- to a fatal extent. I will "have to trade." But... is that inevitable? When-- if-- I get to heaven, I'll have to talk to all these people anyway, FOREVER. And I won't be able to "be" a System, right?
Now THAT IS MY BIGGEST FEAR. Who am I without them? I'll tell you, because I know, it doesn't vary-- without headspace, without the Spectrum, I AM A FAITHLESS, LOVELESS, PROUD AND GLUTTONOUS WHORE.
I can't continue this topic right now. It's getting too deep and we are on a very tight schedule. But DO NOT ABANDON THIS TOPIC.
...
When I mentally ask a Saint to "pray for me," I don't want to get a reply back. I don't want to start a conversation or open up any mental connection. I am filing my sincere request, to be duly forwarded, and that's it. Meeting them in Heaven is a whole different thing; I can look forward to that IF I DON'T "RUIN IT NOW." I do not trust my mental state or discernment, for one, but even more essentially the two should not overlap. As long as I'm still battling demons I should not be trying to chat with saints. I ABSOLUTELY need their help, especially since I'm at war, but being "friends" as anything more than beloved "pen pals" is not possible for me right now, either spiritually or mentally.
...Still, in this different typing state of mind, as someone who never had earthly friends & misses having a family, part of me does "want to be friends" with some saints. I'm afraid of a few of them, for trauma reasons mostly, but it's not their fault. Logically I know they're good and won't hurt me, but my instincts won't dare expose our psyche to such triggers as we are now.
Still, she has a point, but as a social, it's tricky. The idea of being friends with holy people is appealing to socials for two reasons: first, it implies that they themselves have somehow become worthy OF such social connections, and able TO sustain them; and two, it gives them a "group identity" in which they can "lose themselves" and so live entirely for others instead of self. This is problematic because it erases the core concept of individuality within a whole that our current understanding of Heaven seems to emphasize? The Social "groupself" ideal works on paper, as long as you're just a servant or mirror. But it prevents intimate relationship BY DESIGN. As long as you never have to be "you," never have to exist as an "other" who MUST therefore self-disclose and self-identify, then you cannot "BE loved" because you're NOT A "PERSON". Social service is "loving" only in the incomplete sense of obedient servitude. But it cannot offer. It cannot comfort or console or encourage.
So how DO you Socials define "friendship?" How would you actually describe the dynamic between you and the Saints, if we got to heaven and you were the winning face? What would your reaction be? Would you even love GOD enough TO be a friend to His Children in truth?
Okay we are MADLY SWITCHING at this point so we MUST stop for now.

Back to the MDE=
The second devotional was about Saint Bernadette, being unaware even of her capacity for piety during her life? She "couldn't meditate" on mysteries and didn't have lofty exultations of faith, nothing intellectual or inspired, so to speak... all she did was simply pray, especially the rosary, and attend Mass. But her faith was so true and powerful IN ITS UTTER SIMPLICITY that it profoundly sanctified everything she did?
Quote the verse about "she was too humble to even consider" her holiness??
ALSO comment about Eucharistic fasting, made us panic. Are we being too vainly scrupulous in that reaction? Has God MADE us "incapable of great fasts" ON PURPOSE to keep us from getting proud, or feeding more anorexic tendencies?
...


ttywpf = Another massive gutpunch, following directly on yesterday's:
"Jesus has the power, through the power of His Spirit, to renew hearts. We need to be confident of this. If we do not trust in Jesus’s power as the only means of salvation, if we do not trust that He is the only One who can make something new, we are false Christians; [without this trust,] we are not truly Christian.
Do you trust in Jesus’ power? Do you think He can renew your heart? Do you believe He is the only means of salvation? Ask Jesus to give you faith."

...No wonder we struggle still.
WHY is it SO BLOODY HARD to trust that Jesus CAN and WANTS TO and WILL renew our tumor of a heart? Is it because we wouldn't know HOW to see OURSELVES as a "renewed person"??? We won't let go of our self-hating horror long enough TO be made new, because deep down we want out ENTIRE PHYSICAL HISTORY AND BODILY SELFHOOD TO BE COMPLETELY ANNIHILATED. We're just that evil.
WHY ARE YOU USING "WE" IN REFERENCE TO THAT???
Because "I" denies the multiplicity that was inherent in the worst evils, even if that same multiplicity was equally inherent in our greatest good and loving acts, albeit via different "selves".
Well, if you're gonna use "we" for your despondency argument, at least give Julie some credit for heavens sakes.
...once again, the System brings us right back to God.
Our existence, all of us together, has PROVED God to us, and with our multiplicity as a foothold then yes, we CAN AND DO BELIEVE AND TRUST IN GOD'S POWER TO RENEW ANY HEART, EVEN OURS.
...but that hope and trust can only exist in a System consciousness. All somafoni-- INCLUDING the thriskefoni, in frightening irony-- are incapable of that hope. They see only doom and despair, and their only hope is for the hard drive reset of death. WHY IS THIS.
...

------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

VOTD = Job 19.

Some very striking thoughts on Job from the reflection, taken bit by bit=
"Job’s hope throughout his trial is rooted in God's character and promises. Even through his discouragement, He consistently reminds himself of God's justice and love... God is Job’s ultimate redeemer. Regardless of how circumstances change in his life, God is the One Who ultimately rescues him in the end. After the suffering and grief passes, God will still remain. This is the hope that Job holds on to, and so must we, in our own sufferings and grief-- for Job's God is our God, the Unchanging One who will ultimately redeem us, too, in the end."
There's been a ton of emphasis lately on God's unchanging Character, which is admittedly not something we ever properly understood before-- let alone hoped in. We never really knew WHAT God's Character was, not in truth... and we were scared TO hope that it wasn't only unchanging, but actually purely truly GOOD... and remained so towards US.
I also find it very notable that God's Character is frequently and directly linked TO HIS PROMISES. Again, this was a connection we never would have made on our own. First, yes, God DOES make promises, and second, He makes them ACCORDING TO HIS CHARACTER. That actually applies in two ways: BOTH the act of making, and the content of, His Promises are reflections of God's essential Character: "He is the kind of God TO make Promises, and THIS is the sort of Promise He makes."
That is what Job reminds himself of, consistently-- every single time despair threatens to bury him, Job clings to his sole lifeline, the one thread of hope that can never break-- God's Character. And what about it, specifically? God's justice and love.
...
The last bit is what spun me. First, Job is convinced that "God WILL rescue him." But on what grounds? His Character. That's ASTOUNDING.
Job recognized that, despite the depths of his earthly agony, it was all temporal. It wasn't forever, because God alone is eternal, and with God there is no suffering and death. In the end, at the very end of all things, His Redeemer LIVES.
...

A sudden thought from the lotophagoi =
We struggle to "trust in God's goodness" PROPERLY, because if we truly believe that He IS Good and Righteous and Merciful and Loving, BUT we ALSO believe that God KEEPS "PUSHING US AROUND," with our childish terror of spilling food and dropping things as "signs of angry punishment"... then we EQUATE THE TWO. Our brain then believes that IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HURT. Our brain believes that God WANTS us to be punished because THAT WOULD BE TRULY MERCIFUL. We start to believe that He WON'T protect us from attackers or robbers or rapists because THAT WOULD BE RIGHTEOUS AND KIND, somehow, as far as WE were considered. It's a devilish twisting of "God's unchanging Character" in a way that STILL EXCLUDES US FROM ANY TYPICALLY DEFINED COMFORT OR PEACE.
...

------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trapp commentary begins today.
He's unfortunately very anti-Catholic so we must tread carefully; nevertheless, the man loves God so there is still wisdom in his words.


"[Magdalene] thinks nothing too good [to spend on] Christ, whom her soul loved. She will honour Him with the best of her substance; she knew there was nothing lost; but though it took from the heap, yet it increased the heap; as it is said of tithes and offerings in Malachi 3:10. This made David [insist] that he would not serve God of that which cost him nothing; and [therefore] he made such plentiful preparation for the temple-work. It is both love and good husbandry to make our service to God costly: His retributions are bountiful... Whatever the cost, it is a profit to make the cost in the name of piety."
This is perfectly timed, concerning our recent fears & struggles with "sacrificing everything for Christ." Apparently we're standing on the wrong foundation. Magdalene must be our example.
First, she didn't see it as a "sacrifice" in the butcherknife sense. She saw this outpouring as a gift, as a present to the One she loved. In that context, no expense was too great-- I can actually attest to this with our sibling's recent birthday, and even our time living with Oliver. Love naturally needs to give the best & most that it possibly can, and will not rest until it does; to do anything less would be unthinkable-- any counting of cost or cutting of corners would be a flagrant dishonour to both the beloved and to the name of love itself.
...
Second: you don't lose anything in the sacrifice. That has me stunned. It's a paradox for sure, but it's true. It's a law of God,
...
Third: our love to God MUST be costly, if only because His Love for us was the most costly thing He could've ever done.
...
Fourth: the only true profit is piety.
...

"I have a greater fear in praises, and a greater joy in curses and blasphemies."
I just realized WHY= because the sorts of souls that WOULD curse one for their religion are NOT SPEAKING OF GOD.
...
This is different from Christ's hard corrections, though, for they were not curses but warnings of curses that sin would bring about; Christ spoke so critically out of acute loving concern, as nothing softer would have pierced through their hardened hearts.
...


"When He called Lazarus, &c. = This notable miracle, the evangelist, as he had punctually described it, so he cannot help but again and again recite it. We too should set forth God’s noble acts, and not be sated. David never tires talking of what God had done for his soul. Those in heaven have no rest (and yet no unrest either) crying, "Holy, holy, holy," &c., Revelation 4:8."
This makes me feel a lot better about constantly repeating our own deliverance stories; we tend to fear that we just sound hypocritical or arrogant or dramatic, that people will think we're just making things up for attention, when honestly it's ALL TRUE and we cannot help but constantly regive our testimony to God's "noble acts" in OUR poor existence. How could we not? When you experience such miracles, you cannot rest from singing them out, whether in tears or laughter, in pain or joy, because God has touched your heart and marked it forever and of course that's going to set you to perpetual music. To stay silent would be to suffocate your very soul.
...



102823

Oct. 28th, 2023 11:16 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 
HAPPY FEAST OF SAINT JUDE & SAINT SIMON!!
Gotta read about them in BACE to celebrate

Woke up at 620, took meds, couldn't sleep, went to couch.
Purposely Slept past alarm. Couldn't even find strength to wake up until 845 solely because we were SO EXHAUSTED AND IN PAIN.

Mom called, SHE'S GIVING US THE CAR FOR CEMETERY SUNDAY OH THANK YOU GOD, SERIOUSLY
We get to run to Mass today! GOOD, WE NEEDED TO GO TO CONFESSION.
Already prepared it on paper. Thanks Holy Spirit

------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

VOTD = possibly the last one from the Bible Project. We're so profoundly grateful for this past week from them.
Reflecting on what it means for God to be FAITHFUL.
Hebrew word "emet" means faithfulness AND truth.
"Emet can refer to correct ideas or concepts, because it has to so with stability and reliability." Example: MOSES PRAYING, his hands being held up by others made his hands "emet"= steady! "When used of people, it describes loyal & stable character, which is trustworthiness." Example: Moses appointing for judges only people "of emet," who wouldn't take bribes or distort justice.
"To say that God is "full of emet" doesn't just mean that He tells the truth, or stands for the truth. It means that God is faithful, trustworthy, just, reliable, upright"... this is why we call God a ROCK= because we can TRUST GOD TO BE CONSISTENT TO HIS CHARACTER!
⭐The Hebrew word for trust-- "he'emin"-- is the verb form of "emet," and it can mean "to believe" or "to have faith", but MAINLY to "consider someone trustworthy." ABRAHAM WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO "TRUST" GOD LIKE THIS. His descendants, Israel as a nation, ALSO "he'emin" God when He delivers them from Egypt-- but when they get to the Promised Land and see the giant occupants, that trust in God's trustworthiness FAILS... until DAVID shows up and defeats Goliath IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. "David "walked IN emet before the Lord"= David considers God to be faithful and RESPONDS in faithfulness!" THIS IS WHY God promises to "raise up a faithful descendant of David whose Kingdom would endure forever"... literally, that his Kingdom would "HAVE EMET." This faithful King "would BECOME the source of trust & stability for others, forever!"
⭐WHEN THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL COLLAPSES, the people are left without a king or a home, and they mourn to God= "Oh God, WHERE is Your loyal Love that You swore to David IN Your "emet"?" "They are ACCUSING GOD of abandoning His promises to Abraham & to David"-- they accuse God of UNFAITHFULNESS. They are basically asking, "IS God trustworthy? Is He faithful after all?"
⭐THE FIRST LINE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IS THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION... "This is the lineage of JESUS, THE MESSIAH-- the son of DAVID, the son of ABRAHAM." In other words, "through Jesus, God FULFILLS His Promises." In Romans 15, Paul says, "Jesus came ON BEHALF OF GOD'S FAITHFULNESS." Jesus IS "the Faithful King, Whose Kingdom WILL endure forever, and Who invites ALL nations to TRUST GOD."
+ "Now, trusting anyone is risky. Its hard to know if anyone is "full of emet." BUT the Biblical story portrays a God Who HAS been Faithful ALL ALONG, and Whose Promises were fulfilled in the story of JESUS. And so, as we look out at the obstacles facing us and our world, we are invited to take that same risk, and join Abraham, David, and the people of God, in trusting that God is overflowing with faithfulness."


The whole thing ends in a kaleidoscopic green flower pattern. That feels so right. Green, for us, has always been the color OF Faith, and the simple reality of green plants being "reborn" every spring, and the return of lush summer fruitfulness every year, is also tangible natural proof of God's faithfulness.

The reflection=
"Dependable friends are priceless. When they promise to help and then show up to truly help us, we call them reliable, trustworthy—faithful. Throughout the Biblical story, God is described as faithful because He truly does what He says He will do... we can trust what God says, placing our hope in His promises while believing God will be faithful. God rarely makes good on His promises in the ways that people expect, but He is still faithful to do everything He says He will.
When God takes on human flesh through Jesus, He remains just as faithful and true as He always has been. We hope in Jesus because Jesus IS God-- constantly trustworthy, always faithful. He promises to renew humanity and all creation, and because He is faithful, we can trust Him and embrace deep hope.
⭐When we become weary and heavily burdened from our jobs, relationships, and circumstances, Jesus is faithful to give us rest. When we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful to forgive us. When we live generously with our resources towards others, Jesus is faithful to care for our needs. We have hope in Jesus’ ability to renew everything and to reunite Heaven and Earth, as He promised. We can trust Him because [He is our truest Friend]... He is dependable, trustworthy— faithful."

...
Oh wow, I'm actually struggling with this. That's startling.
Deep down, I DOUBT THOSE STARRED EXAMPLES, in a TWISTED WAY. My brain does "the genie thing." I think, "Yes, He is faithful to give rest, BUT ONLY IF WE'RE WORTHY, and weary from saintly holy exertion. If I'm just weak & tired, then IT DOESN'T COUNT AS WEARINESS OR BURDEN and therefore HE JUSTLY & RIGHTEOUSLY WON'T GIVE ME REST. Instead, He will actually PUSH ME HARDER to make me exhausted in prayer, and THEN He will give me rest... but ONLY JUST ENOUGH, never more than the bare minimum, Because that's ALL I NEED. If I still feel exhausted, that's MY OWN FAULT of ingratitude & greed. It means I'm not yet "Holy enough" TO "find rest in Jesus"-- if I DID, I wouldn't even need to sleep or sit down!! THAT'S WHY JESUS WON'T "GIVE ME REST"-- BECAUSE HE IS TRUE REST, AND HE WILL NOT GIVE ME SOMETHING CONTRARY TO HIMSELF, FOR HE IS TRUTH." In short... no, I don't "trust Jesus" to give me the physical rest my body craves because THAT'S A SIN. You see what I mean?
As for CONFESSION... that's arguably even worse. "DID you ACTUALLY confess your sins?? ARE you sorry?? You KNOW you hid SOMETHING. You're NEVER SORRY ENOUGH. What about your penance-- did you say THAT correctly?? NO, so it DOESN'T COUNT. You'll have to say it THREE MORE TIMES as reparation. OH, BY THE WAY, all those HUGE past sins you can't forget? It's because you DIDN'T CONFESS THEM HONESTLY OR COMPLETELY ENOUGH. You effectively LIED in confession because you FORGOT to admit those little horrific details you still have nightmares & flashbacks about!! That's WHY you get flashbacks & nightmares! AND YEAH, YOU HAVEN'T ATONED FOR ANYTHING. YOU CAN'T MAKE RESTITUTION FOR YOUR ATROCITIES. So NO, you CAN'T EVER BE FULLY FORGIVEN, because if you WERE truly contrite, you'd sell EVERYTHING YOU OWN, down to the last thumbtack in your apartment, to MAKE REPARATION FOR YOUR CRIMES, and then live in ABJECT DESTITUTE POVERTY, with nothing but a Bible and a Rosary to your wretched name! But Since you WON'T, YOU AREN'T PENITENT, AND JESUS WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU."
That exact train of thought HAUNTS ME NONSTOP. I legitimately lose sleep over it regularly. I LITERALLY BELIEVE that I can "TRUST THAT JESUS WON'T FORGIVE ME," because "I'M NOT ACTUALLY SORRY." Nevermind that I frequently weep over my sins so hard I chose. Nevermind those bloody nightmares that remind me constantly of how evil I wish I had never been.
If I take ONE extra slice of carrot after my meal that God DIDNT TELL ME TO EAT, even if I'm just sharing it with my daughter, then not only am I being GLUTTONOUS and IMITATING EVE IN GREED, I'm also IDOLIZING MY CHILD and therefore committing a MORTAL SIN and since I NEVER think to confess it I WILL GO TO HELL. All that from EATING AN EXTRA CARROT SLICE. THIS IS LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE DAY.
...
As for "caring for my needs"... look at what I just wrote. WHAT "needs"??? "I don't need ANYTHING BUT GOD, and if I'm not happy with JUST HIM then I'm a DEVIL and I WILL GO TO HELL." But no, I DON'T "NEED" FOOD, or shelter, or more than one pair of clothes, or running water, or a bed, or time to sit down! And I DEFINITELY DON'T NEED a phone, or computer, or books, or blankets, or art supplies, or kitchenware, or any such luxuries!! Besides, you're NEVER GENEROUS ENOUGH with all the luxuries you DO have!! If you WERE, you ALREADY WOULD'VE GIVEN EVERYTHING AWAY!!! Are you so afraid to be left with Jesus alone?? You HYPOCRITE. "LET US BE CONTENT WITH FOOD AND CLOTHING!" BUT THAT FOOD IS THE EUCHARIST ALONE, and that clothing SHOULD BE A HABIT!!!
So, yeah, I "trust Jesus to provide for my needs," but that SOLE NEED is the EUCHARIST, so if I have that, HE IS JUSTLY FREE TO ANNIHILATE EVERYTHING ELSE. ...now imagine what this does to my sanity when I CAN'T GET TO DAILY MASS. There is literally no greater terror.
...
I need to pause this topic for now. Its getting late and I'm getting very mentally disheveled.
I need to talk to a priest about this ASAP though.

...and I just now realized WHAT the verse of the day is.
2 Thessalonians‬ ‭3:3‬.
"But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one."
"God can be trusted." "God is worthy of trust." "The Lord always does what He has promised." "God is steadfast." "The Lord never lets us down."

And BECAUSE of that, "He will help you to keep on trusting Him." "He will help you to be strong inside yourselves." "He will establish you on a firm foundation," and "protect you, guard you, and keep you safe" from harm, from the bad spirits, from all evil.
THAT IS WHAT GOD PROMISES TO DO... but to whom, in context? That's what my dark fears & doubts say.
"‭The Lord gives us confidence that you are doing what we told you and that you will continue to do it."
...am I though? Am I really? How can I tell? Am I just fooling myself, and trying to fool God as a result?
...I dropped two eggs while typing this. The Lord is very angry with me. I need to stop.


------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matthew Henry at verse 42.
I need to get my head back on straight, and my heart out of the freezing dark. Saint Jude pray for me. Laurie get over here fast.

"Some honour was done to Christ by these rulers: for they believed on Him, were convinced that He was sent of God, and received His doctrine as divine; but they did not do Him honour enough, for they had not courage to own their faith in Him. Many professed more kindness for Christ than really they had; these had more kindness for Him than they were willing to profess. See here what a struggle was in these rulers between their convictions and their corruptions."
Oh that is POWERFULLY PHRASED.
So, faith in Jesus consists in, first, "believing on Him." I've never been sure what "on Him" means-- which greatly distresses me as I've never found a solid explanation. A quick Google search gave me this well-meaning but skewed opinion=
"Believing IN Jesus Christ means that you believe that He exists, believing ON Jesus Christ means having faith and trust in Him."
Yes but why "ON"?? How does that MAKE the distinction, when Scripture itself, even JESUS HIMSELF (John 14:1), uses "believe IN" to refer to REAL FAITH??
Honestly, going humbly by my own intuition, "believe ON" means "casting all my cares upon Him," as both 1 Peter 5:7 AND Psalm 55:22 declare, "because He cares for you." THAT'S the "ON."
Oh hey, actually, HERE'S the "on," IN GREEK=
"1909 epí (a preposition) – properly, on (upon), implying what "fits" given the "apt contact," building on the verbal idea... epí ("upon") naturally looks to the response (effect) that goes with the envisioned contact, i.e. its apt result ("spin-offs," effects)." ... "used after verbs expressing motion to indicate the rest following the motion... figuratively used of that upon which anything rests."
WELL HEY, THAT EXPLAINS IT.
To believe "on" Jesus means our belief is the "place of contact" between Him and us-- therefore forging a connection, a relationship, whereupon we rest in Him, which CANNOT HAPPEN WITHOUT TRUST. It's BAKED IN.
...by the way, the first time we see the preposition "upon" in Scripture, is in the very second verse. "The Spirit was upon the face of the waters". I think that speaks volumes in and of itself.
...


...okay I need to paste this entire next paragraph, bit by bit, because it is the EXACT CONSOLATION I needed after this morning.
"See the power of the Word in the convictions that many of them were under, who did not wilfully shut their eyes against the light."
My immediate fearful thought is, "but HAVE I willingly shut my eyes to God's Word?? How do I know I'm not fatally, stubbornly blinded & fooling myself into thinking I can see??" This tells you how you know-- because YOU ARE CONVICTED BY THAT WORD. You are actually CONSTANTLY convicted. And as long as you DON'T SHUT THAT DOWN, then no, you're not willingly blind. Convictions of sin & inclination to it-- this terror you have OF sinning-- you wouldn't have those if the Word of God wasn't shining its Light into your darkest corners, and if you weren't genuinely UNwilling for them TO be dark. You're scared of all the filth that's being revealed by the sunlight, but you're keeping the blinds open, by choice.

"They believed on Him, as Nicodemus did-- received Him as a teacher come from God."
Don't you dare even ask "but DO I??' because those fearful protests are IGNORING THE EVIDENCE. Literally everything in my mind & heart immediately agree & consent that Jesus "IS FROM GOD" the very instant such a belief is inquired after. EVEN IF my unbelieving & idolatrous brother would say, "Jesus was just an enlightened human," I would naturally protest, without ANY doubt, "NO, Jesus is GOD." I literally can't deny that. I just have to make sure I DEFEND IT, even against indirect attacks.

"The Truth of the Gospel has perhaps a better interest in the consciences of men than we are aware of. Many cannot help but approve of that in their hearts which yet outwardly they are shy of. Perhaps these chief rulers were true believers, though very weak, and their faith like smoking flax."
Let me briefly quote Spurgeon.
"“The smoking flax shall He not quench,” is a text for you timorous, desponding, feeble-minded, and yet true-hearted believers, and you may appropriate it to yourselves. May the Holy Spirit help you so to do! ...A smoking flax represents a state in which there is a little good. The margin is “dimly burning flax.” It is burning; but it is burning very dimly. There is a spark of good within the heart. You, my dear friend, have a little faith; it is not much bigger than a grain of mustard seed, but faith of that size [still] has great power in it."
I too am that pitiful smoking flax. My faith is so feeble it can barely even be recognized as faith. But appropriate this to yourself, for heavens sakes. There's STILL A FIRE IN YOU YET. Even if it's been stomped down to a sputtering ember, it hasn't gone out, and JESUS WON'T PUT IT OUT. In fact, I think He will stoke that fire. There is very little goodness in you; hardly any, in fact... but that means that if Jesus flares that spark to blazing, the glory will be HIS, and thanks be to God for such a mercy!! Just don't miss the point. Jesus isn't doing it just to show off. He's doing it because He refuses to let you die. He sees your timorous, desponding, feeble-minded heart, still burning with all it's got to give, and His Own Heart responds with overwhelming compassion by pouring its Own Fire into yours. After all, Who do you think lit your poor flax in the first place, decades ago? It's a miracle you're even smoking at this point, and you can thank His mercy for that, too... because whether you realized it or not, that flame of faith He ignited wasn't lit by some little match or lighter-- no, it was transferred DIRECTLY FROM HIMSELF. So it CANNOT GO OUT, UNLESS IT LEAVES... and as long as you refuse to give up, then even if all you have the strength left to hold is a spark, it won't leave. There is still great Power in that spark. There is still real Life in that seed. The Gospel has a better interest in your convicted conscience than you realize. Your faith may be weak, but by grace, it is still true.

"It may be, there are more good people than we think there are. Elijah thought he was left alone, when God had seven thousand faithful worshippers in Israel. Some are really better than they seem to be. Their faults are known, but their repentance is not; a man's goodness may be concealed by a culpable yet pardonable weakness, which he himself truly repents of. The kingdom of God does not come in all with a like observation; nor do all who are good have the same faculty of appearing to be so."
...I never would have dared to dream this hope was legitimate. But here it is.
Maybe I'm better than I seem to be, too.
I know I'm the "odd one out" in church, that's obvious. I will probably never look like a "traditional Catholic girl," as that sort of presentation would be not only dishonest & dangerous for me but also pretentious & proud. I'm built differently, I speak differently, I'm not called to marriage or motherhood and I've never been included or accepted by other biological females, even as a child. But that doesn't invalidate my hopes for holiness??? Are you honestly, sincerely suggesting that even I'm still just the stupid ugly weirdo androgynous poor kid who dares to show their stubbled face in church, I can STILL become a saint???
But that's just mere physical appearance, as wretched as it is! I don't look like a good person at all, and looked straight-up like a hoodlum in the old days, but that's nothing compared to the state of my soul! (Who the heck is typing this??? Is that Tilly???)
...
Finish this later; phone typist thriskefoni are in a very unhealthy, morbidly sin-focused & subtly boastful state of mind. We have to admit that. All this self-abusive talk is actually seeking a response. It's not pure in humility or glorifying God. So pause this, pray & clear your head, and type later with God's guidance.
...
Some brief notes for what our heart truly feels moved to say by this :
Our past haunts us. Our faults are very clearly & painfully known by others, who were outright wounded by our sins, just as Christ was. Those injured souls don't know we are sorry. They don't know how much we have, by the grace & mercy & violent intervention of God, actually changed for the actual better. And honestly, even if they did hear of it, they would be completely justified in rejecting the news as a ludicrous lie. That's how bad we were; that's how badly they were hurt. We admit this. We contritely accept that response. And yet... the reality still includes our repentance, too. The understandable inability of an offended party to believe that new truth doesn't make it untrue. And that's our hope, anchored in God alone, moving onward into a brighter yet still aching future. Wounds linger, and must be healed; a change of heart doesn't magically remove them, in others or in ourselves... but at least now we're not tearing them back open again. At least now we aren't inflicting any more.
..."culpable yet pardonable weakness." What a novel concept. I don't think it truly existed before Christ.
...
Do we truly repent? Yes, yes we do. I don't know where the insistent denial comes from; it seems hellbent-- pun intended-- on refusing to even allow the possibility of redemption, of holy sorrow, of atonement & transformation. It denies contrition altogether. It wants to keep us trapped in coldness of heart, in apathetic despair, in merciless self-damnation.
...
...


"See the power of the world in the smothering of these convictions."
Well THAT'S a TERRIFYING opening line.
I mean it. That's why I isolated it. Let the horror of that statement sink in. The mortal world, the devil's realm, superimposed on creation and operating on lies-- that world, in which we all live even as Christians, has a real & demonic power to smother a man's conscience. It's just like in the movies-- Satan holds a pillow over your head until you die from the inability to breathe. What fluffy, comfy, soft & soporific pleasures are you burying your face in-- the face that is supposed to be turned towards the Son, awake to the Light? Have you buried your Head under a mountain of luxury? And what about the Spirit, the Ruach, the Breath of God? Are you letting Him in, or is there too much featherdown in the way? How smothered are your soul's convictions? Is your body dreaming too deeply to care?


"Observe, wherein they failed and were defective; They did not confess Christ. There is cause to question the sincerity of that faith which is either afraid or ashamed to show itself; for those who believe with the heart ought to confess with the mouth."
This is such an interesting "parallel" to the other truths that "faith without works is dead," and "love proves itself by deeds." Even so, the voice is the only thing that can make a confession. Works and deeds are needed, absolutely, but if you don't give them the backbone they need with your words-- if you don't give them the foundation of testimony to the truth that will elevate them to a higher level of purpose-- then you are still insincere. Your faith and love are still arguably "defective," because you won't speak of them.
This is like being married, and always taking care of your spouse, running errands, doing chores, buying gifts, et cetera... but never saying "I love you", and never admitting to others that you're married. Do you see how jarringly wrong that is? It's not just hypocritical, it's practically sacrilegious. It's the exact same thing with our faith and love for God. You can "be a good Christian" all you want; if you won't own the name, if you won't admit that you're in that relationship, then are you really a Christian at all? Think about it, because you're in that exact sinking boat, you duplicitous fool.

"What they feared: being put out of the synagogue, which they thought would be a disgrace and damage to them; as if it would do them any harm to be expelled from a synagogue that had made itself a synagogue of Satan, and from which God was departing. What was at the bottom of this fear? They loved the praise of men, chose it as a more valuable good, and pursued it as a more desirable end, than the praise of God; which was an implicit idolatry, like that of worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator."
To us, this refers to our old idolatrous "places of worship"-- our "fallen temples." In the past, we had a LOT "to lose" by even considering Christ, let alone owning Him-- we would have been expelled from the artistic crowd we idolized, from the queen community we honored, from the relationships we worshipped, from the addictions we served day & night. We would have had to "put out" our OWN beliefs to accommodate His Presence; we would have had to "excommunicate" our own dreams & wants & goals if we submitted to His Law instead of our own. We had EVERYTHING to lose... but only because it was all doomed to be lost anyway. Christ made that VERY clear starting in 2010, when slowly but surely & suddenly He began to completely demolish & devastate ALL of the "false gods" and their temples in our life. And really... what an act of astounding mercy that was. You do realize that He refused to excommunicate US from HIS Temple? He could have easily left us in our false church, in our palace of lies, knowing full well that one day it would collapse and kill us. Instead, He condemned it and began dismantling it Himself, bit by bit, giving us both the time to escape its doom AND the ability to SEE just how rotten the foundations were.
The awful thing still isn't entirely gone, yet. There are a few shambled rooms barely standing, old locations of idol-worship that I, admittedly, keep wandering over near and glancing at, like maybe I could salvage something. Nope, don't you even dare, it's ALL UNDER THE BAN. Leave it alone. It's only death and you know it. Now I need to fully "move into" the Basilica of the King, which is nowhere near that old ruin, and which is more beautiful than anything I've ever imagined. THAT is where I am being welcomed into, as my new home and place of worship... but I need to OWN IT FIRST.
In conclusion: don't be afraid. There's nothing back there for you.
And yet, I struggle. Let me drop the metaphor and move on to the fear at the foundation-- let me confess why I am still failing to fully confess my Lord.
...
(Discuss "group acceptance" tempting; Tumblr mostly, shockingly! Why is this such a loud temptation now?? Is it because we lost our friends & our family shattered & we feel completely unmoored & unseen & unwanted??)
...


"They set the praise of men in one scale, and considered how good it was to give praise to men, and to pay a deference to the opinion of the Pharisees, and receive praise from men, to be commended by the chief priests and applauded by the people as good sons of the church, the Jewish church; and they would not confess Christ, lest they should thereby derogate from the reputation of the Pharisees, and forfeit their own, and thus hinder their own preferment. And, besides, the followers of Christ were put into an ill name, and were looked upon with contempt, which those who had been used to honour could not bear. Yet perhaps if they had known one another's minds they would have had more courage; but each one thought that if he should declare himself in favour of Christ he should stand alone, and have nobody to back him; whereas, if any one had had resolution to break the ice, he would have had more seconds than he thought of."
...oh no, we're extremely guilty of this. What a crushing conviction. And yet, thank God that by His Light we can see where we desperately need grace to change.
Honestly, I think that people who are raised female, and who are caretakers, would be more prone to this. Pleasing people, yielding to their opinions, seeking that "good girl" pat on the head, and making others feel valuable & respected & honored-- all that is LEARNED SURVIVAL BEHAVIOR, EVEN FROM CHILDHOOD. You "HAVE" to prioritize & pander to the perceptions & positions of others, because they're all in power over you, and if you DO upset or offend or oppose or dishonor them, the consequences could be very direct and very permanent.
...
Nevertheless, Christ is worth the risk. ALWAYS. That is the ultimate and critical truth that His followers must accept & enact at all costs.
...



101823

Oct. 18th, 2023 09:57 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 
DISASTER DAY

Horrendously hot night. Window open
HACKS

Oblates mass! The priest was from CALIFORNIA!
Rosary, led 4th mystery. Inspired again to record audio prayers

Thrift / Wegmans / Walmart / Drop-off, Redners, Riteaid, HOME

BK prep + unpacking WORST POSSIBLE OUTCOMES haha
Too hungry & dissociated to function

Finally sat down, ate most of the carrots, and then mom called to be picked up 😂

FINALLY BREAKFAST AT 4PM GOD BLESS!!!!

------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Still working through Adam Clarke. Verse 40.

"This verse is taken from Isaiah 6:9, and, perhaps, refers more to the judgments that should fall upon them as a nation, which God was determined should not be averted, than it does to their eternal state. To suppose that the text meant that God was unwilling that they should turn unto him, lest he should be obliged to save them, is an insupportable blasphemy."
In contrast, God actually repeatedly says the exact opposite. He IMPLORES sinners to repent so that they won't die. He practically begs us to return to Him. He is constantly portrayed as a forgiving Father and Husband, Who may indeed briefly be engaged with our sins BUT Who ALWAYS welcomes us back, of His Own free will, and does so forever. "His anger lasts only for a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime." God is ENTIRELY and ENTHUSIASTICALLY willing that we should turn unto Him, to the point of giving us multitudinous opportunities TO do so, and lavishly pouring out graces upon us so we CAN. He removes every obstacle in our way so we can run home to Him... that is, except for the mountain of our own free will. And yet He will help us even through that, step by step, if we give Him even the smallest concession. He is just that willing. So that point is clear.
As for obligation-- God isn't obliged to do ANYTHING for ANYONE, EVER. He is Sovereign above all. Arguably, though, in a wonderful paradox, He IS "obliged" to save those Who come to Him through Jesus Christ. Then again, Jesus IS God, so Who exactly is He obliged to? You see the blissful loophole He has made for us even here! And I assure you, such an "obligation" does not deserve such a hard word as that. It is His JOY and GLORY to save poor sinners through Christ! He does so because He wholeheartedly WANTS TO-- the whole thing was His idea to begin with, after all!
So, as for Isaiah 6:10. I'll admit, it used to terrify me too. But I never knew God well enough to understand His Words properly. Knowing His Character better, now that I pray and study Scripture far more... then my foundation for grasping that verse IS what I just wrote: God WANTS to forgive, WANTS to heal, WANTS to restore-- He WANTS sinners to look and listen and love and understand. He is not contradicting Himself; He certainly is not changing His disposition! So, knowing that, what IS He saying?
He is speaking of that mountain of freewill.
He is speaking of how men have CHOSEN to REJECT His pleas and providences, scoffed at His graces and gifts, and outright turned their back on the Loving and Living God to serve idols and themselves.
So, God is speaking, at terrible last, of His due Justice.
Yes, God wants all men to repent. No, He does not want to destroy men. HOWEVER. THE WAGES OF SIN IS STILL DEATH. And if we repeatedly disregard Life when He reaches out to rescue us... well, then ultimately, He will "respect our decision" and turn the tides on us. He doesn't stop loving us. He just also hates the sins we brazenly keep committing.
(Stop rambling. Finish this later when Tilly isn't trying to drive)
https://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/pusey/isaiah_his_heaviness_and_his_consolation.htm
https://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/shalders/judgment_and_mercy.htm
https://biblehub.com/sermons/auth/clarkson/the_shadow_of_sacred_truth.htm
ALSO YOU ALREADY TYPED ABOUT THIS YOU DINGBAT!!!!

"A man must hear the words of Christ in order to believe them; and he must believe, in order to keep them; and he must keep them in order to his salvation."
My faith has suffered for so many years because I really wasn't hearing the Words of Christ, EITHER audibly or spiritually. As a child, I read the Bible nightly, and I LOVED it. But once I hit middle school, I just... stopped? I don't remember when it was exactly, but by high school, I was only hearing Scripture in Theology class or at Mass on Saturday evening. THAT WAS IT. How was I not spiritually starving??? Or rather, since I inevitably was, how did I never feel the hunger pangs???
...
I remember how, in 2012, Q & Y would read a few verses of Scripture every night before bed, and they invited us to join them. I will NEVER FORGET the unexpected fire that ignited in my heart. I immediately knew, I NEED THIS. THIS is what I've been yearning for all these years. It felt like coming home.
Unfortunately and inexplicably, I dropped the ritual when I moved out? But my memory disappears entirely too, so God only knows what happened in general.
...
...However, I'm forgetting to mention the real trouble. Point two. I didn't exactly believe. Not since childhood, at least, and back then my faith was too small, confused, and uneducated to have true roots yet.
...Actually, SLC was ALSO the FIRST TIME I DID have faith in earnest since childhood. That event was separate from the Bible study, although it did strongly affect it. I'm talking about the Cathedral of the Madeleine
...

...
(I immediately thought of my religiously-mangled upbringing, and how "faith comes by hearing," and that although I DID hear the words of Christ I DIDN'T HEAR THEM PROPERLY. They were out of context, misquoted or mistranslated, and in general only represented a fraction of ALL He actually said FOR me to hear.)
STOP BASHING YOUR FAMILY YOU COLDHEARTED SNIT.
...


"You shall be judged according to My doctrine: the maxims which you have heard from My mouth shall be those on which you shall be tried in the great day; and you shall be condemned or acquitted according as you have believed or obeyed them, or according as you have despised and violated them. See this proved, Matthew 25:35, etc."
Oh wow, linking THOSE TWO VERSES absolutely deepens the impact. I never saw the connection before and shame on me.
This REALLY emphasizes the moral duty of every Christian to ACT ON what Christ had said to us. When He gave us the Beatitudes, for example, He wasn't just speaking pretty words & giving us inspiring one-liners to quote. That's unfortunately how many of us unconsciously treat them, though. We recognize their moral beauty and truth, sure, but then what? Do we PROVE them as such in PRACTICE? Do we make their truths TANGIBLE? Why do we hear Jesus's instructions and then just... not do them? Is it because He doesn't bark orders or list rules? Is it because He teaches to the heart, leads by example, and speaks in parables that we somehow miss the insistent and indispensable call to action within it all? Or do we hear it all at a distance, as metaphor or symbol, as "not spoken to ME," as something "too good to be true" or "too difficult to be literal"?
I'm drifting. What I'm trying to say is: if Christ's mission & commandment is Eternal Life-- if EVERYTHING He speaks serves that mission-- then how would we ever expect to GAIN Eternal Life if we disregarded & rejected those very Words?
Jesus REPEATEDLY says that "eternal life" is obtained NOW. You "HAVE" it, IF YOU KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. If you don't, then the opposite is just as terribly true. If you have faith in Jesus, you will love Him, and you will believe His Words, and therefore you will keep His precepts, and eternal life will be a reality in you right now.
It's so simple yet so profound, as it always is. So LISTEN CAREFULLY TO HIM. Pay close and vigilant attention to ALL His Words. DON'T DETACH FROM THE HEARING of them either-- when Christ speaks, DO WHAT HE SAYS. Since He is God, ALL His Words are TRUTH, and are therefore effectively ALL binding to obedient response. If we DON'T live according TO those words, then we're living a LIE, and a lie CANNOT be eternal, OR have life to begin with!! So BELIEVE JESUS'S WORDS, with your whole heart, and MAKE THEM YOUR LIFE.

"I know that this commandment is life everlasting" — These words of our Lord are similar to that saying in St. John's first epistle, 1 John 5:11-12. "This is the record, that God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is IN HIS SON. He that hath the Son hath life.""
Oh wow I never understood that before. Now I do.
Christ Jesus, quite literally, IS eternal life. His Words are Truth, and show us the way to life-- a way which leads to Himself, Who embodies every Truth He speaks, because He IS Truth, and therefore IS the Way, in His very Person. It sounds circuitous but it's an upward spiral. At first we think of Truth as an impersonal concept, as a definition, but Christ reveals that Truth is God, and HE is God made visible, and everything that can be saud to be "true" is in Him, because of Him, by Him, for Him. Same thing with seeking the "way" to truth, as so many nowadays do-- it becomes so staggeringly simple, yet even more Ineffably mysterious, when you realize also that since He IS Truth then the ONLY way TO know Truth is to know Him. He IS the Way.
And... He IS the very Commandment God gave Him. Do you realize that EVERYTHING Christ spoke is meant to lead us to salvation-- which is THROUGH HIM? Every Truth He spoke taught us more about Himself, just as every miracle brought that Truth into practical reality. ALL of it shines with the Kingdom light-- with eternal life-- with Himself. No one could have done any of it, except Him.
This connection to John's epistle is amazingly, beautifully life-changing, as it sinks in ever deeper into our hearts.


"Christ taught us, not the things of men, but the deep, everlasting truths of God. As His Father's envoy, Christ came to us; and He proclaims only God's Truth... Christ, as the Messiah, received His commission from God, as to both what He should command-- everything that related to the formation and establishment of the Christian institutionAND what He should speak-- all His private conversations with His disciples or others. Therefore, He, as man, always commanded and spoke through the constant inspiration of the Holy Spirit... and God's commandment/ commission is, Preach salvation to a lost world, and give Thyself a ransom for all; and whosoever believeth on Thee shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Every word of Christ, properly credited, and carefully applied, leads to peace and happiness here, and to glory hereafter. What an amiable view of the Gospel of the grace of God does this give us! It is a system of eternal life, Divinely calculated to answer every important purpose to dying, miserable man. This sacred truth Jesus witnessed with His last breath. He began His public ministry proclaiming the Kingdom of God; and He now finishes it by asserting that the whole commission is eternal life."
This says it so much better than my rambling.
Honestly though I only ramble because I'm so moved; this is all so deeply moving and beautiful that my heart just overflows-- and since my natural means of sincere expression had proven to be language, that's what it overflows into. So I apologize for any annoyance in these floods but I'm not sorry that they happen; they are proof that I am affected by what I am reading, and that I am letting them begin to work a change in me, at long last.
Anyway. Let me then humbly yet joyfully think upon these things.
First: nothing Christ spoke was of human invention. That is important. Yes He was human, in that He took on our nature, but "took on" is key-- at His core, His essential Nature WAS GOD. He unites humanity TO Himself BUT He never ceases to be perfectly God. It is this contrast that is implied here: "human" versus "divine"; "imperfect" versus "perfect"; "fallible" versus "infallible". Christ was human but without sin; He was human yet He remained perfect. He was INCAPABLE of pride, of dishonesty, of selfish ambition-- and of course, He was absolutely incapable of speaking incorrectly of divine things! So, from this standpoint alone-- even without actively considering His commission from God-- EVERYTHING Jesus spoke was, necessarily, true and perfect and right. It was not anything a mortal could think of. It was not a perishing idea or a personal opinion. It was not even "wise insights" or "righteous principles" that a well-educated or respectably religious man could teach. Christ went BEYOND all of that, because His speech was INHERENTLY AND INVARIABLY TRUE, with all that entails, and it was so Because it was ALWAYS THE SPEECH OF GOD. I know I keep emphasizing this point but really it's IMPERATIVE to properly understanding the ENTIRE GOSPEL, and treating it with due reverence & obedient deference! Unless we truly comprehend that Jesus's words-- ALL OF THEM-- are the INCONTESTABLE WORDS OF GOD and are MEANT EXPRESSLY TO GIVE US ETERNAL LIFE, then we will never be complete in our Christian faith. We will not be living from this great depth of love, and so will be unable to respond in kind.
Second: a small addition to the first. YES, EVEN JESUS'S "CASUAL SPEECH" WAS HOLY. All His private teachings and conversations were STILL springing forth from His Divine Heart. His language did not lose any veracity or dignity or sanctity just because it was not formally dictated to a crowd. "EVERY word... leads to peace & happiness and glory," when we listen with humble faith, and then respond with trusting love. Again, we must hear those words AS God's Words, before we can respond properly, and before we can receive the virtues that flow from His Divinity alone, speaking through those words, not from merely seeing them as theologically or ethically admirable speech. You can respect Christ's words without faith in Him, and still be humanly motivated or inspired by those words, but then they will not change your heart, and they will not be for your salvation. Faith is WHY He spoke those words. Faith in Him works miracles... Faith in Him is what saves us.
Third: THE HOLY SPIRIT!! Don't ever forget about Him! He is WHY AND HOW Jesus's as a human WAS able to communicate His Divinity as the Son-- because lest you forget this too, GOD IS FOREVER A TRINITY, AND THE THREE PERSONS OF GOD ARE INSEPARABLE. Where the Son is, SO TOO ARE THE FATHER AND THE SPIRIT, ALWAYS. We don't usually talk about that, let alone even acknowledge it often!
...
Fourth: The "actual" commission-- in other words, the underlying and all-encompassing motive & purpose of every action & word of Jesus's Life as a man, the ultimate goal & constant effect of His Incarnation, the functional definition of Who He Was on this earth, so to speak. "This commandment IS Eternal Life", and "that Life is given to us IN Christ"-- "I do & speak only what I have been commanded by the Father"... and what did He do? He preached Himself to us, He gave Himself for us, He united Himself with us.
"And whosoever believeth on Thee shall not perish, but have everlasting life."
...
Fifth: "It is a SYSTEM of eternal life, Divinely calculated to answer every important purpose to dying, miserable man." Please forgive the italics, but that means a lot to me. It's ORDERED. It's INTENTIONAL. It's PURPOSEFUL AND EFFECTIVE. There was nothing haphazard, random, unsure, unfit, or unexpected about it.
...



"The public work of our Lord was now done; and the remnant of His time, [leading up] to His crucifixion, He spent in teaching His disciples-- instructing them in the nature of His Kingdom, His intercession, and the mission of the Holy Spirit; and in that heavenly life which all true believers live with the Father, through faith in the Son, by the operation of the Holy Ghost."
READ THAT AGAIN.
ALL TRUE CHRISTIANS LIVE WITH THE WHOLE TRINITY.
I mean, on one hand, It's logically obvious, because if Christ the Son is within us then so are the other Two Persons, inseparably... BUT STILL, WOW. WOW.
...
But even without using explicit language of the sort, Jesus was teaching that very Truth to His disciples-- BEFORE He was crucified! That's before they even fully grasped HIS Divinity!! So that Truth then must be couched in the other truths, in the less mindblowing details of their faith foundation.
But I can't type about this yet. We will once we get to those chapters. Just keep this point in mind.
The Kingdom of God, even now as we are able to glimpse it on earth, necessarily includes the whole Trinity. So already, whether we realize it actively or not, we can be in a state of grace where that reality is actual, in this moment?
I just keep thinking "Holy Mass," seriously.
...


"Many persons are liberal in their condemnation of the Jews, because they did not believe on the Son of God... But those who condemn them do not reflect that they are probably committing the same sort of transgression, in circumstances which heighten the iniquity of their sin. Will it avail any man, that he has believed that Christ has come in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil, who does not come unto Him that he may have life, but continues to live under the power and guilt of sin? Paradoxical as it may seem, it is nevertheless possible, for a man to credit the four evangelists, and yet live and die an infidel, as far as his own salvation is concerned. Reader, it is possible to hold the truth in unrighteousness. Pray to God that this may not be thy condemnation."
This is the final bit from Clarke on this chapter and it's a truly terrifying thought.
This is exactly what I actually was talking about earlier. It's not just "believing without acting on it." It's hearing the words of God IN CHRIST and assenting to their Truth, to their Righteousness, but not then living out those words. It's believing with your head that Jesus did die for us, that He did offer His Life to ransom ours from sin and death, but not acting on that with your heart. You don't come to the Cross. You don't repent and confess your sins. You don't admit that you are powerless to save yourself and you cannot change your life without His grace. You don't nail your ego to that gibbet to die with Him. You don't forgive.
...





091023

Sep. 10th, 2023 09:41 pm
prismaticbleed: (amecry)
 

EXHAUSTING flat nightmare night.
Ended with a poignantly touching moment with grandma though.

Church! Blood sugar stayed quite stable but we were SO TIRED.
Prayed for humility to sing well for God alone.
Lovely songs today, sang both low & high notes well, thank You God
Also grandma's song greeted us twice. Smiled at that.
It IS grandparent's day!!!

Jade drive home
Got us SO tangled up
MOM GOSSIP. Felt SO WRONG.

COULD NOT STOP CRYING FROM UNBEARABLE GUILT
"I was mean to my mom"!!!
MUST make reparation AND CONFESS ASAP-- to priest AND FAMILY!!!! Must be accountable so we DON'T EVER GOSSIP AGAIN

...

Basilica homily
BEST ACCENT MONSIGNOR
Mimic devotional "pop quiz" habit, helps a LOT actually

St Egwin church THANKS MIMIC! Also Google maps haha
Genuinely commended his growing zeal for his new faith, however subtly it shows. He said "thank you for inviting me into it"
Jay= "Thank the Holy Spirit for giving me the courage to cross myself when I had a cephalopod riding shotgun"

...

Saying thoughts, resolutions, confessions, etc. OUT LOUD gives them power AND REVEALS WHO CAN SAY THEM!!!!
Often, something can be true INSIDE but NO ONE OUTSIDE can agree with it. THAT IS HUGE. It reveals MORAL CONFLICT between somafoni & typical nousfoni, and therefore BEHAVIORAL DISCREPANCY. This obviously causes a LOT OF PROBLEMS.
 

ANOTHER huge panic attack after breakfast, with notable pain & reflux. Haven't had this since the hospital. Is it because of our schedule change? Is it the protein increase? Is it our markedly worse stress levels & lack of sleep??

Nevertheless SO MUCH LEAGUE LOVE whole biking & listening to FFXIII OST (forever a classic). Touched to the heart; deeply moved. Praying that God lets us continue to work on them.
BTW NOT SURE IF "WORDJUMPERS" IS CORRECTLY ESTABLISHED. Feeling out PROTAGONIST RESONANCES!!!!!

Dinner a nervous wreck again. Always feel rushed.
Mom left off some food, God bless her. Not much but it'll help significantly as we're almost out of everything and this was pure caring generosity on her part.
Still. We PANIC when we have to eat "new" and/or "unlabeled" foods-- for both allergy fear, & unpredictable nutrition. Why are we still so paranoid. It's SHAKING fear. We legit want to vomit from terror at the thought of eating cauliflower. WHY.

FROST* fondness this evening. browsing their FB vids, treasuring the music.
Got TWO music recommendations from Jem! Enjoying these new sounds; really gotta look into more of his inspirations.
Also just randomly discovered... Icelandic 80s tunes?? Hey, the more eclectic my Spotify likes are, the better.



prismaticbleed: (Default)

we've decided to consolidate all our "phone entry" posts into monthly bulk updates to avoid flooding the archives with general daily data.

if there is a strikingly important topic, or something we want to be able to reference individually in the future, we will post it as its own entry.
however, it is more likely that we will take these snippet posts as "starting posts" to write larger, formal entries from when we have the time and capacity to.

otherwise, having all these smaller entries in one place makes it much easier to grasp the general tenor of the month, and to see small bits of progress from day to day.


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0801

Up at 1045, phone call

Tried FOUR mass livestreams, all broken
Said rosary & chaplet instead
Watched St Clare again at noon

BK prep
Spice pepper upset, Laurie referenced commentary "authority & mercy" = knowledge in order to HEAL

Talk over nousfoni death
Started by our asking Mulberry about her job, she's a Social BUT SHE WORKED WITH SHERLOCK who was NOT an Archivist originally but an INTERCESSOR???
Missing Garrison, BUT obviously "reborn" in Sirius??
Mimic asking how all this works
"Soft resets" like Laurie's axe, hard resets like Lynne's "reabsorbing"
DIFFERENT RESULTS based on STABILITY/ STATUS of nousfoni that dies??
Wondering about Nathaniel. Told Mimic s/he was "The original blepofoni"
Scalpel being Javier's successor, "he was never stable" + ARTIFICIAL

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0802

Last night before bed: visiting Mimic asleep, Darkrai protecting him from nightmares. Not ventrium. Asked about, said i might have to look for him in realm of death???
Talking to Hoopa about this after. Decided NO.
REMEMBER the City is now overgrown forest ruins WITH SNOW!!!

Woke up early, 10am
Did some prep.  Measured out and put away some food for later because doing it this early bypasses the lotophagoi compulsion to taste everything

Mom call, no reception, hung up.  Made us a nervous wreck though thinking what it could be about
This wasn't helped by the fact that we are getting flashbacks all morning from  Last night's trauma entry transcription

Rosary, chaplet, eternal rests before mass
" Let us always spend time with Christ in the Eucharist, And it will change us for the better, Because we are always changed for the better when we spend time with those we love"

Mom call was nothing serious, But incredibly interesting
She called that local priest that is going to look into actual Demonic curses on our family???  Possibly meeting him this Saturday after mass to discuss it more in-depth.

BK prep SLICE?????
Yellow, GIRL???

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0803

Up early phone call mom = Jade bath visit again

Church livestream no audio; Different mass on website
ARK HOMILY hit hard

Leaguework notes for spheres 2 & 3

Wedding at cana argument; reading through books on shelf
Forgot how much i love just sitting on the floor paging through this little library of ours

BIBLE STUDY HITS!!!!!!!
FINALLY PERFECT CLARIFICATION ON JUSTICE
THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!!

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0804

FIRST FRIDAY
Shopping & Adoration 
Regular afternoon. Prayer & housework. 
BANJO & TITAN
Some very profound moments, painful but loving even so, with Chaos 0
We're talking a LOT thanks to the movies. We sit together on the couch, before during and after, and in all of those different times we have different conversations.
But... we haven't been talking this much in a LONG time. and... we haven't spent this much time just being close to each other in even longer.
this is good. even just as a start, this is wonderful. thank you God.
yes it hurts, but lonely broken bruised hearts full of weeping are going to hurt.
it means the entire world, though, to realize that such a heart trusts and loves you enough to get that close despite all its wounds. it means, you're safe. it means, you're a place of refuge even then. it means, you can handle this pain, and understand it.
i am grateful for every single moment of this. may God bless us with so many more.

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0809

Sick? So tired. Feel wrong somehow.

Knife angry tears over cutting = NOT MEANT TO BE FOOD, BUT RETRIBUTION.
Also his color ONLY LOCKS IN WHEN HE PRAYS.

Razor being VERY philosophical today.

Everyone fronting for wall prayers. I missed this.
Siobhan super clear

BARRY IN SUITS OF AMOR????
HE MIGHT WAKE UP THAT ENTIRE WORLD!!!!

The burden is NOT prayer time, it's my STUBBORN RESISTANCE to such sustained effort
I DO love to pray, but I keep postponing and resisting it solely because it takes SO LONG and it requires SUSTAINED ATTENTIVE WORK and i'm stupid and weak.


SO MUCH MESS & MISTAKES WITH FOOD TODAY.
Legitimately threw "me" into a moral panic
So scared. Why?

Getting tiny synchronicities with Scripture again btw

This PERFECTLY describes Infi's fate, from CNC to hir literal death:
"And sin entered into the world through the seduction and false statements of the devil, by which the first man was veritably slain, his moral nature killed outright. Grace was not shut out, but Adam died. In the day that he ate of the forbidden tree, man most surely and in the deepest sense died. "God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. Nevertheless, through envy of the devil came death into the world..."

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0812

Less sick today, but still anxiously unwell.
Neuropathy, weakness, lightheaded, blackout feeling.

that one vague, oddly social Jewel talking from the background today? "I want mimic to retire for a while so that chaos 0 can come into the spotlight, And I can grow closer to him like I used to in the beginning"

mimic's wry response, "I'll retire if you give me a world to retire to"
"You keep saying there's a place ready for me there, but there's no door."

this is a HUGE revelation actually
jewel does keep saying, "yeah there's room for you in this world, OR MAYBE this one, etc..." basically, "i can feel a resonant potential spot for you there." like, if you want to walk in, it would let you.
but there's NO WAY TO "WALK IN."
JEWEL IS THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IF SHE DOESN'T LET OUTSPACERS IN, THEY CANNOT DO IT THEMSELVES.
and the jewel that used to do that is NOT CLOSE TO MIMIC.
this is our dilemma. LINKS ARE REQUIRED.
NO JEWELS ARE FORMING LINKS ANYMORE BECAUSE OF TRAUMA.
we REALLY need to think about this.

but yeah.
if that "jewel" wants mimic to be "gone" so badly, it's HER RESPONSIBILITY to buy him the plane tickets, and drive him to the airport. she HAS to take initiative.
but she also doesn't want to admit that she's being so selfish, whoever she actually is.
(she's NOT a real jewel. actual jewels DON'T ACT LIKE THAT. this girl has stolen the name but SHE FITS NONE OF THE CRITERA!!!!)

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0817

updates during the day again, because typing is faster

Slept in due to being up late.

VERY rushed and disheveled this morning, feeling weight of prayer obligation.
rosary took 30m. kept panicking and repeating prayers. "not focused enough." ball of nerves.

mass at st clares again!
readings parallel: joshua and jesus, jordan river baptism = entering promised land, no longer wanderers with no home.

devotions today HIT.
chaos 0 and mimic LITERALLY talking about the mercy + grace bit BEFORE we read the devotional that said it almost verbatim.
no coincidences guys

said wall prayers this morning btw. again almost burned food. rushing back and forth. feeling so anxious.
still. it was nice to pray with everyone flowing in front.

razor out a lot. cutting eggs, knife happy, "this is her job because she likes to just cut things" as opposed to his very specific retributor role.
THAT ONE "WATCHER GIRL" COMMENTING THAT KNIFE WAS "UNNECESSARY" AS A RESULT.
WTF.
laurie heard her and was FURIOUS

now finally bk at 2pm. man oh man.

update: we dropped one carrot
that one younger girl FREAKED OUT SOBBING "god hates me"
laurie talking her down
double carrots, made her laugh a little, "but that's so silly." laurie "no it's not, not if it makes you laugh"; "isn't that what any good father would do?" basically "when the devil takes things from you, god restores twofold and wants to make you smile"

girl sees praying more as "giving a speech" to critical parents than "talking to them"
"i can't talk to god!!" terrified, actually cowering. like a child afraid of being hit for her brazenness.

Realizing her own clumsiness was dropping the carrots = "oh no, am I the devil???"

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0820

Hell night
Dream hacks & dehumanizing nightmares
refuse to talk about them

Church Blood sugar hell again

Mom drive home
Carnival fear talk.
WE NEVER REALIZED HOW THAT MUST AFFECT HER.
SHE TRIED TO GIVE US ENTERTAINMENT AS CHILDREN BUT IT ONLY DISTURBED & SCARED US.
She admitted this today, how we're all adverse to fairs & parties & crowds but she loves them.
Movie talk; sadly proved this

Mom food hell
Girl PANICKED. Like legit FEAR OF DEATH. Unbearable
Leon blaming himself

Bible study keeps showing us HOW MUCH WE MISUNDERSTAND & MISINTERPRET GOD.
We are still so afraid of Him. We find it so hard to even imagine that someone would WANT to be gentle & kind & patient with us, let alone loving & forgiving & merciful.
This is fatally hindering our salvation life!!!

⭐"JAY" / LOTUS WAS "LIGHT THAT DID NOT BURN" = he was a COLD LIGHT that COULD NOT GIVE LIFE OR WARMTH!!!

So many dirty girls triggered out by eggs: clumsy messy food.
UPMC fear was LEGIT-- making a mess DOES "turn us into an animal"!!!
ALL UPMC DID WAS SHAME US & WHITEWASH OUR SYMPTOMS. JUST LIKE SLC, THERE WAS NO REAL PROGRESS OR HEALING, ONLY SELF-NEGATING ACTING & STOMPING TRIGGERS IN EVEN DEEPER THROUGH DENIAL & DEPERSONALIZATION.

We NEED someone who CAN eat eggs, WITHOUT triggering out kakofoni, WHILE we do Bible study.
They will NEED TO BE NONHUMAN!!!

⭐ACTUALLY HOLD UP!!! REMEMBER HOW WE SURVIVED IN CNC??? WE WOULD DRIVE THE BODY TO EAT, NOT FRONT!!! SO WE COULD PREVENT ASSOCIATION WITH IT & STAY ANCHORED INSIDE!!! 

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0821
 
ABSOLUTE FCKNG MELTDOWN OVER JADE COMING UP TO SHOWER THE MINUTE WE SIT DOWN TO EAT BREAKFAST AT 2PM SON OF A B*TCH!!!!!!!!!!@!@@!@

Couldn't calm down until like 4pm. WHY???
God we NEED to go back to typing & talking PLEASE

Spitting acid at "soft & quiet" horror
Apparently we are STILL VIOLENTLY GYNOPHOBIC. We're afraid of this becoming misogyny. Thank God it's still based on revulsion & traumafear kicked up to 1000%. It's not hatred of femininity as a whole. It's morbidly fascinating to FEEL the mental & emotional shifts.
Certain faces, voices, outfits, "skin textures" do it. ALL "babyish" women and ALL "sultry" women make us FURIOUSLY VIOLENT and I don't know why. At least, I can't put it into speech. It's too hidden & gutdeep. I can't even find it, to look it in the face. I'd be too scared & revolted to right now.
And yet THAT WIMPY PERSONALITY IS A GIRL.
ALL THE PROUD, PRISSY, PRESUMPTUOUS, PRECOCIOUS CORPUFONI ARE GIRLS. I HATE THEM. THEY'RE SHALLOW, HOLLOW, PLASTIC FACED WHORES.

(^ See, this happens EVERY TIME)

SHUT UP YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING PROSTITUTE

"Father forgive them for they know not what they do"

TRUE FEMININITY = MARY.
Let that sink in, and heal this hurting hatred.

The main thing that is preventing the j bloodline from coming back to life is shame!!!!
They were so expressive & open, so full of light and love, but there is this crushing feeling of Self-hatred and SHAME that is forbidding such an existence now.
We will probably not be able to have a solid core unless the core Has a connection to heartspace and therefore with self-identity
WE CURRENTLY "FAIL THE MIRROR TEST" on some level?????
There is NO inherent "self-recognition" in the body's reflection AT ALL RIGHT NOW.
unless there's a blepofoni consciously looking back at themselves/ us, as a face alone, THE BODY IS A TOTAL STRANGER.

Can't stop thinking about this from Bible study=
"...the day cometh when the characters we have made ourselves here, the habits we have cultivated and indulged in, the capacities we have exercised, and the set and drift of all our activity upon earth, will determine the work that we get to do there."

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0823

Terribly hard day.

7am up. Nightmares again; cats & brothers, both hurting or scaring us (AGAIN. why is that a recurring theme??)

Oblates mass. tried OLOMC first but forgot they have no wednesday mass. had a hyperreligious MELTDOWN after that, convinced God "hated us" and didn't actually want us at mass or something??? bizarre how our brain STILL catastrophizes our faith like this.

Walmart stop for some groceries, don't even remember what. we were in social mode so bad, dissocation was like being drugged. genesis deeply concerned.

Therapy today. MOVE THIS TO ITS OWN ENTRY once/ if we get the memory/ time to type about it.
ALL NEW AGEY AGAIN.
huge letdown. we are so sick of that garbage. has trauma roots too from the slc era. nevertheless, we tried so hard to still listen. God still put me here. so there IS a reason this happened and we must be attentive. we are STILL a student; we cannot be proud or stubborn. and there was some legitimately good advice. Must humbly respect & learn.
HOWEVER this also made us realize, again, WE ARE NOT OURSELVES IN THERAPY.
some unknown social comes out and takes over the whole thing and GUESS WHAT THEY ARE A COMPULSIVE LIAR!!!! WE CAUGHT THEM DOING THAT TODAY, their ENTIRE manner of speech was A FACADE, an ACT, and we don't even know what the heck they were trying to pull or present us as.
STOP THEM NEXT TIME. I DON'T CARE IF OVERWHELM HAS TO FRONT. YOU DO NOT LET SOCIALS FRONT IN THERAPY.

(notes: they asked us really frustrating generic questions like "what are your hobbies" and "what are your strengths" and we could not answer. that's when the social was lying, that makes me genuinely sick. the therapist also talked about bloody affirmations-- which we hate but we didn't say anything-- and dream symbol interpretation. no idea how, or if, we'll be able to make progress here. even so, we don't see them for another MONTH which means the next session will probably feel like starting over, and if we're smart, we'll TREAT IT AS SUCH and forget whatever the heck junk happened today, because none of it stored to actual memory which is a VERY BAD SIGN.)

Home late, Bk at 2
Oat bar mistake. Body immediately had an ALLERGY REACTION????? burning eyes and throat, runny nose. coughing and flushed face. stomach rejecting it entirely. THREW UP.
felt horrible. we cannot remember the last time we had an e.d. day, and then this stupidity happens.
Then tried raisins, God knows why. THREW UP AGAIN.
what the heck are we reacting to???? with the oat bar it was DEFINITELY either the rice syrup or the coconut oil, as BOTH rice and coconut have given us bad reactions in the past, BUT now our brain is like "what if we're allergic to oats now???" so yeah, even more food terror. we have to pinpoint the lotophagoi who hold all this and talk to them.

Disastrously sick. Terrified.
Praying and eating DN 730, don't want to go to ER

⭐concerning our massive terror of "being killed"... NO ONE CAN TAKE MY LIFE AWAY, ONLY JESUS.
Rest in this.

DN Bible study: Patristic commentaries HIT HARD SON!!!!!

------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


0827

HECK OF A DAY SON

Church
Jade call
Drive
Cry
WE CAN'T PROCESS SADNESS

DW TYPING!!!!

BK 330 WTF

Ok I'm sorry but I have to record this.
The kids buy most study reflection I was talking about when king David was annointed, And the girl getting the devotional said, " It's not every day that we see someone get anointed with oil".
Mimic Just glances over at my salad then at me and says "I can fix that"

SO MUCH CLARIFICATION in Bible study today!!

SO SICK after breakfast. Dehydration.
Surrender prayer
Bravely ate raisins & Gatorade too , overcoming anorexic fear

GOD GOT US THROUGH!!!!!!
Honestly He has NEVER FAILED US. EVER.


------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

0828

Up at 11
Irish mass no homily.l
Canada mass Augustine homily, Julie deeply moved
St clare mass readings homily on bike
Everything worked out perfectly!

Egg trouble actually inspired Razor to talk??
How in heaven is she so insightful. Is it her age? Her origin & depth of history? Her color? Her conversion? All of the above?

------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


0829

Marketplace PANIC.
SO MUCH RAGE about food & money???? HATRED.
Scared of this in us. Thank God for revealing.
Find roots and deal with because this KEEPS HAPPENING and it is driving a wedge between us and especially our mother.


------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------







080923

Aug. 9th, 2023 10:16 pm
prismaticbleed: (amecry)

Placeholder post.

We haven't been updating much lately because our life schedule has suddenly changed very dramatically.

At the end of July, our sister was, tragically once again, booted from her rented room because the renter refused to put her on the lease. She had barely been there a month.
This time, thank God, our mother took her up the homestead to at least stay on the porch, although our brother (the only person who lives there currently) was not happy with it at all, due to past trauma with our sister (when she was terrifyingly abusive; we remember too). Nevertheless there was no other option.

Anyhow. Since they now were at a very rural address, but still had to keep their job in order to save up money to get a new place, they needed to use our grandmother's old car, which we have been using up to this point.

So. As of... July 29th, it looks like, we have no car.

This is devastating for one huge reason:
We cannot get to daily Mass now.

Oh, technically we "could," but to do so would require a 15m run at 7am through a strange town wearing heaven knows what, probably sleep-deprived and in pain, the whole time panicking over health concerns (the heat is killing us) and the risk of getting mugged and/or assaulted again during the journey.
I kid you not, the very first night we had no car, we sat on the couch for two hours and just shook with terror at the very thought of going outside among people in town.
We never realized just how apparently agoraphobic we were.

So. Moral panic has been suffocating. This feels, in a very real way, like a punishment, or even a sentence of damnation. "You didn't revere the Eucharist enough, so now you have been banned from it" BUT ALSO, "if you REALLY loved God, you would forget your panic attacks and other risk factors and risk your life to get to Mass every morning! Since you're NOT, then you actually hate God, you are a moral coward, and God will abandon you like you are abandoning Him."
We can't function. Our conscience screams at us all day as a result of this.

Our schedule has changed dramatically as well.
It's booked solid and it is exhausting. It's made us realize, disturbingly, that we STILL have some demented bent to our personality that makes us want to assign every second to a plan, like that horrid life-board in The Little Prince, and why? Is it because we were raised that way? Or is it because we're terrified of what will happen if we have unassigned time?
It all seems to boil down to religious fear.
Right now, our schedule is roughly this:

- Wake up & drag poor body out of bed (~10m)
- Wake up house, wash up, small morning prayer (~30m)
- Get on exercise bike; say rosary, St. Bridget prayers, DVM chaplet, watch Mass (~90m)
- Prep breakfast & clean, say wall prayers if able (~60m)
- Eat and do Bible study (~150m)
- Clean up (~30m)
- Cope with postprandial hell by saying altar prayers & phone psalms (~60m)
- Say wall prayers if missed earlier (15m)
- Get on exercise bike & say prayer cards, eternal rests, & small chaplet (40m)
- Prep dinner & clean (30m)
- Eat & do Bible study (~60m)
- Night cleanup (~60m)
- Say any extra prayers needed (~20m)
- Divine Office prayers during day (~30m)
- ACTUAL FREE TIME ;____; (~180m to 240m depending on how exhausted we are)
- SLEEP (8h ideal, may be shrunk to 6 depending on schedule overflow)

By the time we hit that free-time window it's always 9-10pm, and we are so exhausted that, like tonight, we really just want to collapse in bed, but then that means we get NO MENTAL REST and when we wake up the cycle starts all over again.

But you see the problem. I know the minutes are approximate but I assure you, when we're living it, we do NOT stop moving until we sit down at this computer at night.
Our body feels so sick. We're so tired. We're getting heart palpitations and muscle spasms and tingly limbs & brainfog. We don't know if it's the heat, or the biking, or our diet, or what. All we know is that it's honestly scary to feel this unwell and to also feel like we can't rest, ever.

This is exactly how we were living with the eating disorder in full swing.

We would spend ALL our time either prepping food, or eating food, or purging food, BUT the WHOLE TIME we were ALSO PRAYING. We did like 6 hours of Bible Study a day. We always had Universalis or EWTN or Bishop Barron playing on our phone, so the apartment was never quiet, and we would never be able to think.
When everything was done and we had feebly tried to restabilize our body, we would collapse in bed only to repeat the entire cursed schedule the next day. And so it went for months.

...
What are we doing?
We don't even have time to do laundry because "we can't spare those two hours, we won't be able to fit our prayers into the schedule right!!" and then we'll end up staying up two hours later just to say them, no matter how tired we are, or how badly we want to cry from sheer fatigue, or how hard it is to form a coherent thought at that hour.
But the moral panic won't let us. It screams at us for not doing that mile run every morning, although the very thought of going out in public makes us want to vomit, and we're already dizzy & trembling from Lord knows what. We feel so sick all the time. We're staying hydrated, right? What are we doing wrong?

Everyone in the System is so angry. It's an awful sort of anger, something bitter and raw, and the person expressing it the most is Chaos 0 which speaks VOLUMES as to its cause and reach.
I have been talking to him. Despite all the pain & confusion & frustrated tears, neither of us has walked out or denied anything. We're talking, we're being honest, we're bringing it all out into the open.
But everything hurts.

We're getting a headache now. Nausea won't go away. Body still twitchy, dizzy, weak. Why?

I just wanted to update. Sorry I can't say much more tonight. We really don't feel good at all.

Oh, we're almost out of food too. That's the other worry with the car. We need it for Friday or we're going to run out, literally. Food stamps just came in so that's why we didn't buy anything yet. If we do one big order we can get 2 weeks worth in one trip. That'll work.

Honestly we're afraid of ending up in the hospital, or rather, the emergency room. 9-hour wait times when you're feeling this woozy are a nightmare in and of themselves. That's what we're scared of. We also no longer have transportation, because Astra used to be our drive home but now she's across the country. So we'd have to take a 2-hour bus ride home, which again is going to trigger the panic, especially if we're in E.R. clothes. I can't think about that risk right now.

All we can do right now is try to calm down, and pray, and sleep. Maybe we won't bike as long tomorrow. Maybe our body is too tired, maybe it needs a break. We've been doing 2 hours of biking a day for... nine days in a row now? It keeps our body & brain stable enough TO say the prayers. We're afraid that if we try to sit down and pray, the fatigue will crash into us so hard we'll just want to rest, both our mind and our body, and praying will become almost impossible. We'll fall asleep instead. We'll start crying like a child and begging for rest, please I need a break, I know I have two hours of prayers to say yet but please, everything hurts. My brain is a tangled mess. I can't wait until 9pm to breathe. Please, I need to just exist in quiet for a while.
But no. The moral panic screams. "IF YOU REFUSE TO PRAY, GOD WILL REFUSE TO LISTEN TO YOU WHEN YOU CRY FOR HELP. JUST WATCH. IF YOU DON'T PRAY, YOU'LL FALL INTO SIN, AND GOD WILL LET YOU FACE THOSE CONSEQUENCES." etc etc.

Our mother... has said some very very scary things lately. I don't want to slander her by writing them here, like we used to. Is that slander? I don't want to hurt her.
Maybe I can list one. She called yesterday, asking about whether or not we still had this one crochet dollbox she made for us as a kid. I said yeah, we kept it, we keep our few jewelry items in it. She said oh thank goodness, I thought you kids threw out everything I made you. There was a lot of bitter hurt veiled in that statement. Then she said, effectively, "I don't know what's wrong with you kids. I bought you ALL these things that you could hand down to your kids, or have as collections, and you just don't care! You either sell them or throw them out. I don't get it!" and then, I quote, "I would have KILLED to have the things you kids have! My parents never bought me ANYTHING."
...And suddenly I realized, oh my gosh, that's why we don't get along.
Her "language of love" is THINGS.
I never realized just how high a priority she put on material possessions. I always wondered why she can't resist buying things, or telling me to buy things, or buying things and forcing them on me. She hoards so much and refuses to get rid of it, even when it causes her distress. She wants things so badly. She constantly complains about how "she never got what she wanted" as a child. I never realized she meant things.
...And here I am, not caring a jot about most material things, and she probably sees that as hatred towards her. She shoves all this stuff at me and, to me, it feels like assault, or some strange torture, even spitework... but for her, it might actually be an expression of love.
...
We had this same problem in CNC, of course. Our "love languages," both in the "relationship" and in daily life, were completely opposed. We kept trying to learn their language but it was such a farce, it was so forced, it was poisoning us but we never let on. But we tried, God knows we tried. We regret it catastrophically, we still haven't forgiven ourself for it-- and God knows we're trying to do that too-- but at the time, it was programming. We automatically tried to mold ourselves into their shape.

The reason I bring this up is, in part, because this is weirdly affecting our perception of prayer.
We have this bizarre and disturbing idea that, "you can't ask God to help you, because the TRUTH is that NOT helping you IS the best "help" for you!!" Basically, if I say "God, I feel really sick and scared, can you help me out?" I fear, "Well, you being sick and scared is what you need. So that IS helping." etc. It hit me today that we see God as treating us like our parental figures did as a child. Always watching, always calling me out on what I did wrong, always critical, always "a catch" or "a consequence" that they were ready to slam down on me, smiling all the while. Shouting orders at me then calling me a "good girl." etc. It's not God. It can't be God. Can it? If I don't follow every little order I hear in my head, it's my funeral, because I'm "refusing to obey God." It keeps me so scared, all the time. I'm so afraid of accidentally committing a mortal sin by doubting a command, or worse, by choosing not to because I'm too tired, or "I wasn't sure I heard properly," or something equally stupid. Really it's because I'm scared. Kiss the feet on the picture when you walk by, or you don't really love Him. Say that prayer three more times, or you're cheating the souls in Purgatory. Say that prayer over, you messed up a word and if you don't correct it, you're snubbing the Lord. etc.

I still feel so far away from God.

I'm so far away from the System.

We don't talk anymore. We can't. We're so bloody tired. We're all falling to pieces, we're all so hurt and angry and I don't know WHY, it's just this ubiquitous heartache and none of us know how to handle it.

There's so much guilt and shame over doing anything that's NOT explicitly "worship." If I listen to music while on the bike, I feel Mary shaking her head at me, sadly, disappointed in me. But she KNOWS that music helps us FEEL the prayers, and it keeps the intrusive thoughts quiet, but no, "it's secular music," it's what pagans do, you need for everything to be QUIET, so it's JUST GOD.
No music. No movies. No books. No internet. No System. Nothing but God. Pray more. Add another hour. And run to church already, if you get harrassed or faint on the way, that's martyrdom! Isn't that what you want??


Honestly I'm going to be brutally honest and Lord forgive me but I

I want to live with the System again. I want us to be ALIVE TOGETHER again. I want to talk to everyone and love them and learn with them. I want us all to pray TOGETHER but also to go upstairs and BE, to learn about ourself and heal and grow and forgive and dream... I want to work on the LEAGUE, I miss them so much, I feel so ashamed of them now, after they were almost robbed from me I felt like God was saying "you don't deserve them" but ALSO "they're with the pagans where they belong, YOU focus on GOD" BUT I ONLY KNEW GOD THROUGH THE LEAGUE, MY CHILDHOOD UPBRINGING SURE DIDN'T TEACH ME ABOUT GOD'S CHARACTER AS MUCH AS ALL THE LOVE IN THE LEAGUE DID.
Catechesis is one thing. Life is another. You CANNOT separate the two.
Praying for 7 hours a day is making me miserable. Yes I love God and I love what I'm learning and I do love praying, but... it still feels... something is wrong. Something is missing. I dread waking up and doing it all again tomorrow. I'm so tired.
I still want to pray. I still want to worship. But I don't exist right now. I still don't know who I am.
"You're a Christian," I hear that curt female voice say. "You don't need any other identity than that."
They smirk and sneer at Jewel. "Martyr yourself," they say. "Burn everything for God. Nothing matters but him."

NO STOP THAT'S WHAT THE KAKOFONI DID IN THE PAST THAT'S HOW WE ALMOST LOST EVERYTHING

It deserves to be lost. It's hollow, empty, nothing. It's worthless. The only thing you need is your Bible and your Rosary. Everything else can go to hell where it belongs.

What about the talents God gave us???

Those aren't "talents," those are delusions.

...
That's... that's our biggest fear, on Jewel's level, isn't it.
God "blessed" us with all those ideas, with the penchant for words and music, but... it all rotted away, or was stolen, or lost. So was it all just an illusion? Was it all just... some stupid fake game? Did any of it mean anything?

YES IT DID, YES IT DID YOU KNOW THAT'S THE ONLY TIME YOU CAN FEEL THINGS IS IN THE LEAGUE, YOU KNOW THE LOVE AND LIGHT AND COLOR THAT IS IN THERE, GOD IS SPEAKING TO YOU IN IT

I hope so, God Himself knows I hope so, that's all we've ever wanted the League to be, is a signpost and a mouthpiece for Him, for the beauty of our faith, that's what we knit into it even as a child--

what are we even talking about.

i am so, so, so tired.


i'm tired of being sick. i'm tired of being scared. i'm tired of being alone. i'm tired of being numb.


we have a therapist on friday. maybe that'll wake something up.

until then i give up. i'm going to give this body some sleep

i can feel we would be crying right now if we weren't so burnt down to ashes inside
we don't even remember what crying feels like
all we know is that there's an abyss of grief in our ribcage that won't go away

why is the body so sick.

i'm so tired

wow this entry is a mess i apologize.

okay we're dissocitating to madb abdbadly to type anymore bye













prismaticbleed: (worried)

0701

"I" CAN'T EAT WITH WHITE OR RED HUE
HAS TO BECOME BROWN OR BLACK!!!

So much switching while eating = based on action taken & mood of it?? Different "manners" of eating, different jobs on phone, etc.
ALL CAUSE A HARD DISSOCIATIVE SWITCH!!! and a consequent headache for the record
- Tumblr posting
- picking apart food
- biting pieces off
ALL of these actions TRIGGER out different girl corpufoni??? all with very disheveled & negative vibes

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

0702

Scalpel now feeling ragesorrow when fronting, like Knife was
Wondering if this is all being split off from LAURIE in some way??

Laurie “enabling” bad behavior, just letting foni do things even if they seem unwise, COMPLETE CORRUPTION OF HER FUNCTION. Wondering why?
Because she’s supposed to TALK IT OUT. She’s supposed to DEBATE AND REASON, and with that suddenly being TAKEN from us, in order to SURVIVE, her function is “skipping a step” and just letting things occur that SHOULD be questioned because she’s not “ALLOWED” to question currently.
She is losing all her honor, integrity, wisdom, fortitude, etc. she is dying.

Laurie wondering if she “needs to die” because she thinks she “came back wrong” after cnc.
Honestly I think we all did. It wasn’t a real solid resurrection; it was a gradual, feeble “coalescing” into shadows of our former selves.
We need a HARD REBOOT so that we come back COMPLETE.


jo IS reviving???? name change. "yosifina" or something. definitely an i or y beginning, not j.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

0710


John 6 discourse makes SO much easy sense when you ask, just like a psychologist, "what is your heart hungry for? How can you feed your soul today?" And those instinctive, literally visceral responses APPLY TO CHRIST. THAT'S what He means by "you must EAT Me." You're feeding your HEART & SOUL with Him! It's like how you would "eat" music (I have a playlist for that), or devour a book, or drink in a beautiful landscape. You get the idea!
BUT the faith that enables this ALSO allows for the next huge step in the Eucharist: the ACTUAL physical "eating" of Christ, more of a "consuming & being consumed," a mutual Communion, a fusion of selves, etc. Think Infi. Think cardiophagy. There is an even DEEPER and more sacred hunger, that TOUCHES & SANCTIFIES THE PHYSICAL, that Christ meets.
Humankind was CREATED TO BE UNITED TO GOD. The Fall wrecked this for a time. Christ comes as the Tree of Life to FIX & RESTORE us. THAT is why He gives His flesh as bread: because it's the ONLY WAY to LITERALLY GET DIVINITY BACK INTO OUR PHYSICAL BODIES. We're actually SUPPOSED to eat God. It's absolutely insane & gorgeous & Ineffable, I love being Catholic
It's also shockingly obvious: how does a mother feed her children? SAME THING.

Think like a child & it's all apparent.
What is eating? It's taking something into yourself so you can stay alive, and it will make you strong & help you grow.
"Food is fuel"; food comes from other living things, either plants or animals. Their life is given up & becomes part of our life.
Etc. CONTINUE

"only believe, and thou hast eaten; " reflect on what this says ABOUT the nature of belief
ALSO "eat His body in a spiritual manner" = think of the basic concept of ANCHOR PLUSHES. Substance vs accidents. This is spiritual vs physical BUT ALSO BOTH.
"If you with to enter into the spirit of my words, raise your hearts to a more elevated and spiritual way of understanding them" = if you only think of this as regular food, as normal eating, you MISS THE ENTIRE TRUTH. The Capernaum folks couldn't get their minds off the manna & bread, so they were blind to the actual point. Their understanding was stuck on the CARNAL level... like being stuck in SOCIAL MODE.
"The flesh profiteth nothing" WITHOUT SPIRIT INSIDE IT. But the spirit does not destroy the body, otherwise the Incarnation wouldn't have happened! The really beautiful thing is the SANCTIFICATION of it!
"I live by the Father, proceeding always from him" = a CONTINUED action; so too must be our eating & be-ing as a result; UNITED EXISTENCE; symbiotic?? Indivisible
""so [too is] he that eateth me," = first by faith only, by believing in me;" = if you have no faith in His Divinity you cannot receive it, BECAUSE you won't come to Him FOR it!!! Without faith you are treating the Sacrament with GRAVE IRREVERENCE. Saint Paul warned about this. You can still eat it "as bread," sure, but without faith it's a ghastly sin, for obvious reasons. Ask any lotophagoi.

"God is said to draw them to himself by special and effectual graces, yet without any force or necessity, without prejudice to the liberty of their free-will. A man, says St. Augustine, is said to be drawn by his joys, and by what he loves... We are drawn to the Father by some secret joy, delight, or love, which brings us to the Father. "Believe and you come to the Father," says St. Augustine, "Love, and you are drawn... [many] could not believe, because they would not love" ???
TYPE ABOUT THIS.
WHAT do we love? What do we enjoy & find happiness in? THAT IS WHAT POTENTIALLY DRAWS US TO GOD????
Use this for EVANGELIZATION

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0713

90M INTAKE, SYSTEM ONLINE BUT STANDING ASIDE??? Very peculiar, unmistakable feeling
WRECKAGE SPOKE!!!!
We think the main social fronter, that talks, is actually JAYCE??? It's NOT Jack!!

Roadwork meditation trees

Home, exhausted
More jobs & requests from mom. Refusing to complain or grumble. Accepting it all with open mind & heart

Barry murdered ONE bottle

"Dump truck mindset" culture
Julie lamenting over Potiphar's wife; "I was just as capable of that"

Jesus as Mediator is SO DIFFERENT from other religions because it SERVES A RELATIONSHIP.
Other faiths have worship, or self-deification. Christianity is the ONLY one that brings us TO GOD, BY GOD, to be WITH GOD. There is a PERSONAL, INTIMATE, FAMILIAR LOVE that is unique to our faith.


SYSTEM RELEVANCE (ESPECIALLY LAURIE; THIS IS HER TRUE FUNCTION & PAST STRUGGLE)=

"The scribes and the Pharisees were the legal experts of the day; to them problems were taken for decision. It is clear that to them authority was characteristically critical, censorious and condemnatory. That authority should be based on sympathy, that its aim should be to reclaim the criminal and the sinner, never entered their heads. They conceived of their function as giving them the right to stand over others like grim invigilators, to watch for every mistake and every deviation from the law, and to descend on them with savage and unforgiving punishment; they never dreamed that it might lay upon them the obligation to cure the wrongdoer.
There are still those who regard a position of authority as giving them the right to condemn and the duty to punish. They think that such authority as they have has given them the right to be moral watch-dogs trained to tear the sinner to pieces; but all true authority is founded on sympathy... The first duty of authority is to try to understand the force of the temptations which drove the sinner to sin and the seductiveness of the circumstances in which sin became so attractive. No man can pass judgment on another unless he at least tries to understand what the other has come through. The second duty of authority is to seek to reclaim the wrongdoer. Any authority which is solely concerned with punishment is wrong; any authority, which, in its exercise, drives a wrongdoer either to despair or to resentment, is a failure. The function of authority is not to banish the sinner from all decent society, still less to wipe him out; it is to make him into a good man. The man set in authority must be like a wise physician; his one desire must be to heal."

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0716

Cayenne = can he come back If his anchor remains?
Would also take the "automated name" off poor Scalpel
Did ALL Daengels have TRUE hearthosts like Infi or did they just STICK to resonant hearts???
After all CHOCOLOCO defied that assumption and is STILL AROUND.
Remember Axis too, w the homily on dirt

Laurie: "Saying you like prog rock is your own brand of pretentious assholery. I advise you to quit now, before your brain makes receptors for it"

Said Vespers together
Wreckage & Razor magnificat

Fire alarm, looking through old Moralimon tablets as usual
G2 was HEAVEN
Still love the Seers so much

Scalpel "we're being cheapened" = doing generic daily stuff IN PLACE OF actual anchors. Hence the anger & sadness. It's LOSS, of purpose in action, being shoved into a lesser, unfulfilling, unrelated "job" that cheats their spirit.
INNER NOUSFONI SHOULD NEVER BE DOING OUTSIDE JOBS!!!!!!


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
0730
dream notes
In dream
Wind, flying. Whitefog fading out in distance
Women forcing pregnancy talk. Melody with us? Acting Childlike. In stupor?
On porch with bro? Lady sweetalking, trying to get info?
Came to us. Grabbed shoulders? IMMEDIATELY started screaming crying for help like a tiny child. JUST AS FAST, WRECKAGE TOOK OVER. Turned on the woman with all claws & rage. Told her "get your fcking hands off of my children"

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0731

Nightmares about mom
Dismantled Christmas tree, "i thought i was doing you a favor"
WRECKAGE & LAURIE FRONTING IN DREAM
SOMEONE Growling & hissing at white toybreed dog that got into our apartment?? THEN Wreckage took over? Blurry. Immediate snarling response felt like someone else, faceless & confronting maybe. But we KNOW such a foni exists in waking. That instinct is STILL THERE. Wreckage shares it, but not so animalistic. Wreckage will growl as a threat, but NEVER this loud cat-like hissing!! CHILDHOOD "SELF" DID THAT TOO REMEMBER!!!!

Up at 1111, got ready for TV church SUPER fast haha
Two Canadian churches? Second was St Clare with the COLORED LIGHTS!
Homily: God works His Victory through APPARENT FAILURES! Cross, golden calf, also the MUSTARD TREE & YEAST??? Parallel we never noticed! "Would have shocked the audience" "no farmer wants a mustard tree in the middle of his field; no housewife wants her bread dough to start fermenting" AND YET, God works GOOD from it.
https://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1015-87582013000200014 READ THIS BRO
Second homily: crisis reveals character (crisis reveals Christ-is)! Be willing to "drop everything" to be a messenger of God's Love to others. Laurie saying "kid that's what you've been doing lately, by grace" TRUE, humbly & joyfully, may God increase that grace for His sake
Spiritual Communion. We needed this actually; it sinks in deeper & hits harder. We LACK FAITH??? Not just in Christ, in EVERYTHING. Somehow, since CNC we have become DEAD IN DOUBT & DISBELIEF, based on SHAME & CYNICISM????? WHY & HOW??? THIS ISN'T US!!!
Deep down KNOWING we believe but as an ACT OF WILL. No emotions. Does that still count? Feels like we're at war.
Asking for God to "set my heart on fire" = looked at the RING!! "Just like that"

Rosary now. Want to do this with biking before we eat.
We're back to listening to music and looking at the photo gallery while we say the rosary. It helps SO much; it makes it feel more real and genuine, more personally involved & NOT automated.

Egg trouble, had to toss & redo. Hidden blessing though.
AMAZING devotionals today.
1. Mustard seed growth ACTIONS, good AND bad
2. Call to faith & vocation DOES have dry & dark periods
3. Fast & pray IN LOVE for YOUR "ENEMIES" like Moses did

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070423

Jul. 4th, 2023 10:36 pm
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)
070423


Horrific nightmares again. please forgive the ugly language.
in old school bathroom stall, the last one, like a child. DOG GANGRAPE. they all rushed in and were destroying us. we began screaming, almost robotically which was disturbing. i was numb but the body was screaming like a child, emotionless yet terrified at the same time. but in response, these angry adult people just came into the bathroom, glaring, "what are you yelling for?" "stop making all that noise!" glaring and WATCHED us get raped. did not care. Disturbing. then when the dogs left, one woman GOT INTO THE STALL, and SAT DOWN behind us and WATCHED and wouldn't let use use the bathroom unless she was watching. we just left, still completely numb and now traumatically so.
BUT THANK GOD the dream ended positively, with us in the school attic. felt like we weren't supposed to be there, had to hide. i clearly remember seeing in the walls, stained glass of two Fakemon made by the old graduating classes? “Kyreon,” a dark teal-blue dragon Eeveelution, and then “Siren,” which looked like Galarian Articuno but more pink?
during this part I was a DRAGON, japanese style. Like a pure white wyrm. I was able to FLY EFFORTLESSLY like this, even when I COULDN’T OTHERWISE. also my SENSE OF SELF actually REGISTERED as a dragon, NOT as a human. as a human it was some female-pronoun social with no identity sense.
Before this, for the record, that girl-dreamer was walking through the “new” school with a bunch of younger kids? Telling them about what was behind the doors they weren’t allowed to go through, haha. still felt like she wasn't supposed to be there, would get in trouble if the parents or teachers saw her or knew she was talking to the kids? notably a "you're not supposed to be NOW" in a chronological sense, like she was from another time or space, and was telling these kids things about the past/future/whatever that they weren't supposed to know? very subtle conspiracy vibe. somehow also applied to us becoming a dragon later.
don't forget, when we went into the attic we had to hide on the very top shelf in the very back corner by the siren window, as a dragon. i clearly remember what it felt like to fly up there, all smooth riverlike twining through the air, our very movement feeling as soft silky white as our fur. i think we also had gold claws? we had little arms with claws, like in "spirited away," haku as a dragon. and at some point we got reverted to human? and we FELL, as we were falling, our SELF-- not the girl!!!-- thought, wait, if i can fly before we hit the ground... and willed it, but NOT as a human flying, as a dragon floating. and we FELT gravity's effect on us shift ENTIRELY. that was such an amazing feeling tangibly.
so yeah. half good half hell, this dream. we've been having so so so many traumatic nightmares lately. i think it's the heat, the summer kills us.


Anyway. Woke up at 745, got ready for church. Shocked that Jesus DID get us through the night, let that deep gratitude shock sink in.
Mass was quiet but lovely. We were oddly dissociated. The antiphons and songs hit LOWER notes which felt wonderful to sing for once.

Tried to visit dad after but he wasn’t home
Listening to Genesis’s playlist on the drive home; Razia’s Shadow notably.

Spent the next hour biking and praying, then precooked broccoli
Went to oblates mass for noon

THIS is when the System woke up for real today.
We felt the “floaty” head like we used to get at LCCC and I say that because it was a HARD TRIGGER of that EXACT time period. We were getting visual flashbacks even. Shocked.

BEFORE MASS… Jay and Chaos 0 talking together. Jay seeing the ocean water in stained glass and Chaos saying “that’s Perfect’s color/vibe”; Jay said then what are you? A river, a lake, a stream, what?
Chaos replied “I’m a well, in the desert.” pause. ‘at least that’s what I want to be.”
mindscape warped there. “i don't feel like i’m any good here. Whatever water I bring, it gets evaporated, or lost in the hot sand.”
jay spoke up, “not if you’re underground. you’re kept safe underground, at the heart of things, and even secretly you bring life to the most barren places”
then wondering. “but wait, where does that water come from?”
cz looked up. “from the mountains. ...it’s melted snow. And it flows down the mountain, through the rocky places, into cracks in the earth perhaps… down into the underground.”
jay’s eyes lit up. “into the caves!” cz laughed “you like caves so much” jay “i do!” then summoned a glass/light “CYLINDER” to literally “pull out” a chunk of ground to go down into it. Then summoned crystal spiral steps going down. Started down but realized mass externally was prepping, so jay just took cz’s hand and jumped down, warping the stairs into a crystal umbrella as he did, they floated down.
In the cavern was a river. Jay laughed and jumped into it. Up to his ears. Cz eased himself in too, stood next to him but opposite direction. Just smiled at him.
Jay feeling cupid vibes here. Odd gold dust overlay almost.
Mass beginning outside. Jay “merged” that with the innervision; realized the central carpet between the aisles was BLUE: “that’s the water!” inside turned to that, an UNDERGROUND CHURCH with the stream down the center, the cave making arches and aisles, and the open sky far above like a cathedral ceiling. Beautiful. Jay saying “we need churches like this in ALL the color realms.”
turning to cz. “which one do you want?” reply “jay, i’m an outspacer. I don’t get a realm.” jay “hm. I guess you’re right.” considering a realm intersection of green/blue, but then cz observed “outspacers belong in the leagueworlds anyway.” jay said “dude then is there one of you for each leagueworld? Like color realms in concept?” cz’s eyes widened “maybe.” really an amazing thought.

A bunch of people fronting at church. Very specific, particular roles. Many we “recognize” by feelings, but with no name or clear face.
Jophael= for mass worship
veil= for quiet prayer, marian focus? (her appearance shifted back from the nun. Wondering if that splintered or if she’s too unstable to keep anything solid yet.)
monk= for quiet prayer, warm heart
“tilly” = the one who “talks on tumblr” but has NO cognizance of personal sin
also there WERE “sinners” out--
JAYCE was there, feeling shame for his stealing?? too much social vibe for real contrition; aware of this lack
JESSICA was there, feeling guilt for “filthiness”
JEZELKA was there, feeling guilt for gluttonous drive
perhaps others. can’t remember right now.
Others came out DURING mass too.
there’s that WATCHER GIRL, she feels PINKISH??? but desaturated. Close to ashen actually, odd. she’s up in the space where the COMMITTEE was???? she watches and comments on things like a NARRATOR space.
there’s a girl who kind of vibes with the body name, feels reddish, close to the body, tied to childhood perhaps? But her faith has no roots, it feels like.

Jay in tears, “why don’t I have the fervor I want for communion,” asking “why can’t I receive?” what’s wrong, why is he lacking that religious zeal? Where did it go? Infi used to have it. Why can’t ze come back yet?

Realizing the body DISSOCIATES when we receive, up until we kneel back down and close our eyes. Then jay WAS able to be there, but only in a secondhand way? Feeling like we ALL could and had to be there, recieveing AS A SYSTEM. No one allowed to claim it as theirs alone.
Thanking god for making us a “united soul” on this fourth of july

home for 1
typing this now, took 20 minutes, gotta cook the eggs son!!!

but yeah, thinking we are going to KEEP this early day schedule, because it seems like when we wake up and immediately fast for like 6 hours we get into that mindset where HEADSPACE EVENTS can happen, what we used to call “meditations” but are more like “vision adventures?”

OH MY GOSH ON THAT NOTE. Later, with jay and cz upstairs in mass.
SOMETHING brought to jay’s mind INFI’S BUBBLE. Oh yeah the spheres on the altar with the candles!! and the reflections were upside down.
Jay tried to ping the location of hir bubble, and it is CRASHED??? like a spaceship landed on the beach and just left there. it’s cracked open to the air, full of lilies, crystallized, but DESATURATED. It feels hollow. But the big thing is that it has apparently crashed onto a BLACK SAND BEACH, with a WHITE OCEAN and WHITE SKY. it’s surreal. Everything is so quiet and still. Where is this???
jay and cz standing on the shore looking at it. Jay a LUCID moment of looking down at his feet, feeling the black sand beneath it, it’s not warm. Felt almost like soft glass. His feet were bare, again with that brushed-gold tone like paint. Cz standing next to him, realized his color was desaturated a bit too while he was there. Both of them just staring at the bubble in shock. “where is this?”
shocked out of this mindscape by returning to mass

that’s it for now, time for breakfast, pray that our brain still works after we eat, I swear postmeal brainfog is the WORST.

-------------------------------------------

realized we don’t talk as a system during mealtime bible study anymore because we’re READING, not studying-- we’re reading commentaries and expositions, as opposed to reading ACTUAL scripture verses, and therefore looking into etymology and translations and the like. So we don’t have the opportunity to discuss-- AND it’s a DIFFERENT brainspace, arguably a different FRONTER, because reading requires a completely different conscious process than researching, and therefore a different person. it’s more receptive and internal, whereas research is more active and investigative. Two totally different functions. Which explains the lack of internal conversation: that CAN’T happen while reading, in the same way a social can’t read, ironically! it’s a function conflict. Realizing that was eyeopening and interesting, albeit upsetting, because I miss the headspace camaraderie over our religious growth. It feels like we’re lacking that now.
OH. also. There IS ANOTHER huge shift whenever someone tries to “post to tumblr,” which causes MEMORY LAPSES EVERY TIME. it’s hugely disorienting and chaos 0 keeps scolding us to stop, because it breaks the entire train of focus, dissociates us heavily, and makes us FORGET WHAT WE JUST READ. It does no good. it’s a compulsive people-pleasing panic action, even if the motives are arguably good in theory-- “i have to share this with people to evangelise them, it’s too important to not publicize after reading! If I kept it to myself that would be a sin!” we don’t know who that person is BUT they run the tumblr. No face no name, but a girl. I think they avoid having a self because of their “evangelistic” bent.

Another note, concerning fronters, and this tumblr-girl coming back into focus.
We… we realized today that we are missing most of last year, and notably, a key month was JULY.
January: missing. Probably just taking care of grandma. If we had a music memory log (I don’t think spotify records that, last.fm used to, which is why we GOT A NEW ONE at last) that would tell us.
February: MOVING IN. that’s all we know.
March: gym rat mode, then COVID HIT. We had to quarantine for two-three weeks, and we still say that is what killed grandma. She thought we abandoned her, she couldn’t understand the forced isolation, her memory didn’t hold that fact.
April: grandma died.
May: no memory. First week was eating disorder hell, nonstop sobbing, and self-abusive meltdowns. Wanted to die. Felt like the world had ended.
June: missing.
July: no memory until the SUMMER WARS MORNING. That was a turning point of our life. This happened around the time of the St. Anne’s novena, which is COMING UP FAST, and we plan to celebrate it as such.
August: missing. Probably the “pokemon sc-vo omelet hell” time period. don’t ask.
September: missing.
October: UPMC, we know for sure. Memories are sparse and fragmented, flashbulb memories of (you guessed it) moments when we felt some sort of existential fear/ rage/ panic/ emptiness/ grief/ etc.
November: missing.
December: missing.
So yeah, there’s like… SIX MONTHS GONE. As for this year, it’s similar-- we don’t remember January OR February offhand, at all. We have a vague awareness of some major events that happened that we can’t readily attach a date too, but… disturbingly enough, although the System has been awake this year, we don’t have ANY memories AT ALL until… until Infi died.
...I think that says a lot. That denotes a major “core” shift. And we need new jargon for the distinctions-- the “Cores” are ALWAYS the Jewels and the Jays (if that bloodline doesn’t shatter), because they are the HEARTS of heartspace and headspace, respectively. The other main bloodlines-- like the Cannons, notably-- are NOT “CORES” because they don’t have that hinge function??? Remember that, at the time they WERE in the “core” position, THEY HELD THE “JEWEL” OR “JAY” NAME. So that’s important.
The old “cores” are still around-- the young Jewels, the cupid-era Jays-- BUT they are NOTABLY NOT RESONANT AS CORES RIGHT NOW. They aren’t the “natural driver” in that respect; they have to move in and front like any other nousfoni now. As for who IS the current “Jewel”… we have no idea.
...I say this ironically, as I’m arguably shaping up to be that one. But i’m a mess. I’m a shambles, a handful of broken stained glass, to attempt to appropriate that old core aesthetic. But does it match? Should it? Do I want it to? Would that break me or someone else? These are the questions we need to ask.

Speaking of questions, before I forget.
We’re trying to get back into therapy, as we’ve mentioned previously. Things keep coming up in conversation or daily events that reveal old wounds that apparently never healed as much as we thought they did.
Jay and Chaos 0 are STILL having relationship troubles because there is STILL an inexplicable, subconscious terror at people “acting like Q,” which apparently Chaos does, however subtly. Someone needs to sit down and LIST exactly what constitutes acting like that. What are the signs, what makes them so scary?
We still want to try to write down whatever memories we can find about CNC, too, because in light of SLC haunting us so heavily despite only having about 6 collective months there, we spent like a year and a half in CNC and we barely remember it. We can’t even remember Oliver. That’s insane. We spent that long with them, in such close company, apparently feeling so strongly towards them, and… there’s no memory. The only reason we even “remember” their face is from that SINGLE positive memory that some unidentified person kept, and which has unlocked access. But, even then, it’s so vague we couldn’t even describe it. It’s genuinely upsetting. We have no idea what their voice sounded like, either. Any memories about their physical
presence beyond that are locked behind traumawalls and screaming foni. there’s too much. Now is not the time, I know we keep saying that, but our schedule does not allow it and neither does our lack of coping mechanisms to deal with whatever horrors we have to stare in the face.

Kitchen prep today. Very little memory. Schedule was weird because we went to mass at noon and had to rush even more when we came back, so we could get to bed early tonight as we have to drive jade to the doctor tomorrow morning and have to be up at 630 again. But I digress.
Scalpel, like Knife, keeps catching ragegrief lately. I stick the words together because they are inextricable. he’s pinning it to “you keep adding so much cayenne pepper/ pepper flakes to the food, you told me they were an abuse mechanism, why won’t you stop??” and spice is notably MIA, some days she’s not even around, which is disturbing, as her original function WAS to rage at people for drowning our food in spices until it became inedible, hence her name. But… she hasn’t been around. Scalpel is showing up and berating whoever is doing it, which honestly feels like “nobody” (a disturbing realization as well), but there’s too much anger-on-the-verge-of-sobs for it to be just about that. Something is being rerouted through him, something with no other outlet, using the excess spicy food as an excuse. The fact that it’s being tied to self-abuse methods as a “reason” is notable.
Knife is similar. Like we said before, when he fronts in order to use the knife to cut things, his color temporarily darkens to how it was when he was first “born” (need jargon for that), and the same thing happens-- he feels a frustrated anger, something moving close to rage in its burning, and beneath it these heavy sobs.
that’s what “overwhelm” typically holds. it’s what cannon cut herself off from. it’s what laurie has been running from, God it terrifies me how BADLY she’s slipping lately. she’s a disaster. it’s so wrong.
Everything is wrong somehow. Since Infi died everything is wrong somehow.
Jay keeps running from relationships, or at least, we keep pinning that action to his name because we assume he’s the main fronter, but he’s NOT. Whoever is out, who KEEPS pronoun-slipping to “she”, is obsessive-compulsively praying, giving the steering wheel over to the lotophagoi, and numbing all emotions while denying all relationships.

This brings us back to last july.
June wrecked us. we’re relapsing hard.
July is a hell month in any case. Like october, we can name several trauma dates that happened around this time, over several years. This month also is as hot as hell, which cranks up the fibromyalgia, so the physical torment that we can’t escape from is traumatic in its own right.
(all these fireworks outside are hell too. I don’t know why but we literally don’t register such sounds as fireworks, ever. They all register as bombs, as guns, as explosions. Sometimes we get “flashbacks” to warzones that we’ve never been part of physically. it’s so real. it’s utterly unsettling. I don’t know how much is “exotrauma” and how much is just our actual cptsd from cannon’s days plus oneirataxic tendencies making all our forced shocksite exposure into pseudomemory… either way, time to crank up the volume on spotify for the next two hours)

subject shift while music is on, we didn’t add to this earlier.
genesis’s “vibe” musically is very very different from what we’re “used to”? he’s so energetic, upbeat, bubble, optimistic… and, whoever was listening to it today, driving to and from church, could not seem to “sync” with it. They kept looking for quieter, instrumental, slow music instead. Genesis was a bit offended, said this felt like rejection/ denial of him, but as jay tried to reassure him they realized that HEY WAIT UP, THERE ARE STILL MOUSIFONI SHOWING UP.
I am so glad someone decided to do that HUGE “music history” entry earlier this year, because GEEZ we didn’t realize how INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT & EDUCATIONAL that was until we had that data together.
But now, we’re aware and we FEEL the shifts, and the MEMORY SNAPS that happen DURING MUSIC. There is ACTUAL SWITCHING going on when we don’t resist, when we don’t “sit with the dissonance” and end up blacking out from the mental stress/panic/fear/etc. that happens when a socially-resonant fronter’s vibe clashes hard with what is demanded outside.
But yeah. Genesis’s vibe matches the Jewels, NOT the Jays. And when his music is on, THEY CAN SHOW UP, if they are let in… but so do the OTHER mousifoni. That’s what’s so uncanny. We KNOW what Jewels feel like. But we’re feeling foni move in who ONLY exist FOR music, with chronospaces as only a background hum-- they aren’t part of their experience, just the backdrop. THEY are the ones who really vibe with music, and with the inevitable time-space auras each historical song carries. Yes, we can FEEL Jewels IN THE BACKGROUND, carrying the CONTEXT of that time, the bigger picture, and all the emotions… BUT the mousifoni carry the SOUND WITHOUT THE WEIGHT???? something like that. it’s unreal. It makes so much sense. We need to pay more attention to this.
It will ALSO help us manage memory better-- if the mousifoni are “portals” to accessing lost chronospheres, to pinging buried foni who hold trauma memories tied to certain eras… if mousifoni can stand as doorways WITHOUT holding the actual context data themselves, allowing others to work around them, and move in besides them, as they stand there broadcasting lost experience and enabling forgotten memory to be tapped into… they could be ESSENTIAL to recovery as we move forwards.
I know this is happening, because when we listen to NEW music, there’s no internal feeling of driving. NOT fronting, but DRIVING. Remember THERE IS A DISTINCTION, because to front you have to be IN THE BODY, and listening requires a body disconnect typically. Literally driving, like in a car, calls out the SINGERS usually, which is why they listen to MANIC music typically, and SWITCH OUT INSTANTLY when we park and get out, leaving the next fronter totally disoriented and often shamefully embarrassed at the lingering audial awareness of what they had just been blasting with the windows down. that’s something we’ve become more aware of lately, too, with the daily stress forcing more “awareness windows” due to the underlying stress-hum (which dampens manics, boosts vigilance, and facilitates memory due to survival
response). We need to pay more attention to this, like I said, because there are foni “ARGUING” over music choices as we drive, due to manic instinct clashing with fearful immediacy, and we can FEEL that in our head. Hence all the brainfog and headaches, inevitably.
Anyway. To get back to the original topic. genesis’s playlist. He was upset because, in order for us to GENUINELY listen to it, someone besides Jay has to drive or front, and he doesn’t want someone to show up “just to vibe.” he wants Jay’s company, specifically, not some function-locked social mousifoni who exists to “appease” the sound context. No wonder all our external(ized) relationships are a mess.


Some more notes, different topics.
Jay (definitely one of them, talking to xenophon) decided to wear color glasses as we took out the garbage today, I think to get the brain into a better or different space than wherever it was? Or to prevent a lotophagoi jumping in. no idea. there’s no data prior to him literally opening the door with them on.
He wore four of them today, actually: first teal, then indigo, then red, then blue. It was very interesting to feel their different effects on brainspace. Teal is softly optimistic, but data is almost entirely missing as it was worn on the road so socials block all info access. Indigo we wore briefly, but jay was stunned by how beautiful it made everything look. Leon notably fronted for a few seconds to see, looking at the lights in the kitchen and how they burned like embers, and his brief overlay is so clear in memory. Then jay put on red to walk down the hall, and that was shocking-- the glasses lean red, not pink, so the color is very reminiscent of wounds? that’s the mental impression. He walked down the hall, and all the lights were red, and he was thinking, “it’s like the end of the world.” but he tried to be calm, even so, telling himself that was a learned response, how the red glows in our apartment are deeply safe and soothing, but no-- our reds are heart-hued, they don’t lean in that warmer direction. This red, with the glasses, was blood, and a sign of impending apocalypse almost. Looking outside and everything is quiet but red, red, red. It does something so strange to our subconscious, the bizarre sort of nightmare fear that starts to magma up in the pit of our ribs. Definitely something to explore more. Last was the blue glasses, which had a delay as the screw had fallen out of the side so we had to fix it, and one of the JEWELS moved in to do so? Super tomboy, excited, young, grinning from ear to ear and telling laurie “i love to fix things,” got out the screwdrivers and went to town. Shocking how powerful her vibe was, and how old. So she fixed it, then jay put them on to take out the rest of the trash, and was immediately struck by how actively reassuring the bluetone lights were in that same hallway. It felt like “sunlight” in a sense, he said, like the color of the sky. Fascinating stuff. we’ll have to pay more attention to this, see if it applies to headspace, even just data concept-wise.

...wondering about the music again. How powerful that is to us.
Jay kept listening to infinitii’s playlist after ze died, specific songs. Lissom mostly. Anchored them hard into that chronospace. Absolute bookmark mentally.
But… when he tries to listen to chaos 0’s playlist, that inexplicable dissonance happens again. I don’t even know if it’s from him. It feels like it’s from a girl, who is shrinking back in shame, or denial, or disgust, or fear, or something.
Most of the social girls-- no, ALL of the social girls who aren’t floozies or babydolls, are terrified of relationships. And ALL of them, including those toxic subcats, are terrified of intimacy, of emotional vulnerability. If there is a female-pronoun foni without a face, you can bet your blue-eyes white dragon that they will be both scared to death of, and deathly violent towards, anything even vaguely related to relationship.
Non-social girls, aka inside foni, seem to be split between adult Protector Centralites, and deeply traumatized paidifoni. And even then, these two subcats avoid relationships. Sure, some of the adults are capable of it in theory, but no one really forges anything that lasts. The only relationships that do tend to be not only same-gendered, but different-species in some way. I don’t know, there’s too little data offhand to talk about it, and I already feel the screaming fear clawing its way up our throat.

i’ve forgotten what we were typing about.

We feel so very dead lately. Maybe it’s because of the jademonth, how we were forced to be trapped outside unsafe in our own apartment through no fault of hers. But it happened. We had finally gotten back into the groove of a healthy daily routine, we were exercising and praying and archiving and not binging or purging… and then june happened and that all got shot in the skull.
We can pull ourselves back together, God give us the grace, we know this. but it takes time. and… I don’t know if we want to, on some level. To be brutally honest, I think that’s the biggest problem-- the fact that, post-Infi, and post-grandma, and post-loss-of-everything in one way or another… a huge part of just wants to die.
But the system at large DOESN’T.
that’s the distinction, that’s the key thing to remember with this. The ONLY homicidal, animicidal, genocidal foni in the system are the SOCIAL GIRLS. They think they are the “true self,” the “only one,” and paradoxically this also means they actively, admittedly want the rest of us to die. Although they don’t say it that way, of course. But we feel the disgust, the veiled hatred, in their hearts, smothered under their good-girl bleached-lace masks. They want us dead. They want everything of us destroyed, and they’ve tried before. they’ve almost succeeded, notably in 2019. they almost murdered us all before. We refuse to let it happen now, if we can help it.
...we can’t, sometimes. that’s the terrifying part.

Nevertheless. We need sleep. I hope this formats properly in the post window. I hope I wrote down everything relevant for today.

oh. no I didn’t. One last thing, which is also why I need to sign off before 11pm if at all possible.
Genesis said that, in all sincerity, there was only one thing he wanted for his 18th birthday,
because he’s “old enough to ask for it,” half-jokingly… he wants a connection.
As in, the one thing that elicits the most fear and disgust and hate and grief and joy and confusion and apathy and God only knows what else in us.
I repeat, WHY.
Why are we still so bloody terrified, AND enraged, at the thought of emotional closeness and relationships??? like there’s a HATRED response, based in revulsion, BUT it’s ANALOGOUS to what we were told as a CHILD??????? from the mother and grandmother, that constant vilification of vulnerability, and the outright ABUSE of it, oh we didn’t even tell you what happened last monday, how the mother STILL FCKING ABUSES IT (ssh) DON’T YOU SHUSH ME YOU HEATHEN BASTARD. LISTEN. I’M WRITING THAT SHIT DOWN. OH GOOD NO ONE’S CENSORING ME TONIGHT,
LISTEN. WE WERE AT THE LIBRARY, DOING THAT PYSANKY EGG CLASS, AND WE-- EXCUSE ME FOR THIS CRUDE LANGUAGE-- HAD TO TAKE THE BODY TO THE RESTROOM.
WELL! THE FCKING MOTHER FOLLOWED US IN, AND LITERALLY STOOD RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE STALL DOOR, TALKING CONVERSATIONALLY, THE ENTIRE FCKING TIME, WHICH HAD OUR BODY SO FREAKING TERRIFIED WE MENTALLY SHUT DOWN AND SOME DO-WHATEVER-YOU-WANT-TO-ME TRAUMA APPEASEMENT GIRL SOCIAL TOOK OVER TO JUST NUMBLY GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS. THAT’S ALL WE KNOW.
BUT THE MOTHER. DAMN IT THAT MOTHER. THIS IS SUCH A MINOR EVENT BUT IT SHOWS A DEEPER REALITY. SHE DOESN’T FCKING CARE ABOUT PRIVACY OR RESPECTING OTHER PEOPLE’S BODILY AUTONOMY IF THAT’S THE RIGHT WORD I DON’T EVEN KNOW.
BUT THIS IS THE SAME DAMN WOMAN WHO WOULD WALK IN ON US IN BATHROOMS AND DRESSING ROOMS AND SHT WHEN WE WERE A KID. OH I’M ENTITLED TO LOOK AT YOU WHENEVER I WANT I’M YOUR MOTHER. THERE’S NOTHING WEIRD ABOUT THAT GET USED TO IT. ETC ETC ETC BULLSHIT.
SHE STILL FCKING DOES IT IN A LESS BLATANT WAY. SAME DAMN MINDSET APPARENTLY.
ALL RIGHT THAT’S IT FOR RANTING. SORRY FOR THE PROFANITY, I NEED IT OR ELSE I GET SWITCHED OUT.
DON’T HATE HER, I KNOW I WANT TO HATE HER BUT SHE’S SO BLIND, SHE DOESN’T EVEN REALIZE WHAT SHE’S DOING, SHE ACTS LIKE A FCKING ROBOT ALL THE TIME, JUST SOCIAL PROGRAMMING, WE CAN TELL BY HER DAMNED PRISSY “MOVIE STAR” SPEECH PATTERN AND UGLY FCKING PRONUNCIATIONS, SHE’S ALL AN ACT AND IT PISSES ME OFF SO DAMN MUCH. SHE’S SUCH A FCKING FACADE. EVERYTHING SHE DOES IS FAKE AND MANUFACTURED TO BE A DRAMA QUEEN. I HATE IT SO DAMN MUCH. BUT WE CAN’T HATE HER. THERE NEEDS TO BE THAT DIFFERENCE.
ALL RIGHT I’M DONE TALKING SORRY ABOUT INTERRUPTING BUT THAT WAS IMPORTANT.


don’t ever let anyone tell you we’re not multiple when I forgot how hard shifts feel, it’s been years, has it, since we noticed,
the “wake” of knowing someone just left, that brief hole in memory, that feeling like “where am I, where was I,” that body shake and the headache, the dizziness as vision comes back online.
don’t ever let ANYONE tell you this is fake they are a LIAR we are ALL REAL!!!!!!

oksy we’re gettng siwtwtsw swithyc switchi.g sorry. that is a very hard word to type!

Kid’s right, it’s time to sign off or we’re not going to get any decent sleep.

No wait. Wait. I owe Genesis a proper conclusion to this, even briefly.

I don't know why I'm so-- no, I can't even use "I'm," my sense of self is so wrecked and fractured that honestly doesn't apply--
wait, maybe that's the problem here?
Maybe that's the problem. maybe THAT'S why connections, and love at all, is so absolutely unbearably scary right now.

Kid, there's a hell of a lot of trauma to be worked through there, don't forget. If anything is going to make you, or anyone else up here, afraid of getting close to people, it's the bloody trauma. I would know. I've got it too, kid.

...

So does Genesis. You should really go talk to him about this, instead of trying to type. The head's a mess, and like I said, we all need sleep. Tomorrow's going to be another rush of a day, and I don't need us relapsing from stress when we get home. We have no bloody time to process anything but forcing it at this hour is not going to help. Sorry, now I'm the one rambling.

No, it's okay. We've been saying for weeks how we need a Xanga session anyway.

Not at this hour you bloody don't, get the heck to bed.

One last thing, which is the most important thing. I think i need to monologue this, Laurie, I apologize.

Don't. I just stepped in here without warning anyway. God knows I'm just as shattered in self as you are, kid. We don't need two of us broken heads in here at the same time, things are uneasy enough at this hour.

...
...yeah that's also something i need to talk about when our brain doesn't feel like it's stuffed full of cottonball novocaine.

but. closing lines.

genesis, deep down, way deep down where emotions can't even register right now, i do love you. i hear girls scoffing and gagging and sneering at that even now. i feel the same and self-hatred and horror responding from other girls in our ribcage, somehow. the two rival armies.
i don't care what they have to say about this. i can barely exist right now, but i owe you something, with whatever vestiges i have to my nonexistent name.
but, in a space in our heart of hearts, a space that can exist in a bubble, a space untouched by those social girls, there is a truth that exists: you are my best friend. i care deeply about you. your existence brings me so much joy. i look forward to spending time with you. if you were gone our life would lose so much sunshine. no, i can't default to "our." if you weren't in my life, i would feel the loss like the sun was missing from the sky. i want to just go upstairs and sit and watch fireworks with you and maybe even kiss you if i'm not too scared or dissociated. i know you want more, i know you want closeness like the old days, you want hearts broken open like gemstones and you want shared spaces of souls like starfields. you know exactly what i'm trying to poetically imply. you want connection, there i said it, and you want to connect with me, you love me, why is that the most jarring part of this?
now isn't the time to dwell on that. there are too many "me's" responding to that. too many people who have heard that pronoun applied to them, or had it forced on them. there's so much pain, so much fear, it's choking. the fear alone could kill you. all these shaking screaming children. what do we do. what can we do about it, on such short notice,
god i'm so sorry,
why can't we love anymore? why did cnc kill this? ever since then, even while we were living there, that's part of why it was so terrible-- we realized we were no longer able to feel love, all we felt was rage, unbearable rage, and fear. we never recovered.
no. not yet, please, we need hope,
genesis you've always been that hope, and you know it,
but i need to know it,

i'm coming upstairs and even if i'm shaking and dizzy with fright please don't turn your back on me, please you know the real me, not the me who is talking right now, i meant the deeper one, the one that loves you, he loves you, go find him, let him be with you, don't let the rest of us get in the way, please, we really don't want to, at least us good ones do, we're just scared but we know when there's truth, or at least, we know who to trust in here. not so the outside not so. no
switching sorry. to much
genesis happy birthday sory we coulnt scelebrate much but hapy 18th! happy birthday we are glad you are with us really we are

independence day. hm. we're not free yet
not freeyet. not yet. but hope! always hope

hey we were supposed to end this entry a long time ago
sorry genesis okay i will let everything happen whatever happens. please be careful!!! please be careful

I will be, don't you worry. Thanks for the cheerleading, I need it. It's nice to be on the receiving end for once.
Oh hey, cool, I get to sign off. Hope this post button works, whatever happens happens!




.

May. 2nd, 2023 11:13 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)


god what are you trying to tell me.

i am feeling dead, completely dead, for the third day in a row at least

and i have spotify on

and it is playing one system song after another.


i still have that other girl
late night partner
living/breathing
fathom.

my heart is weeping.

and yet i keep shutting it down. suffocating it. burying it under six feet of infamous plastic.
dying inside. freezing to death. calcifying.



listen, yesterday was literal hell.

infi is still dead. i'm dying. i know it. everyone knows it.
xenophon...

xennie got so mad at me for "not being her father anymore" that she just left
she refused to talk to me, she wouldn't even acknowledge me, when i tried to ping her upstairs she would pointedly ignore me

and chaos 0
i forgot how bitter he gets when this happens
and yeah you all know this has a history
"what, and you never considered how this would affect me?"
calling me out on my narcissism
"you thought you could just abandon twenty years???"

but what if god wants me to

there's the girl voice. there she is.
listen that's the problem
I HAVE to be a girl to get to heaven
but is this heaven????
because it feels just like hell
there is no love, no joy, no hope, no faith here
just religious compulsion and a hollow heart
or arguably no heart at all since ze melted into oblivion last week
but i don't care about that.
ze wasn't real, according to me.

and i'm the "real one," i guess
because i'm the girl
because i identify with the body
even if it doesn't look like me
but you can see me in the actions and the face at the wrong angles
and in long hair when we have it
and how it's all just a FCKING PARODY OF THE FCKING MOTHER

LISTEN YOU SHUT UP I HAD ENOUGH OF YOU IN THE FREAKING HOSPITAL.
OH ARE WE CENSORING ME NOW???? 
FINE
GREAT
LISTEN I'M STILL FURIOUS ENOUGH TO SPIT NAILS THROUGH THIS KEYBOARD

WHO THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, CLAIMING OWNERSHIP OF THIS WHOLE SORRY BODY????
YOU THINK YOU COULD TAKE CARE OF IT????
FAT CHANCE SISTER
NEVERMIND I DISOWN ALL POTENTIAL RELATION TO YOU
I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH THE HEARTLESS WITCHES LIKE YOU THAT KEEP TRYING TO KILL THE REST OF US

EVERYTHING HURTS


we feel so dead. it's just like our childhood.
no sense of self. no sense of purpose. just background noise. just static. just playacting. just empty show.
never a future to look forward to. never anything to live for. every day just a whitewashed tomb.
"we weren't even abused" someone says "how dare you, we had it so good!" another one scolds.
listen i'm not here to debate mangled childhood memory
i know what terrifying things we do remember. i know what toxic aftereffects are glaringly obvious. we do have trauma you know

DON'T YOU DARE GIVE ME THAT "IT'S ONLY TRAUMA IF YOU WHINE ABOUT IT" GARBAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

we do need a therapist i think
just to see what happens if we try to talk about this aloud
see if we get hijacked or shut down and shut up
see who is able to front, if anyone anymore,
the body has become so unsafe
and the 2018 disaster made fronting fatal for most of us
i don't want to think about that i will throw up and try to kill myself
ourself
i don't even know


god help us

"he won't help you if you're not a girl!!!!! :)" that's all i hear
oh and they're starting up with the worse thing too
"you have to be a good girl, and good girls have s*x with men!!!!"

SHUT
THE
HELL
UP
DON'T YOU DARE CENSOR ME
GIVE ME ONE LINE

LISTEN YOU GODDAMNED BITCHES FROM HELL STOP TRYING TO FORCE US TO FUCK PEOPLE I SWEAR I WILL MURDER YOU

THANK YOU


the fact that that has returned is horrifying
it's what fueled the julie days in the very beginning
also, in case you forgot,
we had gender dysphoria even in elementary school
so stop claiming there was this "perfect widdle girl" we have to "go back to being" "in order to be saved" etc.
you're all just pedophiles and satanists
we have proved that before
oh don't think i forgot that one horrifying xanga in north carolina
when you basically straight-up admitted to being the sexual perverts you are
hiding it under "religion" and "femininity"
and all you're doing is objectifying little kids
framing our entire life as "worthy" or "unworthy" of being lived
based solely on how f*ckable we are
i hate what you've done to our life
"what life" you say and smirk that prissy pout
just like the bottomfeeders you are
"you don't exist! :)"
christina was one of you
you're all devils in pastel dresses and lipstick
underneath all that you're swarms of maggots
go back to hell where you belong




god please what do i do.
"i" used very loosely.

you know that we have a dualcore running in this heart here
jewel and jay tagteaming the whole operation
they were working so well, god, honestly we thought they were,
but
you weren't happy with it?
you said, "no EVERYONE has to be GONE and there must only be ONE GIRL ever"
and you want us all to die?
i can feel this channel slipping
scared kids wanting to weep and cry from fear and confusion

i keep thinking of poor xenophon

god telling her that her father has to die
that her father was never real in the first place
that he's not allowed to be a father
that his love is illegitimate
that he will never ever be allowed to love his family
that his family isn't real
that his life is doomed to be deleted by a self-hating pig of a girl

what now
what happens to her

does she die too? just like her actual mother?
don't spit and grimace at me you hellish women you know ze was
"ze was an abomination you say" aha but you used the right pronouns
and your mask slips for just a second
i see the grotesque hatred beneath all the makeup don't worry
i know what you are.


but the doubt and fear lingers
what are we? what is the system, really?
we thought we were learning real love
but
the more i read these entries from 2012 and 2013
reading about our life back then
we were so misled
we were so blind and dumb
we were so unbelievably LOST
no wonder our life was hell back then, our spiritual life was a JOKE
we believed everything we were told and it was all ABSOLUTE GARBAGE
painted in pastels and covered in glitter of course
marketed to seem oh so lovely and sweet and good and holy!!! etc etc
but it was LITERAL HELL.

is that what we're doing now?
this obsession we have with religion lately
still so motivated by fear and performance
MUST say this many prayers, MUST say them at these times, etc.
"if you don't God WILL punish you!!!" just waiting for us to screw up because we WILL and he KNOWS it
not knowing how to love God
not understanding how he loves us
because
we're not allowed to feel love in the first place
and all the "spiritual" faces in the world insist, at one point or another,
that even "spiritual" love just turns into sex

it makes me want to die forever

honestly if eternal life means being a sexual girl then
then i'm afraid i would rather die
because that's eternal life in hell you're describing
absolute literal hell

and yet i'm trapped
we're trapped
trapped in this poor diseased animal of a body
which our faith INSISTS is "eternal"
which is TERRIFYING
so you're telling me that not even death will free us from this bloated corpse?
that we'll have this cancer-shaped girth strapped to our bones forever?
that we'll be damned to this whorish biology even in alleged heaven????

god i am so afraid


listen
please

right now i cannot feel anything at all. at all.
i am numb and i don't care and i want to die.
but in a way i miss this
because i'm recognizing this as something that happened in the past
in a SYSTEM past
and whenever there were hollow empty hell nights like this
even system resets like the one we're obviously in
sooner or later
there was a resurrection.

OF THE SYSTEM.

NOT YOU HARLOT FEMALES HANGING AROUND THE EDGES OF OUR MIND
YOU'RE NOT ALIVE TO BEGIN WITH

i want to throw up so badly
but even saying that triggers out that blue girl with the straggly hair
her entire existence is that feeling
she refuses love as a stupid farce, as an impossibility in her perpetual hell
god what do we do about people like her?

honestly i
in the system i would love to be able to heal her
for us all to get over those shackles of past trauma and move on together into a future of hope

but
it feels like god keeps saying

"whoever loves his life will lose it"
if you love those people,
i will kill them
i will take every one of them away from you
so all you have is god

but whatever is saying that can't be really god
because i never, ever, ever ever feel any love from it

is that what real love is? detachment? white empty sterile?
or is it that other horrible flipside, the other corruption,
the "e****c" horror that even mystics shamelessly talk about
if that's love then no wonder i'm trying to freeze myself to death


god it's all just hell at this point

except headspace
except headspace
and i have no idea how to cope with that fact

i want to exist.

listen i want to exist
i want to live and love and learn and help others inside AND outside, please,
let that be how things change and grow, not this annihilation,
just open and expand our hearts more so we CAN live in the body TOGETHER
instead of losing it to those girls
to those female fractures that live to hate and hurt
why are they all like that?

the threat is always,
"if you heal them, they will take over, and go right back to how they were"
the fear is that if they get a foothold, they'll immediately press the "reset from factory settings" button
and scream/sob/laugh all the way down to gehenna

we always knew we weren't alone in our own head
why are you trying to erase that fact from reality
you can't just delete the past twenty four years
but you're trying
all in the name of god, you say
and that's what scares us into submission

"god is a consuming fire"
and i was always just a fragile snowflake of a boy, i guess
if i was even that
am i just doomed to die? because i wasn't the first one? because i don't match the body?

god we're so lost.


yesterday
xenophon got so angry. heartbroken. distraught. crying and shouting.
"why aren't you my dad anymore"
"where did my dad go"
"why did my mom have to die"
etc.

and chaos 0, silent in the shadows, with those eyes burning like the end of all things
grief and heartache so intense they would flood the entire world
"so the past twenty years don't exist to you anymore?"
"are you just going to pretend i don't exist?"
can't even translate it correctly
if he let his actual feelings out full force it would literally kill me
or whoever he was talking to
if they even are alive enough to die at all
with their empty ribcages i doubt it
they're already graves with faces.

laurie falling to pieces
literally shattering on some level
her color fraying like the dust on a butterfly wing when you tear it
just destroying her completely
she's tied to the core, always,
no wonder she's fracturing too


i'm so tired

is my love a sin?
the girls gasp and laugh and sneer and spit "yes"
i'm not even me talking right now i can feel it
that hollow girl keeps shadowing over me
pretending this is all a farce, a game, a playact
and she can just ignore and forget this when it's done
erase it even, shut it all down, go try to die

DON'T YOU DARE

thank you,
whoever you are you are always around and honestly thank you for existing

she needs a name
honestly whoever she is she deserves recognition
what am i even trying to say
i'm so so so glad that at least one person in the system is always able to be around in times like this

even so
the core is always supposed to be able to love
that's the main criteria
and that very sentence elicits the scandalized howling from the women
weird replacement for the floating-voice boardroom honestly
these women are, rather blasphemously, standing in the church hall
in their pastel dresses and lace and bulging purses
like our childhood memories
whispering and sneering behind nailpolished hands and fancy hats
in god's own house
just because i said the word "love"
and they call me a slut


...
i was, once. i'll admit that.
2012-2013 so far are bringing that regret into sharp reality in my mind.
yes, i was misled. yes, i was desperate. yes, i was stupid.
but yes, i was a slut. i tried to own the trauma and i just became it all over again.
but i'm sorry. i know i did wrong. and i know that wasn't love.
still.
i know i was still feeling love besides all that confusion.
i CAN tell the difference.
...i hope.
all this hell lately is making me wonder
two things:
either,
real love IS somehow being a slut, but only if you're heterosexual, or
real love is numb empty cold detached somehow. "god love." no emotion.
i know that's fake
i was reading voice of the martyrs today
and that one islamic shepherd reading about jesus describing himself as the good shepherd
and it changed his life forever
because he KNEW how much he loved his own sheep, tenderly and carefully and gently
and he never thought GOD could feel like that, let alone towards HIM.
and THAT is God. THAT is Love.
and dear God that is what i want my entire life to be.
just love.

am i not allowed to have this family

i know it's weird, i know it's biologically impossible, but we exist, please even if we're not "normal" we're still trying to live for love, for you,
what are we doing wrong?
why do we have to die?

why did infi have to die?
was it just to jumpstart all of this?
was it just so i could learn to love hir again, in the crushing grief that gripped my heart?
was it just to give hir another second chance to live after the trauma?

why can't we look at it
why can't we let go
it literally feels like a gravestone
even the julie days weren't like this
even the slc days weren't like this
it was just cnc, and what happened there, it broke us
we never wrote about it, never talked about it,
just replayed the killing blow over and over and over and over in our head
and tried to kill ourselves with an eating disorder every night
unable to bear the physical memories and mental horrors
wanting to die and hating ourselves beyond our ability to cope
disguising it as self-indulgence but really just reliving the fatal event
don't want to talk about it
don't justify it
it deserves its own entry
five freaking years later

but i won't touch it now


what do you expect if you delete us all and rewind to, what, 2007?
do you want us to be that social-mask of a girl that primped herself for q all over again?
she thought love was just talking nice and being nice and making yourself like everything they did even if you didn't
and when he said he loved us, IMMEDIATELY the cannons were born
"anima's" life purpose had been achieved, she could die now,
and then the reality of what she DID slammed into us and we couldn't cope
so we turned hard red and tried to burn ourselves to death.

who do you expect us to go back to?
hoseki, the manic one in 2005? burying herself in video games and anime to the point where she didn't even live in the body at all?
or the jewels before that, in late elementary school, who were absolutely homoromantic and EXPLICITLY wanted to "grow up to be boys"?
or the kids that held the birth name, who hated having to wear makeup and dresses and hated being lumped in with the other afab kids?
how the heck early do you expect to rewind the tape? what are you trying to find?
we've always been a freak if you haven't realized yet
or is your goal different and deadlier
are you just trying to kill us completely?
"if you all die we can MAKE the perfect girl for God™ instead" and then what?
honestly what is your end goal? to go to heaven? to "win"? to be "good"?
you view this as an achievement? a trophy? a diploma? an award that you're "pretty and perfect?"
you vapid china dolls.
you don't care about anyone except yourselves
YOU'RE your OWN god

you don't know how to love.

i do.

don't laugh at me. stop. i'm tired of the shame kickback.
deep down i know i have to know what love is, right?
i mean
everything else i read, despite my many failures and faults,
i still genuinely loved people
at least
isn't that what it was?



i'm so tired
we have to be up early tomorrow, eye doctor
considering driving the back roads through the woods
worried about dissociating or breaking down and getting totally lost
don't want to drive it alone in any case
but
dear god please whenever we're out and about genesis shows up please,
please let him always show up
i love him
he loves me
please don't kill him or take him away
(saying that is a death sentence, now god KNOWS what you're afraid of and he WILL do it JUST WATCH)


i'm so tired
physically of course, we're always tired now
xenophon likes to tease me about it on the way down the stairs
"dad did you take a melatonin??" no sweetheart the body's just exhausted.
but we always talk. just... normal talk. everyday talk. family talk. i love her so much.
god am i not allowed to be her father?
am i not allowed to exist?
would you
would you leave
god i can't say it
please don't kill me
don't tell me i have to die in order for someone else to go to heaven
and no not in the christlike way
i mean like,
i'm not allowed to go to heaven, i have to DIE, and that heartless wench will go instead "because she's a girl"
it makes no sense.
i'm so tired
i wish i could cry



last night i did for a few seconds please god let me write this down
whoever was out yesterday,
someone "shut the system down" for several hours
took over totally. felt like an empty apartment. all bleach white and dead wallpaper peeling
actually binge-purged for like two hours
did not care
the whole time reading the bible like the hypocrite she was
honestly disgusting
then crashed on couch and slept
went to bed not caring
or at least, she tried.
but someone got through.
i think it was adelaide and julie. the two girls who are trying to take care of the body instead.
but it opened up the window. let some of the night air in. some hope.

suddenly i was there
trying to say night prayer alone
and it felt so wrong
then suddenly
as i was trying to just say the closing salve regina
alone for the first time ever
i felt someone at my shoulder
listen i wasn't even looking
part of "me" didn't want anyone there
i didn't call anyone or ask for anyone
but he was there.
"are you going to say that alone?"
the tender pity in those words, the genuine concern,
i stopped and just turned and looked,
met green eyes in the dark,
flatly managed to respond
"i thought you had given up on me"
and i will never, never forget his reply:

"jewel. i'm fidelity. i will never leave you."

and i sobbed.

i pulled him into my arms, close to my heart, and for a few seconds i actually cried.

for a few seconds the world all came back together
soft and silent and bittersweet ache

i don't remember anything else after that
except for knowing he was there
for not being able to deny or ignore the weight of his existence
like a rainbow after the flood
and falling asleep with teardrop eyes and blue in my arms


god what do i do

i can't feel this as a girl
i'm not a girl
the girls have a different job
they can't fall in love they're just kids

but then what about the teenage jewels?
whoever was around from 2004-2008, inbetween the chinadolls and cannonfire, before the bloodline shift took root?
there's no record left of them
god what were they like? who were they?
is that who you want me to be?

how do i just... let go of fifteen entire years?
how do i let you just erase half of our life?
oh i know the jewels used to pray for it
but literally, god, they wanted to literally go back to childhood and start over without the trauma

that was before the system existed
that was before this family existed
and yes i'm talking about ALL of headspace

i love every single nousfoni up here
i don't include the hackers and devils in dresses of course
if they want to be included they have to stop trying to murder us
they say "oh how dare you we're not trying to murder you!!" insert silly laughter here
passive indirect murder is still murder
i know exactly how your hearts are inclined
you want us dead.

but i
my memories keep replaying those few seconds after the massacre so many years ago
it's not even my memory it was just burned into the systemind
when jessica and cannon shot everyone down for this same reason
"you're all whores and sluts and you ruined my life and you deserve to die" etc.
and infi and i both died
and laurie didn't
and the city was falling apart
and the sky and the ground were all red for different reasons
and she held my bleeding body in her one remaining arm
and she
god what do you even call that
the most gutwrenching sound i've ever heard
a sob and a scream all at once
choked with blood
as everything died.
i keep seeing that moment of total despair
over and over
like a flashback
i can smell the gore and gunpowder
i can see the broken glass and guts
and i just hear her voice
tearing reality in half.

i don't want that to ever happen again


oh lord please
if you are love
and if
forget it i have no right to say anything like that


god please
even if i'm a
even if i'm a damnable sinner for begging this
please
i know i'm a wretch
i've been white, so i carry the plague
i carry the pride and apathy and ignorance
and i've carried red too you know
all the violence and rage and bloodlust
point is i'm no perfect diamond
i'm just coal under pressure
you know that i'm just carbon dust
what am i even trying to say
oh yeah
that i'm completely wretched and unworthy and sinful
even if i tend to pretend i'm a prism or something
i'm just a mess.

but i love them, god.
please don't kill them.
please
if i am allowed to live
and to love
and to take care of this body
and to take care of this family
then please
help me to do that.

but
if

if i have to die
please don't hurt anyone else in the process
please give xenophon the parent she deserves
please give chaos 0 the partner he deserves
unless that's not in your plan either
but i am begging you
if it is
i hope it is
with all i have left of me i hope it is


but
if i have to die
and if a girl has to take over

then god for your own sake
take out my heart and put it in her
don't let her me like those other girls
don't let her be corrupt
don't let her be heartless
if there is anything good in me at all
if there is any love in me at all
then kill me if you have to
kill me and gut me
and give all the good stuff to her

if she can love the system
if she can love my daughter
if she can love my beloved
(and you know no words sum up what he is to me
even if i'm not allowed to call him a spouse)
if she can love,
BOTH inside and out,
AND this poor body and self,

then i'll happily die and let her take over.

but if you're only killing me because i'm a boy

if you only killed infi because
god i don't even know why
because ze was part of me i guess

if we all have to die because we're "abnormal"
and i have to die because i'm not a girl

then god for your own sake i am begging you
at least make her able to love.

if anything will enable her to be properly holy
it's that.

she'll love you and all the people around her

even if we all have to die for her to do that.




god i want to weep
is this going to be my last night alive
will i ever hold him in my arms again
will i ever be able to love without hating myself now
feeling like an abomination
feeling fake and foolish and fated to hell
maybe this will kill me
honestly it already is
the disease is terminal

i'm going to miss music
being able to perceive beauty
summer rains
christmas lights
the scent of the lilies in church
quiet sunlit mornings
quieter starlit nights
laughing with genesis on the road
joking around with my baby girl
all those treasured conversations with laurie
all those blissful hours with chaos zero
i'm going to miss everyone
i'm going to miss existing


but it's all up to god i guess


i don't know what to think or feel or say at all anymore

i wish i could cry

but i think the calcification has gone too far


i wonder if the girl will be able to cry
i wonder if the girl will be able to laugh


who will she love? anyone? or just god?

i feel sick


are we all just garbage in the divine sight? so easily tossed aside?

i don't want to think this way
it can't end like this
except it can


it's almost 1am
feels like i'm being executed in the morning

i don't want to sleep

god i want to stay awake and hold everyone in my arms and weep

but i'm

already i can feel them trying to take over



today i felt the shift
i'm no longer the established core.
i have to front now.
i'm not automatically in that central position
i'm just another nousfoni now
but
there's no one else taking up the core role

are we supposed to collapse?

we just
we finally get together again after so many years
and then god just pulls the whole thing down
takes a wrecking ball to the stained glass windows
just like we never were


is it a sin to fight?
would it be a sin to wake up tomorrow and try to front?
would it be a sin to fiercely try to be myself for everyone's sake?
would it be a sin to continue to try and archive our history?
would it be a sin to hope desperately to keep on living?
or
or should i just give up now
delete all the files
forget all the past
give up the fight
and just hand over the reins to whoever shows up?


lord help us i don't know

"he won't help you" the women say


i'm too existentially hollow to argue anymore

i want to feel something
like i was starting to when i began this entry
before someone shut it all down
ashamed of my emotions
disgusted by my feelings
hateful towards my existence
shut it all down
bleach it all out
paint it all over
cut it all out


i don't want to feel this empty
this isn't me
what hope is there
what hope do we have
if this is all we are meant to be?

if this is what existence is
maybe we'd be better off dead



no

NO

NO WE'RE NOT

NO WE'RE NOT YOU KNOW THERE'S COLOR UP HERE
THERE'S RED AND BLUE AND GREEN AND VIOLET AND ORANGE AND YELLOW AND BROWN EVEN LIKE ME
THERE'S BLACK AND WHITE AND THEY AREN'T DEAD THEY HAVE SPARKLES IN THEM
EVEN I KNOW THAT
PLEASE
PLEASE
PLEASE
DON'T DIE
DON'T LET US DIE
DON'T DIE
DON'T LET IT ALL DIE
PLEASE
THERE'S A RAINBOW UP HERE AND THERE'S LIFE AND LIGHT I PROMISE YOU THERE IS HOPE SOMEWHERE
SOMEWHERE

WE HAVEN'T DIED YET
THEY HAVEN'T KILLED US YET

I

I DON'T WANT THEM TO EITHER

PLEASE DON'T LET US DIE


i don't know if i have that say at all


TRY PLEASE


what and blaspheme god


IF YOU SAY GOD IS LOVE THEN GOD IS WITH US BECAUSE WE ALL HAVE LOVE UP HERE AND YOU KNOW IT


is our definition wrong
it has to be
god's ways are higher than our ways


why do i feel so resigned to death

why can't i accept even the possibility of hope
it all feels heretical
like if i dare to look for sunlight on the horizon
i will be guillotined as an apostate

nothing is worth living for anymore
how stupid

"you're supposed to live for god" they say
listen i want to
but i honestly do not know who god is right now

remember the shepherd, someone else says
the good shepherd doesn't kill his sheep because they're the wrong gender inside
or because they have lots of other sheep in their heads
people like us aren't supposed to exist
we're aberrations in reality
we don't count
god has every right to murder us
and start over again


i want to cry
i don't want to die
i don't want us to die
i don't want my daughter to die
i don't want my daughter to be alone and unloved
i don't want laurie to mourn over any more massacres
i don't want the world to burn


i think i'm going to lose my mind if i stay up any later

oh god i'm so afraid this is the last thing i'll ever write
i'm barely even conscious


to everyone in the system i love you
xenophon my baby girl i love you
chaos 0 my better half forever i love you god knows i do
laurie and genesis and infinitii i love you all so so so much
the entire system, everyone, i love you, i swear i love you until the stars burn out
all our hearts are bound together in a blessed kaleidoscope and no one can deny that
it's the truth
i love all of you
i love all of you


i never meant to hurt anyone.


i'm so sorry if i'm the death of us all.





if there's anything after this

i want to see all of you again

if not


then believe me when i tell you
with every last fading atom of my heart

that every single moment
for all of you
has been beautiful.


if the love i've shared with you all is the only heaven i'll ever get
then i thank god that we had it together.

not even death can change that.



maybe we'll all still be here tomorrow and i'll feel like a fool
but dear god forgive me
wouldn't that be so much better
to laugh affectionately over my drama
to survive and become a little better, a little brighter,
instead of the silence of oblivion


there's no way to rightly end this.


i'm going to choose to hope, then.

oh i know it's foolish

but what else can i do?

that's always been my biggest flaw.




to the entire spectrum
i love you
even now when i feel nothing
even now when i swear i'm dying
i love you

if my life has been worth anything

if there has been anything worth living for


it's you.
 







- j
 











032723

Mar. 27th, 2023 11:36 pm
prismaticbleed: (held)


we are STILL WRECKED and i just miraculously surfaced from a solid hour of negative dissociation (terrible) so here we are attempting to update.

morning. woke up at 10. oddly lovely outside. decided to just lie in bed with chaos 0 and say the rosary on his aquamarine one.
shockingly non-stressful. took a huge burden of panic off the day itself too, now that the biggest prayer was done.
barely remember getting ready, typical. no idea who fronts during that time or if it's just an automated blur with everyone upstairs (most likely).

went to church at 1130 as usual.
readings hit hard. susanna and the adulterous woman. felt julie AND infi upstairs weeping.
homily had one absolutely killer sentence. we were so brainfogged we barely comprehended it but the core of it struck our heart. exact words were "god is not a divine watchman." he is not waiting for you to mess up so he can punish you. "jesus delights to forgive us" essentially. still reeling from it. we've heard that truth a thousand times but it always sinks in deeper. he did not throw the stone. he never will. boggles the mind

afterwards went to doctor. different guy-- nurse assistant. heavyset dude but in that "soft edged" way that is weirdly safe on guys??? like he was completely rounded off. no edges. but SAFE. why is that not so with adult women? is that just motherfear??
anyway. incredibly amiable, elbow-bumped us twice which was great. very upbeat and bright voiced. honestly an uplifting appointment, that's not something you usually say after a doctor's visit haha. he ordered blood tests: our routine CMP to check for electrolyte levels (we're STILL twitchy), a testosterone check, and a pulmonary function test? because of all this sudden-onset dyspnea. had to drive to other clinic to get it done.
decided to do so. system was a bit unsure but i said dude tomorrow's schedule will be worse. so we went up. walked right in, barely waited two minutes, then this adorable phlebotomist with a krylon red waistlength ponytail, cinnamoroll backpack, plush white jacket, and nazar bracelets called us back. seriously she was SO CUTE.
bruise was out for the blood draw. they are so elusive, only show up for that. they still remember the hospital they were "born" in. can't get their face or overlay but we know it's them. so many foni like that-- rare, vague, but real. honestly i love them. i treasure their existences.
we were really bleeding??? they only took one vial but the needlejab kept bleeding. she asked if we were on blood thinners, we said no, but mentally thought, welp this is what all that black pepper does i guess. made a mental note to cut back geez

went straight home. body starting to feel a little off, unsurprisingly because it was already almost 3 which meant like 18 hours fasting again. man.
looped "yankı" and "teletype" this ENTIRE time btw, mostly the latter. they are our current song addictions. for the record, a song only goes on our looplist when it resonates. so, whatever the state of our heart-mind is currently, those two songs match it. we really should make a list somewhere and keep track of this-- i never realized how much it says about our psyche at any given moment. that's vital information.
for the record, jonathan higgs is ALSO tops on our list of "gender euphoria" voices actually. which seems bizarre because he's alongside liam mckahey and philip kane and ed harcourt and the like, BUT jon has that way of singing that is all hiccupy and gasping breaths and faltering tight vocals and it's gorgeous what the heck. we would love to sound like that when we sing, it's so raw and honest and real. strangely heartfelt. we love it.
also for the record, that IS scalpel's legit singing voice. several 'foni do have external voicematches in song, which is ANOTHER list we have to make, and it's a beautiful thing to hear and realize. it's also so powerful an anchor that it can boost life and love into one's soul to such an extent... i can't find the words but remember, the ONLY reason we even FOUND scalpel was BECAUSE of that one awful beautiful day in CNC when we put "get to heaven" on loop and just tried to run away. and he just woke up for real. totally and tangibly. i will never forget how it felt, in that moment when suddenly his existence was undeniable in our chest, in our mind, in our life. singing with that voice. i think that's our favorite moment from the whole time we were out there, offhand at least. it transcended everything else.

oh man still so much more to type. why are we so ragged tired.
sorry we didn't take notes today, that would have made it easier, but our schedule was a mess.

breakfast prep. honestly the highlight of our day besides mass. everyone is together.
on that note everyone is trying to figure out "jobs" to ensure they are part of it. it sounds silly at a glance, but really it's cooperation. it's living as a family, really. as a community of souls united. it means so much. this new daily normal of friendship and love and conversation is amazing because we could NEVER have this externally. socials CANNOT do this. it is only possible inside. thank God, thank You God for this apartment, for this blessedly rich aloneness, for this quiet outside and joy inside.
quick note on that previous point. one of the "jewels"-- the one who is more of a "mental manager," still unsure if she's a total separate or just a facet of the main dreamwalker-- actually SHIFTED the nia/emma/"sheralene" trio INTO "STORYSPACE"??? not leaguespace, but CLOSE. it's a floatrealm of "potentiality" in which they can exist in a greater context as PEOPLE and not just "fleeting" socials that exist for hyperspecific jobs and then inevitably die when said jobs disappear or are changed. really, roni like that ABSOLUTELY need their own jargon; they are ONLY born when the mind is fractured and/or unstable enough to not be able to cope with changes in context/ behavior/ environment, and needs to hypersegregate functions THAT MUCH in order to function at all. like doppelgangers, though, they are not meant to stick around. theirs are brief lives, and it's effectively impossible to bring them upstairs as a result. they are doomed UNLESS APPARENTLY JEWEL DOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
even so. lynne asked her why, was it just out of annoyance with them? like was this action done for an impure reason? jewel said partly, admittedly, but that was only because of the MENTAL EXHAUSTION that was happening from having to suddenly SHIFT TO SOCIAL MODE EVERY TIME THEY SHOWED UP. then we'd have to go back upstairs, then back down, etc. like a whiplash, as we said. jewel said it was getting so excruciating, both in pain and overwhelm, that she had to do something. otherwise we risked tearing the system apart.
so. julie and lynne did the carrots instead, while talking to xenophon who was ghosting, AND listening to the conversation from everyone else upstairs in the background. and THAT showed us something ELSE amazing-- THAT KIND OF "BACKUP" FRONTING PREVENTS DISSOCIATIVE SOCIAL-PROGRAM BEHAVIOR!! when julie is fronting with her overlay in focus, but lynne is at her shoulder upstairs, that combined "external action BUT internal anchor" based on TWO PEOPLE is powerfully solid and it keeps everyone FOCUSED AND REAL. i must emphasize: NOT SO WITH SOCIALS!!! socials are infamous for being so disheveled and blurry-minded that not only can they not resist body impulses or programmed behaviors, they also don't record memories on their own and have NO DEPTH OF IDENTITY. we can apparently bypass ALL that catastrophe by having two people drive this body. so that was a VITAL realization today.

other things...

there was some brief but notable "flirting" between julie and infinitii. there was last night, too, with the chocolate kisses. no one is surprised that those two get along so well, but on the other hand, it's a legit MIRACLE that the both of them are in a position to do so safely and affectionately. they both have the WORST pasts in the entire system, arguably. so it's nice, honestly so, seeing such interactions.

at SOME POINT during prep, i cannot remember what prompted it because we were admittedly dissociating right before, but memory kicks in with scalpel saying, about leon, "i could be his boyfriend" in response to some question. totally guileless, like it was just regular conversation. that endearing obliviousness he has. leon just stopped everything, not looking at him, silent as the impact of those words hit home. laurie effectively said to scalpel "that's a seriously significant function, man, do you really realize what that entails?" and to everyone's surprise, scalpel got serious & noble and said "yeah. it means i'd be there for him, and i'd care for him, and i'd be his constant friend, and i'd love him no matter what. i can do that, if he wants me to." HONESTLY SCALPEL WHAT MOTIVATED THIS.
anyway. i think laurie was responding with a similar "wow okay so i guess you do know what you're signing up for" when suddenly leon turns and throws his arms around scalpel and starts to sob. for his credit, scalpel immediately and strongly returned the embrace with notable earnestness, then asked (with no timidity at all, mind) if he had said something out of place, or jumped the gun, or whatever. leon said no, that was pretty much why he was reacting like this. cannot remember their conversation; that's only right, as it was meant to be more personal, even if everyone was around (that's default up here in any case). i do remember leon weeping over nathaniel at one point. "i miss him so much." scalpel responding to this with utmost warmth by pursuing the topic, gently. just leading statements about nat. "he was such and such... right?" that sort of thing. focus entirely off of himself. just genuine concern & comforting. but geez. it was so sweet to see. also remember that at one point at the beginning, when leon was talking through tears, scalpel responded in comfort by just turning briefly to kiss him on the head, firmly and with utmost compassion. reminded me of laurie, but different underlying vibe. reds are so... geez i keep using the word "guileless." candid. ingenuous. at heart they're totally open. laurie said that they're, amusingly enough, sanguine. which sums it up perfectly really.
so yeah. that happened. it was deeply sweet and honestly jay has been "feeling it" under the radar from leon at least for about a week now if not longer. different with scalpel he says-- warm hues and cool hues hold emotions differently. if you lean blue, you're more quiet, reflective, holding hopes inside, waiting, dreaming, softer, hiding depths. if you lean red, you're more forthright, direct, expressing things openly, being more spontaneous, solid and steady, acting on dreams, warm and bright and simpler. hard to put into words. it's all feeling. of course this varies with tints and shades and people who are "inbetween" like laurie, haha.
but it's really nice. we do need to think and feel about that more. jay's good at getting "vibe" data from people, need better jargon for that too because we don't like the cultural use of that word. frustrating. want to use words like "ether" and "aura" but those have newagey junk associations. ah well. we will think of something.


for the record, because it makes us smile, here's the current breakfast prep gang.
laurie: keeps everyone on track and gives the orders
jay: initial tool & ingredient prep, also broccoli apparently
xenophon: cheerleader, keeps fronters stable, gets bonus food
julie: olive oil, also typically fronts for generalized behavior
lynne: carrots
leon: eggs
knife & razor: cutting up the eggs
scalpel & phlegmoni: cayenne pepper bros
celebi: salt (the "second most important thing," her and julie bantering)
spice: black pepper & cinnamon, also making sure the previous three people don't go crazy
genesis, infi, and chaos 0: hang out upstairs and keep the conversation interesting
galadia: possibly giving her triscuit duty? (right now it's jay & julie)
algorith: straight-up throws the towel on the chair
barry: shows up just to get his name on the list
mimic: stabbing the water bottles
it's great. we love it.
we honestly want to bring more people into this. even if just for that hour or so every morning. that attention is still life-sustaining, loving, and precious. the more we can give to each other, the more time we can share, the better.


ate from like... 330 to 430. cleaned everything up then read the church book club chapters for tonight (we need to read them right before or we will forget from how much else gets memorystored over it).
cannot remember the meeting, as usual. socialmode takes over. we still don't know "who" is in charge. it's a familiar vibe, for sure, but it's still unnamed and uncolored and ungraspable? like that person is completely unpingable outside of her context. honestly though that's typical for socials; they DON'T EXIST UPSTAIRS or it would BREAK THEIR FUNCTION. emphasizing that because it's the opposite of the internal nousfoni. again, hyperspecificity. no bleedover, no blurring.
however, there is vague memory data again where it brushed closely to us.
there was some brief discussion about the "widow's mite" and how we have always lived "on the edge of poverty" so we "felt like the rich religious who gave out of obligation but not out of love"??? surprising. often "too scared to give as much as we wanted" because "afraid we can't pay the bills." except WHO IS SAYING THIS because we are INFAMOUSLY OFTEN BROKE BECAUSE we keep putting so much money into the collection baskets, haha. we love to give to the church. but we do have to be prudent. nevertheless "we have decided in our heart TO GIVE, however much we can, we WILL" without shackling ourself to a dollar sign and making it a cold anxious duty instead of a warmly generous gift.
some vaguetalk about our struggles. afraid of "subtly denying God." peter not denying He existed, but denying their relationship. somehow more fatal that way. little "sins of omission," failing to give details of my "faith," afraid to use His Name, not admitting to mom that we went to church, scared to pray in public. BUT WHY. said we'd never really "investigated" the reasons there and it disturbed us. note to selves: that's our job. ironically the system DOESN'T have religious shame. the socials DO. there's definitely a reason for that but, again, surprisingly, it's not evident at all. so we have to look for it.
other point. wedding at cana. "my dear, why are you telling me this? my hour has not yet come." hearing that spoken with a laugh. as if it had been said in headspace. "beloved, i already noticed!" "i'm not unaware" etc. but lovingly. "i do know, and i do care, don't worry. you don't have to tell me!" and yet, "my hour hasn't come." heard by us as, "believe me, i want to do something, but it's not the right time, not the right place." the whole feeling of "mom i already want to help, don't make it worse!" with a smile. and mary, "do whatever he tells you," leaving the options open. if he says yes or no, do that. i don't know. still meant a lot, that thought. like that's how jesus response to our prayers of worried petition. "we're out of wine; we're out of joy, out of zeal, out of energy." the looming shame, the inability to serve others, the lack of life. jesus looking at us with a smile tugging at his mouth, "how does that involve me?" wanting us to answer. appreciating the asking. i hope so. but already knowing he was going to act. just give him time. do whatever he tells you. even if he saves everything until the last second.

oh yeah. at beginning of meeting the leading woman told us "i was remembering what you said last week, about your friend at bible study, and i was inspired to look up the etymology of the words i kept praying, like "mercy"... it's really enriched my understanding and i want to thank you."
upstairs we were pinged. jay just looked over at mimic with the biggest sappiest grin. mimic was just, stunned. wide-eyed, almost abashed. two mentions of "your friend." and "thank you." and "you helped me." jay made a small but affectionate comment on this, no data of what. but mimic replied briefly in the astounded affirmative. the feeling of "i actually had a positive impact on someone??" and letting himself feel that strange consolation for a moment. like a single star in the night. hope. "this isn't so bad." hard to pick up on his data as he doesn't "globalshare" like a nousfoni. but he isn't as walled-off as he tries to be sometimes still i think. no bones after all. his words can be hard but there's something different deep down.

before i forget. at some point today mimic had a monologue, like he used to. cannot remember about what. but it was positive, although it had its edges of course. i think he was responding to laurie about something. either way he was speaking with serious earnestness and jay says one or two milliseconds of vulnerability. like hypersmall but THERE. the hairline fractures in the armor.

got home for 815. mom called the instant we opened the door.
said she was bringing up food. IMMEDIATE panic response. dissociated into jumbled fragments, could not think or hold conscious identity. unable to do anything as a result.
someone went online looking at pokedex?? all the new ones. profoundly disappointed in the direction the games have gone since xy. no longer "like" the series at all actually. lots of spiritual disagreement with the cultural concepts too, especially the animism and a lot of the stuff behind ghost/ dark/ fairy/ psychic/ fighting type bios. notably remember the dex entries for annihilape and ting-lu. disturbed. realizing how much "occult" and honestly borderline "evil" stuff IS in pokemon. very upset. remembering the real joy it brought us in 2000-2004, and arguably again with xy, and how now it's gone? there's too much that has changed.
still. conflicted. cannot deny the past, ALSO cannot deny that so many core-adjacent folks are legit "attracted to" certain pokemon. celebi is obvious, so are gleam and ventrium, and we have confirmed that it was a GIRL pseudocore that has feelings for galadia!! so that's notable. BUT remember no one talks about skittygirl, or gardevoir, or deoxys, or alakazam. they're all on the "it could happen to you" list haha. and TOSHINSEI is a league of his own, good lord. but that's the point. we can deny and suppress it, which we sadly have, but really we cannot shut that love off, it's impossible, it would require heart-numbing and we ALL see the lethal effects that has, because that's EXACTLY what the system and/or socials did to survive in EVERY OUTSIDE "RELATIONSHIP" TRAP. we don't want that inside. not anymore. problem is there ARE 'foni who exist TO fight affection and love and attraction and everything to do with relationship even in concept. they are the most brutal "not-quite-protectors" and they are POWERFUL because they literally kept our physical body alive by fighting tooth and bloody nail against those very real dangers in the past.
that's a whole topic that we need to discuss soon actually. the relationship aversion and how pervasive it has become in the wake of the most recent traumas. and yes they ARE traumas, you said yourself, if you can't run and can't cope and feel like you're going to die and after that's all you want to do, yes it is trauma. even if you playacted like it was okay. even if you won't admit you were scared to death even now. numbing out and wearing plastic smiles doesn't mean it's not traumatic. genuinely caring for the other person and wanting to live for them doesn't mean it's not traumatic when the process of doing so effectively eviscerates you. cnc was existentially horrifying. forgive the common phrase, it's the truth. it was the ultimate unresolvable war between morality and obligation, between affection and self-preservation, between identity and other. it didn't snap us in half, it shattered us like blownglass flung onto concrete. irreparable. and yet god we hope there's still a miracle of healing waiting somewhere, somehow. cannot reconcile the love with the terror. remembering how bad our addictions got. remembering how actively suicidal we were. remembering how we don't remember most of anything and didn't want to. et cetera.
can't deal with that tonight good lord how did we get on this subject. oh yeah. pokemon. isn't that tragically fitting.
nevertheless. so interesting to note that they are NON-CORE relationships for the most part. the core is always connected to chaos 0. ALWAYS. it is the sole most important and intrinsic criterion. but. pseudocores weirdly tend to gravitate to pocket monsters. is this because of their constancy in our life? is it because that is the world the original jewel, the first true core, used as her own anchor and launchpad? there's so much to wonder about.
anyway, that's what makes us even more sad that we haven't been able to play the games in almost ten entire years. and looking at the new pokedexes, we might not even want to. they don't feel like we know them, or could know them, anymore. they feel totally alien to us.
(one notable exception. remember the 2021 hospital girl and her OBSESSION WITH CALYREX. no one has typed about that besides her and no one has read her journal. FIX THAT.)
nevertheless. someone still wants to save up money, buy a celebi gba at last, find new-battery cartridges of silver & ruby and just... relive that joy. we miss it so much, honestly sometimes it's unbearable. which is shocking.
would you believe that is one of the ONLY things that will ALWAYS make the body cry? when we remember our old games, our old teams of 'mons, and how we lost them to cnc, how someone gave them away like they were worthless, how much we miss them... it could make us weep. there was SO MUCH LOVE in those games. god how did we never cherish that fact? how did the hyperreligious 'foni never realize that truth?
God i honestly could cry. i wonder if TBAS still has them. i wonder if they carelessly erased our data. what a horrible thought. what awful death. i don't think we could handle that. but it's a possibility.
stupid impossible dream hoping desperately that one day, we could get them back. one day, we could ask them, somehow, and get the games back. we could see our dearly loved friends again. all of them. i could name them all by heart.
god it aches so much.
nevertheless. jewel says, gently but with conviction, "there's always the league." "i can thread their souls into there," she says. "i won't let them die. i can give them a life bigger than what they had even then."
oh lord we hope so. we hope so. we should. give them lives of their own, free from this progressively mutating brand, keep them resonant with our heart and just as close. give them not just a restored present but a new future.
i think that would help us all.
there's so much unprocessed grief. i'm glad i realized this.

mom showed up around 845 i think. only stuck around for like 30 seconds. handed us the food and left. busy as always. god bless her though.
thank god it wasn't much food because we were terrified for some reason. felt damaged lotophagoi around the edges screaming in panicked fear. nousfoni trying to push through but brainfog was immense. literal terror from the smell of it. why? what was it triggering?
someone chewspit it all within two minutes. almost crying from fear. wanted it gone as soon as possible.
only data is from small chocolate chip cookies mom sent. julie immediately pinged. "uh oh, those are dangerous." like alarm bells. told us to be super careful or "very bad things could happen"
someone brushed teeth, we started to calm down and hard-depersonalize to recover (typical response), which detached us from the body and allowed headspace to come back online as it were.
someone washing dishes. we were still shaking and scared. as a result couldn't move body well and slipped, ended up splashing dishwater all over the counter, and into our actual food. had to throw it all out and start over. thank God it was just stuff we had prepped before the book club; easily fixed. but the problem was time. it was 9PM ALREADY. we were getting so weak and dizzy from only having ~900K the entire day.
jay and julie randomly sharing cleanup duty, while some terrified religious 'foni kept saying that "this is punishment for wasting mom's food. now god wasted ours, so we know how it feels." we solemnly agreed that this was correct. humbling and convicting. decided that from now on we can't "save her feelings" and instead flat-out say NO we don't want any food, yes we love you mom and we appreciate your caring generosity but we cannot accept this in good conscience because we need to take these dangerpanic responses seriously. if we take it there will only be disaster. it's not good. it's morally corruptive to pretend otherwise.
anyway. environment inside and out such a mess jay couldn't front. so JULIE DID.
honestly it is UNREAL how EASILY AND POWERFULLY SHE FRONTS. someone commented on this.
she responded by reminding us that, during the long-ago "julie days," this is what she wanted: complete control of our body. except back then, she wanted it to do "terrible things," to us and to others, she admitted ruefully. but now... there she was, taking care of the body, frankly better than anyone else, AND the only person to NOT get crushed to death by the dyspho/dysmo hell. she was just... fine. unfazed. "at home" even. she still cannot look in mirrors, or at the body itself-- that is still existentially jarring and it will shove even her out instantly-- but she can be IN it, as we do other things, without any trouble. it's miraculous, no exaggeration. we're so so grateful for her.
i remember she was "co-fronting" with lynne again. she kept inviting the breakfast crew around, even for a few seconds here and there, to get us all to stop shaking from stress and feel together again. which was really sweet and nice. she was also brave/brazen enough to eat one or two pieces of things out of bags and bowls, without any binge impetus, or carelessness. she said "i decided i wanted a piece" and that was that. also new kitchen rule is that if you are fronting and you ARE going to eat a piece of something in the kitchen, you MUST share it with xenophon. this keeps everyone accountable, and also helps prevent dissociative socials from showing up. plus xenophon takes her job seriously! she WILL call you out if you're acting unstable.

can't remember dinner. jay coming back in to read psalm 102 with mimic. remember him saying "well this is relevant." note that jay STILL "identifies" with honest pain despite the whitecore "sparkly-eyed" stereotype. he shares in the system suffering personally. his heart is apparently, intrinsically, still red. this is good. that shows he's not rotten inside like lotus ended up.

oh. jay says to write one thing. when he was cleaning up the kitchen and the body kept dissociating, the religious 'foni pushed us into floatspace. they kept "apologizing to God" frantically "i'm sorry for wasting mom's food i know that's why you punished us i'm sorry please don't kill us what can i do to make it better" and. the response they got was literally FROM THE CROSS. "it's all right. i know you're sorry and i forgive you. i've already paid the price for your sin. just don't do that anymore."
the girl felt the awful weight of that. even something as small as her wasting was a sin, a crime against love, and it must be atoned for. but she couldn't do it. only He could. and He was doing so, paying that price completely, with His Blood. right there. right now. and we knew we were responsible. we knew the gravity of sin and it was unbearable.
and suddenly, mimic was standing there too. he was a little ways away, wide-eyed with shock, looking up at the cross. tears streaming down his face. he turned to look at us then. "is that what it means??"
they had a conversation. all blood and nails. the Lamb and the octopus. we cannot remember it, it's all terrible painful gritted-teeth emotion, anger regret sorrow rage guilt confusion horror. and in response, patience compassion forgiveness justice mercy. despite the gored wrists. despite the bloodsunk eyes.
trying to just walk away. couldn't do it. trying to take the money and run but couldn't. the momentous exigency of the fact almost intolerable. "this is the freedom you wanted, isn't it?" paid in blood. and now what? how do you walk your old way knowing this? it leaves a wound. it haunts. the freely given death to save a life not even worth living, suddenly giving it that option. unbelievable. scared furious with the burden of selflessness. struck to the heart by the undeniable personal investment placed in him. hopelessly undeserving but nevertheless. admitted as the sordid felon he was and yet. take it or leave it. life or death. but it changes you.
remember clearly one line from the cross. one bleeding tender response to the why.
"because i don't want you to die."

simple profundity. broke everything in half.
whole scene stopped suddenly when we got back into the apartment. no idea what happened next inside or outside.

julie got us ready for bed.
she did all the kitchen cleanup. she kept nibbling on raisins and triscuits and carrots, but mindfully so? reassuring xenophon that she was only doing so because "this poor body really needs some more food" and we had barely hit 1400k for the day. "besides we won't be able to eat until at least 2pm tomorrow" so she wasn't worried. but she shared every bit, and kept talking to headspace, and stayed accountable and responsible and respectful.
she got really thrown off by the mirror at one point. commented pointedly how disturbing it was to "not see yourself in it." but she strongly pulled her overlay back in and kept going. god bless her she is LITERALLY keeping us alive lately in this unstable core period

tomorrow is church, adoration hour, then come home and eat, then actually an hour of freetime? maybe we can read or rest. but then go to church to clean up for holy week possibly, and if not, then just to the prayer & song service after. then home and eat dinner and type and sleep when it's all done.
exhausted, for real. but... deep down there's a joy. it's anchored in our faith and in our heartfamily. we're very grateful.


what else
nothing? long day. very tired . need slepe sleep oh hi! i'm back!
um nothing to write though. jay says he wants rl really wants to write about chaos 0. not tonight too much typing and also brain shift. too tired too much time. im tired too but say hello. hello!
okay that's it. oh wait no alsos ay we want to archive more post hospital book writing more. says it helps us love each other more. yes it does thats good!! but no time lately. too much outside body things. but learning he says? not as scary as used to. people helping. living in it together oh wow! thats good im glad that show it shoud be i think
okay. i barely type. front. cannot stay. tired! bye


032623

Mar. 26th, 2023 09:44 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)
 
(unfinished, unrefined. posted from phone to fix later)




Exhausted morning
Couldn't think straight. Almost late to Mass

Ran to st John's, back for rosary
"Why is God letting me be late? Does He want me to miss prayer?" Felt like spite; scary. Reminding myself "that's not His character". If He DID make me miss the rosary then He has a GOOD REASON for it, not spite or "payback"

Mom call when we had just put vitamins in mouth
UNBELIEVABLY TRIGGERING to talk while "eating". Legit rape feeling

Small psychoemotional collapse again. Very difficult to recenter. Body forcing heavy dissociation to cope

Leon and the frankly PERFECT eggs
Razor approves (she was able to cut them the way she likes)

Genesis is a "healthy snack" injoke
no idea how or why he started that whole thing but everyone was laughing, we needed that


Verse of the day pondering. A favorite in concept but one we never quite grasped properly.

Bible Study Exodus 14
pasting to take notes on:
"Fear, anxiety and distrust were pulsing through the hearts of the Israelites as they fled through the desert and found themselves stuck at the Red Sea. They had trusted the Lord, but for what?... as the enemy and the oppressor advanced towards the Israelites, the people began to blame Moses and doubt God. In the months leading up to this moment, God had shown His power through the plagues that brought Egypt to its knees, culminating in the Passover and freedom for the Israelites. However, in this moment, suspended between an army and the sea, nobody paused to remember God’s faithfulness and might. All they could see was their present, and very real trial... Sometimes, in the face of our current, and very real challenges, we forget everything that God has already done for us. It’s easy to lose sight of His faithfulness and begin to blame people or things for our situation. Doubt can settle in and we are enticed to step back from the life of faith that God has called us to. Are you facing a challenge right now? Has your faith been tested or has doubt attempted to overtake your heart? Faith looks back on all of God’s faithfulness and powerful deliverance. Faith also looks forward, beyond the present trials. Despite whatever troubles, challenges or impossible situations you may find yourself in, remind yourself that God is powerful and mighty to save. He has been and will always be a rescuer and a redeemer. Like the Israelites on the shores of the Red Sea, you may not see a way right now, but God can make a way. You may not know how, but you can have confidence that He will."

We never "understood" their behavior until now= Egypt was the bulimia, the Red Sea is all the illness that followed? But "DON'T TURN BACK"!!!
Proper hope= in GOD'S UNCHANGING GOOD CHARACTER, NOT IN ANY PRECONCEIVED OUTCOME BASED ON MY OWN OPINION OR LIMITED UNDERSTANDING

Broke dish onto dinner prep
Had to toss
Felt like God's discipline

Want to screamweep. Stuck in this awful not-me birthfam girl mindset. Feel trapped in birthlife and old house. Damned to be a fleshly singlet. Do not want this.
Don't want to be mad at mom but the frustrated heartache is translating to such in the absence of processing.
WE NEED TO JOURNAL ABOUT THIS STUFF
EVEN MORSEO, WE NEED A XANGA.
We must talk to EMMA & NIA, ADELAIDE, WHOEVER THIS WHINY BIRTHFAM GIRL IS, AND WHOEVER THE HECK TRADFEM GUTLESS FORNICATOR GIRLS KEEP CAUSING BLOODY DREAM HACKS

Back to church for Gorzkie Zale
Radio talking about scrupulosity
Humility says "if not for God's grace and help I'd be even WORSE"
Service went well but SO MANY INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS, distractions from postmeal brainfog, and massive identity collapse from all the family stress & looming terror.
Neutral girl corpufoni kept pushing through. ALWAYS wanting to "shut down the System" and delete all evidence of us. But they have NO PLANS OR COMPREHENSION of HOW THEY WOULD EXIST after that. I'm tempted to call that "sugarcoated suicide" because that's the gist of it. They think that if they annihilate everything to do with a sense of self, ESPECIALLY of one separate from society-- how ironic-- everything will be perfect and THEY WON'T HAVE THE BURDEN OF INDIVIDUAL EXISTENCE. These are the girls who enslaved us to the eating disorder. They're demons with dresses.

Unbearably depressed, felt like I wanted to crack my guts open and shriek with misery. Very alien feeling, not me at all. Feeling so lost.
Didn't want to go home and risk triggering out any negative coping foni.

...
I miss being in love without all these feelings of hateful shame & disgust & damning scandal.
Still torn to shreds over those three nights of inexplicably "pink" dreams. Need a better term btw. But... I'm honestly ANGRY more than anything??? Because half the time, THOSE GIRLS ARE PLAYING A ROLE WITH HIM. They feel like "love" is a concept superimposed on them and they DO NOT LOVE HIM. they only feel that unnerving "bland girlfriend" programming that drove the entire Q hell. There's NO ACTUAL PERSONAL EMOTION.
They want to "be a good girl" without existing as a person. They could NEVER BE WITH HIM. It's why HE'S NEVER ACTUALLY THERE.
With me it's the complete opposite. I have memories of him. They DON'T. They honestly CAN'T. And God willing they WON'T, EVER, because so help me I WON'T LET THEM ANYWHERE NEAR HIM.


...

Laundry panic attack
Randomly decided to do rugs
TERRIFIED that they were going to make the washer explode
So anxious we wanted to vomit & die
Had to go down & sit in the laundry room "in case we had to stop the machine if it caught fire" etc. Wrecked with nerves.
Again feels like divine punishment for something. All of these events literally feel like crosses: death sentences for some unpardonable crime we committed. We did something so heinous today, that God said He would burn all our clothes to ashes, punishing us for doing laundry on Sunday, by making the washer explode. That'll serve us right. Have you learned your lesson yet?
And inside some typical Jessica foni starts to scream in tears, "WHAT LESSON YOU'RE NOT TEACHING ME ANYTHING YOU'RE JUST BEATING ME BLOODY AND I'M SCARED"

Being in this laundry room smelling the soap is probably going to set off the dyspnea wheezing again. We're so tired. We feel like Job. "God why are You attacking me so? Why are You treating me like Your enemy?" Is it because we ARE??? Despite the sacrifice of Christ, are we STILL God's enemy? Why? Because we're not straight or cis, even though we've tried forcing, but that feels even MORE sinful from the blatant dishonesty?
You notice it ALWAYS comes down to that? "God is going to kill us because we're queer." Hate using that word but we do because it's a halfslur and we deserve it. It's an ugly ugly word. we want nothing to do with it. but the bloody label is nailed to our skull regardless. remembering the family talking about "those disgusting trannies." how that felt like being injected with poison. "dirty faggots" and "those gays are going to hell" and all that. still haunting us even though we stay far far far away from the community at large. doesn't mean those stupid flags don't apply to us regardless.
and God hates us because of it. that's always the bottom line. "you're SUPPOSED to be a straight white cis femme woman in an actively sexual homemaker marriage with babies and aprons and makeup and all that garbage" etc etc etc we would literally have a psychotic breakdown. i'm sorry. it would be such a blatant LIE to live like that. and we KNOW that because we TRIED!!!!
(no idea who is typing its all a blur)


Heart hiccuping. Too numb from panic to care. Almost wishing we WOULD die, just so all this nonstop screeching fear will be over.
"The LORD has not given us a Spirit of fear." And yet ALL our fear is of THE CRUSHING FIST OF GOD. We live our days typically in cowering fright, walking on eggshells around the Divine One, knowing that He is SO IMPECCABLY HOLY that the very thought of our existence merits total & instant annihilation. Like in "Spirited Away," how humans had a "stench"-- that's how we feel around anything Good. We're just junk. We're garbage.

How the heck did Jesus become HUMAN.
We've been struggling catastrophically with the increasing weight of our humanity lately, literally and figuratively.
The inner foni-- nousfoni at their purest-- are LOCKED INSIDE for the most part, else they risk fatal corruption. That's what happened in CNC, in all its explicit horror. But corpufoni are LOCKED OUTSIDE, bound to the body, and with NO internal presence-- no imagination, no sense of eternity, no concept of selfhood other than in the mirror.
The body feels like something unnatural and extraneous, a gross slag of flesh strapped onto us like a garbage bag... or more accurately, like elephantitis. The whole bloody thing literally feels like a cancerous misgrowth, especially the reproductive parts. The chronic dysphoria we get from that is intolerable and enough to shut our brain down from existential horror.


I know we need to be humble by being so keenly aware of our gross humanity, But at what point does it just become self loathing to the point of even further sin?  What is the difference between true humility and still believing that you can be saved and that this body can be resurrected, And whatever the heck this is where I feel like I'm so incredibly filthy and wrong and Deformed that I don't want to live in a body that looks like this forever. And that is frightening because then what hope do I have for eternity?
God help us. 

...

body weak and shaky from not eating
julie fronting for most of dinner prep??? why is SHE so easily able to front when we're wrecked??? is it because she has such a powerful overlay and an ancient anchor???

eating hurts all the time now. we're so tired. hoping it's just stress. we're always running. can't just sit and relax; the stomach is always in knots from panicky fear and schedule pressures. so so so tired God please we need rest so badly. please please with easter let us at least have a break, at least for the week of easter. we'll need it to cope with the inevitable onslaught of raw GRIEF that is going to slam into us like a freight train

typing for a while tonight. needed to catch up. no archiving, but want to. that always helps our heart, even when it hurts.

tomorrow is going to be a debilitatingly rough day. weird schedule, very hard to orchestrate timing. inevitable social exhaustion; WAY too much one-on-one interaction required. god give us the strength to endure.


(unfinished)

031623

Mar. 15th, 2023 11:04 pm
prismaticbleed: (Default)

Heck of a day today.
Quick update to get back into the groove.

Woke up around 8am? In and out of sleep until 10:30. Legit WARFARE against hacks.
Worst part was that, as always, when we're asleep during the day (i.e. whenever there's legit sunlight), we cannot get into a "safe place" of sleep. It ends up in that dangerous liminal space, where you're half-aware but completely loopy and unable to reason. 95% of our hacks happen then, because that's when you can be targeted AS an individual-- many of our night dreams are dissociative, too.
Infi was being used. It was terrifying. Ze was acting... just like ze did in CNC. "I'll do whatever you want me to." That programming ze was born for, tragically. Self-objectification, but never seeing it as such. Just being the "lover" with no thought to self or consequence. Well I fought it, and I-- as confounded as my own consciousness was-- kept telling hir that I didn't want that from hir, ze shouldn't want TO do that, etc.
Somehow we ESCAPED SAFELY. The body woke up, UNHACKED, and within seconds I felt Infi run to me in headspace, throw hir arms around my waist, and sob. It was heartwrenching. Ze felt so small and powerless. Since CNC, ze has lost that "angelic" feeling entirely, which is sadly understandable as ze "fell" very fatally, but it's still disturbing to perceive. Even so I'm glad ze's still alive. I comforted them the best I could.
I don't think Chaos 0 was targeted in the dream, thank God. He's virtually impossible to use; Infi is the exact opposite-- like I said, hir original function was to be a trauma cooperator. Chaos has fought any and all hackers with all his rage since the very beginning.

We went to church, which we could barely concentrate for again because our brain was still super foggy, we were still dizzy & lightheaded, and our body was still twitching and spasming. Honestly we have no clue what's going on and it's concerning.
After mass we did some quick shopping-- we got extra oats, triscuits, and ultima for emergencies, and grabbed a pack of white christmas lights from walmart. Unfortunately, upon getting home we realized they were LED and as such they are cool white, NOT warm, although it says that on the box. But they lean blue, not amber, so we have to return them tomorrow.

Honestly by the time we got home, unpacked, and made food, it was like 330. Breakfast prep, like church, was upsetting and disoriented, and it was hard to even hold or maneuver the utensils due to how floaty our head felt. We kept dropping things, and our dexterity was severely impacted. Talking upstairs was affected too, since our general consciousness was so compromised. I remember telling Laurie that we were "so tired we could cry," from sheer exhaustion. The body was painfully hungry, too.
But, once again, when we started to eat, we had no appetite at all. We were full within five minutes, and then had to fight the urge to throw up from nausea. What gives?
Anyway, I told Xenophon I was determined to keep it down, so I did, but it was rough. The body felt wrecked.
We sat down on the couch and read the materials for tonight's Catechism group. By the time we did so, what with our brain like it was, it was time to leave.

The group itself lasted 2.5 HOURS. It was great, though. Unfortunately-- as usual, due to "social mode" mechanics EVEN in religious contexts (I wonder who fronts for THAT?)-- we do not remember ANY of the discussion. Maybe if we reviewed the papers, we could access some data, but there's like... nothing offhand, just general "feelings" of what we talked about: mentioning that we were "going through a religious crisis," how we were so frustrated with "positive affirmations" in therapy, the problem of "relative truth & morality" in today's culture, and everyone trying to reason out exactly why Jesus flipped the tables if He was "kind and gentle." That last one had us restless; we couldn't put into words what we knew about such an action FROM LAURIE. I know we said "He still loved the money-changers as well as the pilgrims and THAT is why He flipped the tables" but no one seemed to grasp our point. Like sometimes you need an uppercut to the jaw to stop being such a jerk, but it's done out of love. Headspace stuff, haha. Of course we didn't think of that at the time, but the ambient data is making us think of it now. I apologize, our mind is still a mess. Suffice to say it was a good group, but we always feel like we're "blabbering" (whatever we say) and we never feel like ourself.
OH. Other bizarre thing. We were sitting next to one of the guys from church, and since everyone was seated close together, at one point we realized that he "smelled like every other guy we knew" OUTSIDE of the family??? like there was a "typical male" smell? like the same with women. it was SO WEIRD. i'm sorry if this is triggering, it sure was at the time, but it was also strangely comfortable? like although we've never been attracted to men, that particular scent is tied to memories of qlok and even mc. nice guys. but our dad smells different; much less sharp, more leathery. we wouldn't mind if we had that scent, really, especially now that we're on t again. i always joke that "my favorite candles smell like my dad" anyway so hey. but yeah bizarre topic, definitely triggering in some very subconscious brain place, but still an important thing to note.
hm. i wonder if it's so fascinating because of our weird latent obsession with aromachology. but people smell so strange. so different. i'm not used to that. we've had very limited close contact with humans our entire life, so when we are close enough to know what someone smells like, it's very significant actually. and it sticks. it's said that scent is a very spiritual sense, and also that it is the most powerful memory trigger. we can get behind both of those claims for sure.
...we still remember exactly what mel smelled like, as well as qlok. deeply fond of them both. mc smelled like q, but just slightly different enough-- less green, more orange? synaesthetically of course. and tbas too, we remember fragments of that. lots of severe triggers there, but no hard feelings. just sorrow & regrets.
we used to laugh that we could "do laundry with our eyes closed" in the family home because everyone had SUCH particular smells. grandpa especially. mom has that musky-sweet tone that still triggers us, despite its familiarity. grandma's scent CHANGED over the years; when we were young, it was more perfumey (she always wore some), but as she aged, it got softer? it was such a soothing smell. we miss it terribly. but then it changed again when she got cancer and got closer to death. that smell is burned into our brain, heartbreakingly so. we still have the blanket she died in. it's so strange. it smells like her, but not.
weirdly, right now, we cannot remember what our brothers smelled like. not since childhood at least. that's very telling for our brain. and it's clearer when we think of their possessions. like i know what jade's plush whales & spiders smelled like. and i know what diamond's plush seals smelled like. and i know what astra's coats smelled like, because we would always borrow them. it's so strange. i even remember what their hair smelled like. not sure how, haha. but this is all childhood data. of all of them, we liked diamond's scent the most. jade's was very musky, like mom, and astra's leaned too warm-tone? but diamond's was lighter, almost grey at the edges. clean, not sharp.
i couldn't even tell you what this body smells like. the only "scent" we identify with is, again, tied to childhood memory and objects-- notably unisalia, and our grandma's bed. it's more like the scents around us.
but we can't imagine. we can't picture ourself in third person, in a body. every time we try, we remember someone else. and we miss everyone so, so much.
regardless. nothing else to say there for now.


got home for 9pm. exhausted. so hungry and shaky and weak, we could barely think straight.
ate a small dinner, but immediately after we got SO unbelievably nauseous, I almost had to run to the bathroom to throw up. like i was looking for zofran, that's how bad it was. again, what the heck is going on.
it wasn't too bad though. two small purges. nothing painful. we ate a few more triscuits/ evoo/ broccoli to compensate, then did the nightly kitchen cleanup and sat down here to type.

however. most important things.
julie ended up pushed to front DURING the "compensation" meal attempt. not sure who she was talking to? guide voices? but she was out, ALONE, for a few minutes. surreal.
she mentioned to laurie & jay later that "it felt like she was watching the body as a spectator," like although she was in it, "it was running almost entirely on automatic" even so. she felt genuinely sorry for it. said it seemed so lost and confused, helpless. notably said that, seeing it struggle so feebly, she wanted to help take care of it, now, especially after what she did to it in the past.
she's still one of the ONLY foni in the entire system who HAS body access and ISN'T a social-- and many socials DON'T actually have body access, just voice access!! the body has been a helltrigger cesspit for years except when we were about to die from malnourishment, ironically. right now, virtually nobody can front in it as a result of the dyspho/dysmo crashes, and our despair over "getting irreparably old and unhealthy" post-hospital. but that's not a topic to explore tonight. point is, we need to look at it like julie did tonight-- as some poor thing placed in our care, that isn't us, and yet is still inherently and irrevocably attached to us. someone who needs us to take care of her, because nobody else in the world will, as wretched and rejected as she is.
so strange how the body feels like its OWN thing and ALWAYS HAS. like it has the mental capacity of an infant. no verbal communication skills. ironically feels "not human" in contrast to all others. no wonder spine is the nousfoni who anchored into it as its original "ambassador!" GEEZ she needs to come back soon

other notes.
jay was talking to celebi for a decent while, either tonight or this morning. data is fuzzy due to fatigue.
noted that her core-relationship was tied to the JAYCES??? very specific personal tie. can't find that person in the system, due to being bloodline-locked (same-line cores can't co-habitate in headspace?). but we recognize their vibe if we "seek it out" in memory tied to her. not sure if that means he still exists, or not. cores tend to fracture.

this evening, jay talking to xenophon while taking recyclables out as usual. not sure what they discussed. just want to note that their interactions are completely natural and honest at this point, which means a great deal to him. completely overrides body awareness

jay asking God "why did You let this evening happen" effectively. not angry, just distressed. it hurts, it's scary, it makes us ill, why this? what good could possibly come out of this?
the reply: God nudged him to remember the conversation he had with Laurie and Julie as they cleaned up. everyone shaken up and sad and tired. so they were being more honest and real about the struggle of life in general. not sure what they said specifically, but jay has this tendency to "flip" from despair to hope in those situations. still sad, but brightly so? very much his vibe. but they were talking, and i think just generally checking if everyone else was okay, are we taking care of each other, what else can we do for each other, etc. and jay, not even facing her, just says to laurie "i love you." out of nowhere. and she gave him this look. totally caught off guard, and straight to the heart. he remembered that, her expression and the wound-ache of love he felt in return, and heard God (Jesus) say "if that was the sole good that would come out of your suffering tonight, would you agree to suffer through it if you knew?" and jay said, "well yeah." jesus laughed and said "you didn't even have to think about it! but child, that's how i feel about you." etc. basically, sometimes suffering is meant TO bring you to such a humbled broken place that such doggedly honest love can be expressed. jay telling me he felt this sort of heartaching sweet surrender to the fact of it? like, on a small level, he understood Christ kissing the cross, even though He knew it would be agony. it's because He knew how much love was in the carrying nevertheless. He focused on the "joy set before Him", the joy of restored relationship with His friends. etc. little glimpses, we get. but shocking to realize that, even this mistake and stumbling, God could take and use and transmute into something good. like it didn't start that way, but because we refused to give in and still tried, still hoped, still did our best to love, God was able to make it serve His purposes more directly. hard to put in words. but means a lot. like, evil can never get the upper hand, ever. no matter what happens, if we fight the good fight of faith, and offer even our failures to the Lord, He can and will use them as crosses for the victory of Love. important stuff. soul of our system at large. always

last notes. jay says write this down even though he's... reticent? no. "too significant a small thing to be discussed so openly." ah. "something that seems unimportant, even ridiculous, but isn't."
kid i know where this is going
didn't we just come across this same damn topic in an old xanga? from like ten freakin years ago?
why are you still so ashamed to admit love?

well i wasn't today, that's the point, i was blindsided and i wasn't thinking, i was just overwhelmed.
but that's what bypasses the secondhand shame response. that's the real me, you know that.
anyway yeah, i opened up spotify and i was thinking about a certain cephalopod's playlist and it just slammed into me. i can't feel it now due to "thinking too much" but i recognize that wave when it hits.
you were staring at the screen-- through the screen, really-- and you just quietly said, "oh no," haha.
laurie i think i'm falling in love with mimic
not even "might." THAT'S what got me. like you just said it, straight-up. felt more like you than you have in months.
good. because my heart suddenly ached so much i was about to sob. it hit me completely out of nowhere and took the floor out from under me. knocked all my walls down.
geez, i know what that's like. holy swords.
yeah. you can't put up any defenses or facades against it. it hits too hard, too fast. and like it or not, you can't go back to who or where you were before. so... i have no idea what's going to happen, haha. 
but y'know, it's been like that since he showed up. and thank god for that. thank god for him, i mean it. he's been such an unpredictable and unexpected force for good in my life. who would've ever thought.
yeah, well, headspace is weird like that, kiddo. bringing light out of darkness and all that. i daresay we all get that sense of hope from you, sparkboy.
apparently. but... well, my identity is still fractured. we're learning just how split-up cores are, amongst each other. did we discuss that?
no, and we shouldn't be having a mini-xanga in the middle of a freakin' entry at 12:30 in the morning. take a note, then get moving.
good idea. thanks typist voices, i'll get jargon for you soon, love you too, have a good night

thank you you too
about that note
we have discovered, through recent internal interactions between jewel and jay, that there are several coexistent bloodlines AND synergetic cores in our system at ANY GIVEN TIME.
the jewels, the jays, the jessicas, possibly the cannons, etc. now that we're aware of it we're trying to study the phenomenon and figure out its mechanics but it's a new awareness. shockingly sensible and apparent though, once you know what you're looking at.
but this explains a lot of how we functioned over time, how they shift so easily and fluidly between each other, because they are ALL "CORES" IN DIFFERENT RESPECTS, because with how hypercompartmentalized we are, EVEN THE CORES CANNOT HOLD OVERGENERALIZED ROLES. there are different "cores" as "captains" of different life-aspects. this means we might need a better term than "core," as that's something used by the multiplicity community at large, and we like to have entirely unique jargon to our own unique experience.

is there anything else we need to type tonight?
no just health concerns. legit very very scared at how sick we've been feeling over the past week. not sure what's wrong. don't want to go to ER again, like ever, but scared of the symptoms. considering urgent care if it continues to worsen.
oh tomorrow if we don't feel super sick in church again, we are going to get new lights if possible, grab some "optional protein sources" to try at night (we think it's the eggs at night making us sick??? past three times this has happened), and finally pick up our tuxedo for choir. hopefully we can get it all done. tomorrow night is the mental health meeting with the mother which will probably be VERY exhausting, and will force us to eat late again, as we cannot eat in the car or in the same space as her or it is traumatically triggering. we must be smart about this then. so so so tired of this hyperbusy schedule for lent. someone in the back said darkly "then maybe we should go to the emergency room; at least we'd get some rest" yeah but only in theory, what if we're in the waiting room for 9 hours again? and they only give us a hall bed we can't lay down on again? "geez i'm sorry i was just saying" no i know and you're right. sad but true and thank you for speaking up. but we do need rest. don't want to land in the hospital to get it though. not like the old days.

okay gotta sleep it's almost 1am. maybe better rest will help this body too. and prayer. gotta trust God  no matter what happens. jay hold on to that hope and love!! and share it with us all!! that's your real job deep down you said so once i know. laurie says "get to work kiddo" oh pun intended his other job too!! that's all hope too. gosh it feels like we need to type about this more but not now. but "a wealth of untapped information" someone says.
OH we think sherlock and spine are still alive but names faces changed maybe. jobs too somewhat. but there IS someone in grey, maybe "sterling" name now, and lynne wants spine back so badly she's gotta come back soon just from love. jay wants her back too, her job was so important! especially with what's happening now!! so we'll see. and hoping for nathaniel too one day. once we understand green more.
OH also, jay can i say, he said yes, nobody has mentioned yet!! there IS someone green, a girl, when getting body ready for church today. forget why she appeared, no data. some sort of caring job, maybe for the body? but rainforest-green hair. surprising. have not had a green person in a long time!
and we have not mentioned "adelaide." she is the BROWN voice helping the body-cores get the body ready every morning. she has a mood like spice a little, it must be a brown thing? but her color is leaning "hard orange." light tone but warmer. see it clearly in her eyes. and she has real pigtails!! not twintails like julie. the actual braids in the back! which is really interesting. jay says we need jargon for foni like her anyway-- ones who "advise and guide" fronters in the body? something like that.
oh and lastly, we did not mention either, i don't think? our mirror voices! i'll mention them anyway. "blepofoni" jay says. first was natalie, a long time ago, before she died and the body changed too. then in upmc we had alena and jack. now we have iris and jonah! so there you go that's our blepofoni. jay says that's greek. he likes his words.

okay bye everyone!!
see you tomorrow i hope we feel better this is simeon btw i'm still allive still yellow still happy hopeful too.
okay bye gotta sleep!



oh last thing. adding this because jay said so, please write this for me.
...actually hold up. let me write this myself, if i can.
the other day, I was reviewing recent entry tags and I realized that we haven't had an entry tagged with "love" since january. yes the poems i wrote at the library are a blessed addition, but... no daily entries have fit that label. that's deeply disturbing and distressing both.
sorry i can't talk properly. too distracted by body symptoms and stress.
but. what i wanted to say is this:
for like... a week, now? i've been feeling pulled back towards chaos 0. finally. god knows it felt like my heart had been torn out. i was... gosh I don't even know if it was me. there were a few instances, and one significantly notable one at night, when i tried to kiss him and instead a SOCIAL shoved their way out in panicked, scolding shame or fear. "you shouldn't be doing or feeling that," basically. very condemning and callous. unfortunately hyperreligious, but in a hypocritical sense, because they couldn't love God either. poor girls. they're a total mess.
but... it has been hurting ever since. that memory, of that moment when i actually felt my heart light up again towards him, only to be brutishly shoved aside by some tangled-hair sister of mine scolding me harshly, shaming me. shutting me down.
little did they know, it did the opposite of stopping me. i can't forget that light, now. and i've been praying to feel it again since then.
it's been difficult. like i said, since my identity is still a fractured mess post-cnc and post-grandma (not even my timeline; SO MUCH shifted last year, no wonder we're a mess), and i don't even have a true "name" yet in the system (i'm in the jay bloodline currently BUT everyone is wondering if i'm going to hardshift into a NEW bloodline to match this new life era), i can't exactly assert myself, or anchor into a personal overlay, or even visualize myself clearly enough to be with him for long. everything is a blur and it is shattering my soul. his, too, undoubtedly.
...he spoke to me today, at some point, with that absolute ocean-deep tone i haven't heard him use in ages. completely floored me. but it was scary to find that i couldn't properly respond. i was too numb with the identity fracture and confusion. but God knows i wanted to.
God, honestly, please, fix up my heart. purify my love. help me to love him again, to truly reciprocate what he still gives to me every single night. i'm so tired of this emptiness in my chest. this isn't right. this isn't me. lord help me to know who I am, after everything that was before. that's my prayer tonight. help me find my name, and my face, and my color, as I am needed to be now, to be THE cor(e) for this Spectrum, the heart of it, whose very function is love. please. for Your sake even more than ours, help me to be light again. help me to love again.

all right, now i'm off to work. still a shambles, but hey. at least i'm aware of that fact.
simeon's right; there's always hope. and i need to hold on to that, for all of us, because it's not just for me, and neither am i.
a core exists for their system. that's what i truly yearn for. unity, community, compassion and cooperation. love.
God let me be a true part of it again, for the first time.


-

Mar. 3rd, 2023 01:37 am
prismaticbleed: (shatter)


quick update so i dont lose this train of thought.


lately our days have been choked by nonstop fear, fear, fear. feeling like God is constantly "shoving us around like a schoolyard bully" or "treating us like a furious parent", which is all totally unbiblical but the fear is there nevertheless.
agoraphobia becoming unbearable. cannot leave house without the panicked screaming conviction that every car behind us is following us, or a cop, we're going to get mugged and raped and murdered, when it's dark outside it's worse, we feel like we are going to die any second. the car will break down and we'll die. someone will shoot us through the window. we'll have a stroke or heart attack on the road. every person around us is not just a threat, but an active danger to our life. everyone wants us dead. everyone is mad at us. everyone is trying to kill us. it's unbearable.

couldn't say a rosary again today. brain too unhinged and unraveled. rosaries are 30 minutes of nonstop recitation and heavy focus, which is so utterly draining i actually wince at the thought of saying them often. i;m sorry. i do like the concept. sometimes we can get rolling on the sorrowful mysteries and that's always very good spiritually. but it's EXHAUSTING. every single time. it wrings us out. God i'm so sorry i skipped it again tonight. pleaseplease give me the strength and gracce i can't do a single thing without you

and thats why im here at quarter to 2 in the morning, again

my life is useless.

i was sitting on the couch randomly listening to jacob collier. gosh we remember discovering his youtube when he first started publishing music online, back when we were in college. amazing kid. legit god-given talent beyond words.
but. we're so completely hollow that here we are listening to "in the bleak midwinter" and other people are sobbing and we should be too, the real us would, but we can't even hear the music. like literally we can, we're not physically deaf, but... we didn't "hear" anything. like the world was on mute inside. eveerything feels like that lately.
existential crisis. all religous. always relogious. apocalypstics

cut our hair today
PRAYED about it. panicking again. felt the weight, the heavy, prayed God what do we do
"answr"" we got was "don't go to a salon, you can do it yorself"
we ARGUED about that, so so scared of dpign it on our own, mistakes wrong, scared. kept getting "no do it on your own"
God are we even hearing You or are we just even mocre crazy than we realied
so we went home.got the kitchen scissors. started to cut.
cut too much all of a sudden
so we cut it all off. everything. virtual buzzcut
scary thing?
WE FEEL MORE "FEMEEININE" THAN WE HAVE IN EYARS
its' fisturkbing distufrbing like drunk. so girly. no hair but we feel lIEK A GIRL why. why why
not complaning though??? weridly' the "body voice" likes it??liek she likes this. short hair feel like female. boys have longer hair why this???
anyway worse dissoonance than ever now jay can only front in tbhe HEART not in the body. avoiding mirrors because we don't kow who that is now. it's not alana she has the old hair. this is new person. we are scared of them scared of what they migh do body voices are ALWAYS HACKERS AND YOU KNOW IT
NO LISTEN. LET ME TALK. LISTEN TO ME. DON'T YOU DARE CENSOR ME.
YOU ALL KEEP FORGETTING THAT THE INSTANT WE START "IDENTIFYING" WITH THE BODY, EVEN "AUTOMATICALLY," WE END UP BECOMING AN ABSOLUTE BEAST. AND YOU KNOW THIS. EVERY SINGLE "GIRL" THAT DROVE THIS SKELETON AROUND HAS BEEN THE QUEEN OF SOME ABSOLUTELY FATAL VICE. THIS ONE IS NO EXCEPTION, I CAN TELL YOU THAT RIGHT NOW. IT'S IN THAT HIDEOUS FACE. IT'S THAT DEMONIC FACE I CAN SEE THE EVIL IN IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME

okay okay please wait stop

we went to eucharistic adoration
night drive so scared couldnt breathe
way home actually sobbing from terror nearly collapsed shaking at apartment door
never never never dont want tod rive in dark evenr ever againeplase please
anyway adoration. no one else looked like our body like us
everyone very very "common" looks. boy face boy build. girls long hair round hips scary. but so so so nice. girls are actually nice on their own juST NOT WHEN WE'RE TRYING TO FORCE OURSELVES TO BE ONE
stop not you
stop
someone is a girl. in the body. but they all like girls every one
even the "boy likers" are faking it. they have no emotions everything they do is hollow and scripted we know this.
realizing too much of that today. how many of our socials are literally just running on programs, fueled by fear and anxiety or mania and rage. i cannot think of a single social that is healthy. not readily at least. and that is very concerning
stop going into data mode that is bad too you know!!
too much bad havit people with no feelings. no emotion just talk. just judgment and cold callous. sad. hurts to see and feel and be arohnd

today
got home ate terrified sick. thought god was mad at us still triying to kill us.
sent us into numb fear state collapsed on couch INTENDING to pray rosary but dnt knw what happened
ened eddeup on yorubte??? youtube dont like it. should delete it but no divine mercy chaplet. so stuck
but lots of religious videos. "conspiratcy theories" they say. and "apocalpypse" always.
but. all about how gay and transgender people are "antichrist"
we are scared because we agree at this point by what we see. the peole are SCARY. scary scary sacary. do NOT want to be like them doNOT DONT WVER EVER WANT TO BE ASSCIATED WTIHI THEM. NO. no no onono
so

terrified at that. because we DO like girls and our body is a girl. bcuase we DO feel half boy and never ever felt like a girl not liek that. so scared and confused. dont want to be like the "lgbtq" mvoement people BUT also so scared of that "black and white" mold that they are offering instead on the christian channels? like you are SUPER BOY or SUPER GIRL. very masculine or very feminine. polar opposites. no wiggle room, no "gray area" no different people. nobody like us allowed. bad. we are a "sin"
anf we ar e so scared.
even a video. a VIDEO OF ALL THINGS SYAING "IF YOU ARE A FEMALE BOD AND YOU CUT YOUR HAIR IT IS BLASPEHYM AAGSINST GOD" HWYWHWYWHWAY AHT AWH AWHTW HW WHA T
stopi
stop wow
NO NO SOCIALS GE THE EH EHLL OUT OF ABWHERHEEHRE

stop

we are unhinging i think

but the point why we are typing
turned off phone and just sat there for a second
lost a lot of time. like three hours. dont remember it. just vague awareness of stupid videos regret gretregret. bad. not guarding our mind. toxins corruption pollution. so so sorry cant take it back god help us
sitting there feeling nothing
after watching jacob collier and all these other musical people and these christian people too, well spoken and intelligent and kind and full of "testimnoy"d and faith. good popele
and then us
stupid stupid out of shape talentlness hack jerk sinner queer faggot cut hair short moron sinner going to hell worthless.

ourlife is worthless

we are nothing.
even this dumb stpid hournal. all you stupid stupd voice

DON'T YOU DARE.

someone still wants us dead?

someone who
someon
the saome kind of someone who killed
who
SAY IT IT'S WHAT THEY DID.

the they murdered everyoen. almost everyone. phone desk kitchen callnnono ca nonnonn blood everywhere,. city crumbling

always want dead dead "in the name of God" burn it all down start over "just me"SELFISH HYPOCRITICAL DEVIL

did that after north carolina too
mailed everything burned everything deleted everythinggone. start over. erase it all fogrget it all.

THE SCARIEST PART IS THAT IT ACTUALLY ALMOST WORKED THIS TIME.

yeah i know we were aslepepe very veyr long time.

but
the point! it's 2am someone was very sad wanted to record this

"i am a waste" they were thinking "my life is a waste, an absolute waste,"
mother used to call us that
DON'T SAY BAD THINGS ABOUT HER.
sory ! i'ms orry but it has to be said we are sad she said it but it affects us now eve.n, so have to be honst about that
or is that still bad?
I DON'T KNOW.
DOES IT MEAN WE DON'T REALLY FORGIVE HER IF WE STILL TALK ABOUT IT
i dont know
btut she sait it. "you are a waste of skin." quoting star trek she said? we wdont know. but she thought it was funy. made us very sad.
IT'S NOT TRUE. IT'S NOT. I SWEAR IT'S NOT. YOU AND ME ARE PROOF.
no that's what this empty couch person was sayig thouh!! to them we are NOT proof ouch big leters.
YOU OKAY?
yes no capitals sorry.
I'LL TAKE CARE OF THOSE. WHAT WAS SHE SAYING.
that her life "my life" is a waste. "waste of skin. waste of time. waste of breath. waste of life." "worthless." lots of that feeling. sitting there realizing we have "no talent" "no intelligence" jnothing. nothing that makes us valuable or worth anything.
ACCORDING TO WHOM, THIS CRUEL WORLD WE LIVE IN??
i guess but also themselfe. they beieve it very much. scary feeling to feel. "my life has no meaning no purpose i am a waste of life." BUT ouhc but they !!!! but!!! they also said "but!!! God does not waste anything. so that has to include me." and that was the last thing they tohught
THAT'S... ACTUALLY REALLY HOPEFUL. ESPECIALLY FOR A SOCIAL.
but. still makes me sad. torealize that they see /us!!!!/ as a waste. like we are the aste of their life. "those stpid archives" they thought. angr. want to delete
DONT' THEY FREAKING DARE
sont dont' swear!! jay says no bad words especially not that one. it's a very bad one
I'M SORRY I GUESS IT'S INSTINCT
i know we existe for reasons. you exist for shout angry feeling. truths though honest. we just pick up bad words from around. need to learn new words i guess!

anyway
very empty hollow tired sad dead.
dont know how to life in the world anymore
everything feels wrong. so wrong

other scary note
person realized ALTERS so to speak were the ones to "do worthwhile things" in the past. BUT they decided they WEREN'T ACTUALLY WORTHWHILE???
like in the past. the kids wrote music, wrote stories, wrote poems. drew comics and pictures and even painted. talent for acting and speeches, learned how to sing, played instruments, ran for miles. did all sorts of "productive talented" things.
BUT then this person thought "BUT GOD TOOK IT ALL AWAY. AND GAVE IT TO OTHER PEOPLE." "i have nothing left i am hollow. he emptied me out so i have nothing left but him."
and they want to KEEP IT THAT WAY
so
tjeu
the want they want us dead.
they dont want us typing. or singing. or doing league things. they want it all dead.
"just god" they say "i am a worthless piece of dirt garbae nobdy. and THAT is who god loves and works through. it's all i have. i have nothing else noting else without god i am meaningless i deserve to die forever"
"nothing in my life has any value"
"my entire existence in this world has been pointless"
except for religion but even they feel they aren't doing that right. like with the hair. and god mad at us making us drop and break and spill eevryhing. so so so scaed. passive aggressive pnishment like the parents. you are wrong wrong wrong going to hell but not going to tell you why!! you should already know why you bad child. mad mad mad at us all the time wont talk to us eever just push around scary scared

GOD ISN'T LIKE THAT
IF THAT'S THE GOD YOU SERVE YOU NEED TO GET YOUR FCKING HEAD ON STRAIGHT
AND REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE IN HERE AND GUESS WHAT, WE BELIEVE TOO.
SURPRISED, HUH?
DIDN'T THINK THE "VOICES" COULD HAVE FAITH DID YOU

your faith isnt real youre not real
none of hyou are real you are demons. you are lying to me
you are liars.
liars.
god only created ME i am the real one. this body is MINE

JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?????


stop pleasestop
this is all out of order

we need to stop.
we need to wake up in the morning

don't want to.
wish we were i was you were dead

I CAN EASILY MAKE THAT HAPPEN.

oh all of it good good riddance


STOP
stop
not here not now do that later after

no time shut down

----

i'm tired of everything. every single day is a void.
honestly, if i didn't have to go to church in the morning i would just sleep in forever.
HOLD UP. YOU, WHOEVER YOU ARE, DON'T EVEN WANT TO GO TO CHURCH. YOU'RE DOING IT AS A HOLLOW COMPULSION. DON'T YOU DARE TURN OUR FAITH INTO A FARCE LIKE THAT. LET SOMEONE ELSE FRONT YOU NARCISSISTIC HEATHEN.

oh no body face matches jezebel!!!!! :(
WHAT
WHAT????
oit does it eodoes does look!!! :( :( short hair bad face girl. dark black evil. very dangerous
OH NO.

what do we do then
WAIT FOR THE HAIR TO GROW OUT, OBVIOUSLY
well jay was looking for wigs. he says "losing the mindset of egotistic focus on "just one of us"" basicallty? like if we let other people inside front but no. he said bad idea. indoors cant go outdoors they die. we learned that.
BUT OUR "OUTDOORS" PEOPLE ARE FREAKING ANIMALS.
yes that isbad. hm. still need to fix that too. need good people in body
HOW. IF THE BODY'S DEFAULT INTRINSIC APPEARANCE IS INSTINCTIVELY "DEMONIC" IN OUR EYES. LIKE WE CAN'T LOOK AT THE REFLECTION WITHOUT SEEING THE FACE OF A SERIAL RAPIST. THAT'S HOW WE SEE THIS TERRIBLE FACE AND BODY. GOD HELP US.

scared stuck pnunichsmnet for tcutting the bhair it must be
"grow it out long youre a female if you dont have long hair you are d a edevil!!!!" sad bad scared wrong
THAT'S STUPID TOO, WHEN THE BODY HAD LONG HAIR WE WERE JUST AS VICIOUS IN DIFFERENT WAYS.
IT'S THE FACE THAT DOES IT
what do we do

god when we die will we go straight to hell? and look like this forever?
if we keep this body forever what do we do are we damned forever
we;re cery very scared rreally we are
the tought thouhtght ouf looking like this forever, of having abody like this for ever!! is a hell feeling!! very scared!!!.
like our fear when jewels were children. "i am scared to die because what if i come back trapped in a prostitute's brain." like we already felt. at war with the body. but that is the fear now. we are trapped in thisbody that feels like a wild animal we cannot tame we are stuck in this skull at war terrified and now werre being gtold this BODY is what is going to be eternal????? not us???? "you must look female absolutely female and be one act like one fit the scrupt because ONLY female females are going to heaven""" is that true??
so scared of this face
even more scared if boy though. becaue swe we are not. tap intp wrong energy feeling. all wrong. dont want to be the male man boy either. all wrong. do not like culture boy bad wrong. family scary wododon tdont want to be like them no bu girls worSE Worse WORSE
want to just be us. but told that is bad wrong broken stupid sin.
so tired


our life is a waste


don't
DON'T LET THEM DELETE THESE ARCHIVES.

they should be deleted they're all godless garbage

I BEG YOUR PARDON

they are youare all self-idolatrous jerks

LOOK WHO'S TALKING, MURDERER



annocantoac cannto typing agonoynremore. cannot

sleep
 






011323

Jan. 13th, 2023 11:32 pm
prismaticbleed: (held)

literally just realized it's friday the 13th
missing josephina a lot.

today was weird.
we were up until literally 4am last night but we FINALLY finished backing up the religious tumblr. all 603 pages of it haha.
reblogged a few old posts too. some really good stuff back in '19. also some really concerning stuff. we... didn't have much of a grip on our faith back then. we would post whatever "sounded good" and several anons called us out on "being hypocritical" because we were posting conflicting belief systems. didn't even realize it. we really didn't think about what we were posting. it was just like our entire history, with everything-- people pleasing and "trying to be good," without ever actually considering what that meant in the truest picture.
also had a religious meltdown around 3am which wasn't good. those are always so disturbingly suicidal. "throw everything away." "burn everything down." "abandon the world and only have God." scrupulosity and psychosis. not safe, not genuine, and God I desperately hope that's not real religion.

anyway. about today.
slept in until literally 1230pm haha. exhausted.
morning routine was supposed to be regular. make breakfast, do exercise, eat. and we did do that. however, i was so incredibly derealized that i kept messing things up? memory is almost completely missing. just remember feeling like our skull was full of helium. hard to coordinate. almost loopy. could not really talk in headspace.

can't remember eating breakfast. it was stupidly late, like 330. i do remember that it was a struggle to even read today's psalm (33). i just could not comprehend anything. it was hard to even read. everything felt like a struggle uphill. brain full of heavy static fuzz.
then i remember throwing up.
i have no idea how it happened. someone had a minor binge. literally just beans and yogurt. don't know why they always go for the protein. but it wasn't major. again, took maybe 30m for everything, thank God it was under control.
but what disturbed me was that no one was consciously fronting. the whole damn event was mechanized. we have no memory of it.
i DO remember slowly "coming to" in the kitchen later, because our blood sugar dropped to 61 and the body was trembling all over. i was shakily eating a box of raisins while i re-prepped a dinner (it was already 6pm; we barely had breakfast down for an hour when we lost it) and i think xenophon was around? again, no recall other than a few flashbulb-terror awareness moments.
don't remember dinner either. good lord.

after dinner we got on the bike SLOWLY to say our chaplet and rosary. still thinking "all this sickness is punishment for not praying enough" DESPITE the psalms all saying-- oh dude wait i remember that.
the psalms always say things like "the Lord hears the righteous when they cry out to Him, and He delivers them from their fears." and "God will protect those who revere Him." and we just sit there-- I sit there-- terrified, and thinking, "no wonder God won't listen to me or save me. I'm not reverent enough. I'm not faithful. I'm not loyal. I don't pray to Him." and it feels like the end of the world and I'm damned forever because I stupidly had an eating disorder lapse and I'm hysterically begging God not to kill me as I choke down glucose tablets and gatorade and hoping that we won't have to go back to the bloody ER. wondering "why won't God save us from this hell, why won't He stop this," et cetera.
thinking, "we don't thank Him enough." well of course not, you're CONVINCED that He DOESN'T SAVE YOU, you idiot. why would you thank Him if, in your mind, He doesn't do anything to help you?????
consider this, you gutless moron
are you dead? did you die?
the past several times this sort of crisis happened, did your glucose fall into the 50s? no. it went up. and did you have the means to make it go up? yes, you did.
and did you have very short lapse/cleanup times? yes, and you didn't eat a lot either. and were you able to recover and eat something to make up for it? yes, every time.
and did you have to go to the hospital? not even once.
so.
WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING THAT GOD DIDN'T HELP YOU?????
IF HE DIDN'T, YOU'D BE DEAD RIGHT NOW, YOU IGNORANT IDIOT


mom left the car off for us to take to church tomorrow
also the mental illness support group at the city cathedral. really want to give that a shot.
1111 as i type that haha okay. we will. can't flake out on that either. remember how beautiful choir was

watched toy story 4. thought we had seen it, but we didn't.
didn't cry at all, but we did feel moved nevertheless. didn't laugh super hard, but we did laugh. everything level but sweet. very childlike. no complaints though! genuinely a good movie. we always loved the whole concept of "living toys"; that was a definitive part of OUR childhood, after all, and it is powerfully reflected in the League.

we keep feeling nauseous when we drink water. have a headache. still vaguely shaky all over. think we'll go to bed like... in 10 minutes, haha. have to be up at 830 at the latest. need sleep.
if we feel genuinely awful when we wake up we won't force ourselves to drive. but God willing we'll be okay.

really, really need to take time to just... get into headspace, especially the archives, now that the mainblog backup is done.
yes i know this stands in stark contrast to last night's parting words. but... you know, we are constantly praying this one terrible prayer-- "God, if headspace is pulling me away from you, take it away. Take it all away, completely. If not, then..."
and God has never taken us away
why would He? honestly kid, think about it.
who the hell pushes you TO pray and read Scripture when otherwise you'd be too damn depressed to even think of hope? who talks to you about it so you don't skip lines or rush through or not take it seriously? we do. every day now, too. you rely on us to keep you standing straight. you ask us to help you write prayers, and understand commentary, and we push you in that good direction too.
who do you always ask for help at Mass? you freakin ask other people to front, ESPECIALLY for Communion, because YOU'RE too numb to feel anything but then there are nousfoni who will fall to their knees the instant they see a Host. you can't feel anything, stuck there in bodyspace. but so many of us can. and you know that.
what do you do before you go to sleep every single night? we pray together. you hold your other half's hand and you pray and you bless him "in every universe" and in those moments you don't doubt anything.
what do you always tell God in your prayers? what have you been thanking Him for since at least 2003? for us. all of us.
and don't forget what you were thinking about again, even today. "the System has taught me how God loves. the System has taught me what mercy IS. the System has taught me hope and fidelity and forgiveness and devotion and joy. without them, I'm hollow. without them, my religion made no sense." well of course not! remember what else you read today; your Christian religion isn't about rules and regulations, it's about RELATIONSHIP, and you never had that with anyone BUT US.
you only ever "got to know Jesus" when you were able to meet Him UP HERE.
God put us in your life for a reason. God put you in our lives for a reason. God put us in our life for a reason. We're in this together and it's not a bad thing and I swear to you, if you can look back at our history and not see the love permeating EVERY INSTANT of it then you are literally blind.

stop being ashamed of feeling beautiful things.
stop running away from love and communion and closeness.
stop hiding in that body and claiming you're the scum of the earth and that you'll corrupt everything you so much as look at.
just stop. you're not a contagion, you're just... i don't even wanna say "sick." you're struggling. you're not yourself. and you KNOW that.
but. listen. we're not some kid from out west who only knows one facet of you. we are your facets, you poor shattered jewel. we know all of it. we've BEEN all of it. and guess what? we love you. yeah. we do. deal with it. it ain't changin'.

get to sleep kiddo. we'll get through tonight, too, God willing. don't be afraid to talk to Him either. we'll help you if you want.

go read some psalms. God's character doesn't change for different people. that includes you. He's still a just and merciful, righteous and fair, loving and compassionate God. He "shows sinners the right way" and He "saves the souls of those who turn to Him." even when He feels far away, don't be rash, remember? "i am hidden from Your sight"-- nope He sees you kid. He has never forgotten you and never will. same with us. consider us angels if you will, in a very humbling minor sense but God knows we try every bloody day to be messengers of His love to you. that's what we live for. it's all we want to live for. and i know you feel the same.

listen. in the end, the light will still be shining. align your heart with it no matter what. light that candle in your ribs. live for heaven's sakes.

at nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn comes rejoicing. always.

oh and by the way, darkness is still God's territory. look at Infi. seriously that's your homework. stop being so damn judgmental. think. think about all you've learned from us, for His glory, over the years. open your heart. please. stop being so damn cold.

all right that's it it's 1130 and you need to get our body to bed. get a move on.

listen kid. we love you. that's a solid guarantee. and if we love you, then you can be absolutely assured that the Love that created us both does, too.

be not afraid.



121922

Dec. 19th, 2022 11:36 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)

monday.

i... don't remember today at all.

we had an appointment with our other nutritionist at 2pm. she keeps pushing the inpatient plan, which is literally 4000K+ and ridiculously expensive. we told her we've "edited the plan" and are spacing meals more, fasting regularly to alleviate the otherwise-constant body sickness & mental fog, and have streamlined our nutritional options & needs so that we, ideally, don't have to "plan" anymore-- we have a set schedule & setup and it takes away all the stress of number-crunching.
we do feel weirdly depressed after talking to her. it's like, she pushes food so much. and we are so tired of our live revolving around eating. that was our trauma-abuse addiction for two entire decades and we want OUT. it's devoured enough of our life. we've talked about this enough already. we are sick and tired of people acting like eating should be "fun" and "enjoyable" and "social" and all that. no. we like what we have, we talk together and do our scripture study while we eat, we get done, we clean up, we go back to work. simple as that. no "novelty items" or "adventurous" things. that's ridiculous. no "snacks" for heaven's sakes, that's a RULE. this woman keeps telling us "eat every three hours and have snacks" nope. never. that would put us right back in disordered behavior hell. there is more to life than food, so don't you dare go telling us to make life revolve around food again. never again. we're done.

let me check the phone to give you guys a better update on general events

oh yeah, now i know why today was so messed up.
we had that horrid bingepurge last night. short, but it shook us bad. they always do. at the hospital they kept emphasizing how purging "traumatizes" your body and we scoffed at that, "you're just being dramatic and using scary language." plus we still hate ourselves deep down for using the term "traumatized" for ANYTHING, because of what past unhealthy friendships always seemed to tell us: "the problem is YOU. you DECIDED this was traumatic. YOU'RE the one who was abusive, YOU traumatized ME. I did nothing wrong. YOU'RE the problem." and the worst part is, all of that is true. at least, we believe it is. we were an asshole to those people. we know that. looking at it objectively, detached from whatever we were experiencing, our behavior was terrible. at least, what we remember-- and that was all our mental illness wrecking their lives and ours. but this isn't therapy, i can't get even more upset focusing on that hurt. "you're making it hurt." so much self-damnation. so much condemnation and mockery and ridicule and "invalidation." all "special snowflake" language. we internalized that hard.
but, the hospital said bodies can get traumatized. and the point i'm making here is, after last night, YEAH, THAT'S TRUE.
god it was so scary, please, please PLEASE don't ever let that happen to us again.

but our body, today, is in shambles.
our heart keeps skipping and hiccuping. we have a pounding headache that is so bad we can barely see, let alone think. we're so weak it's hard to move. we're exhausted and dizzy and disoriented. we're so tired, even though we slept for like ten hours.
how the heck did we survive the bulimic aspect of this eating disorder for ten hellish years. good lord. literally. if God wasn't white-knuckling us through existence we'd have died very, very fast. thanks god. proof that he cares, the fact that we're alive right now. even if we feel sick and depressed. we're in recovery!! we really are! and that's a good thing to remember. even if the mean parts of our brain don't believe it. don't listen to them. we ARE in recovery. look at how many normal days we have now. look at how much food we're keeping down. "how much food" is right, the mean ones say. "you're a literal glutton now. look how fat and ugly you are. hideous whore."
shut up shut up/

topic shift can't
can't do that now. sorry

deanery penance service at 7pm.
we had to eat dinner at 630 though. breakfast was late? noon i think? let me check the phone
yes 1145. full breakfast, with some extra olive oil to meet macros i guess. everything else totally normal. so that's good.
oh but dinner was at 7pm?? we were that late? wow i wonder why? what happened today?
dinner was normal too. gosh that's really good. i'm glad to just be able to say that. "normal mealplan everything went fine." gosh. it's been over a decade since we could say that i think. it's 2022 now? 2012 oh boy nope we were NOT eating normally at all back then, sorry old friends that year was when stuff started to get really bad, i remmeber that'swhen emmett showed up first. i remember the chocolate cake in the sink day. how bad our consciousness was. losing so many hours. burning the rice. the buckwheat nausea. marik's third incident over the stove. comatose for like two hours. the bloody beets. the running across town to buy rainbow carrots. the soup pots. did we even eat those? we have NO MEMORIES OF EATING from that WHOLE SUMMER. like we know we did, we see the danger signs, like the last week when we were starving and ate all that canned pumplkin and the orange granola which wasnt ours and we hated ourself for it we were so sad but we couldn't stop. we were so sick in the head. why am i typing this? im sorry
examples of how bad it was. no normal at all. fasting all day just drinking kombucha. that awful awful "spiritual newage hellstate" we were in mentall.y bad bad bad. very bad. chaos 0 got them through that day he sat with them on the couch it was nice. and genesis always around. gosh if we didn't have the system i think we would have died then too! sosad all te time. sad. so sad. crying always. called family didnt help. said we deserved this we decided it but we didnt. didnt really understand freewill too much back then. addiction and bad brain stuff made it impossible to actually reason or choose anything clearly. so bad. remember the oatmeal regret. so bad. threw it in the sink so angry so hungry not thinking. scared them. scared them forever they still hate us now i think. we deserve it, we did bad things. remember the day we fell off the cliff. again chaos 0 comforting themon the drive home. all the pain and the music. the happiest they were the entire summer during the day at least. the nights bad bad or heaven nice. depended on if alone or headspace stuff. remember the lights, the clif bar box someone at the whole thing. luna bars. pepperming we still can't look at them. that night so bad. the futon guy next door we still think of him! hope he's happy too.
why why are we unloading past data does it count as "trauma" if we brought it on ourselves
someone says yes please it hurts it was scary i cant look at it more scary things happen than you write
and the loneliness, the empty lonely unloved uncared even when they tried. us like an animal. acting like one. no one saw us as a person we werent a person to them i dont think just a pet just a bad project to fix. always like that. to everyone. never a real person
stop stop shut up stop
not time for this dont want to think about it stop STOP. PLEASE

um
but we're doing better now i promise. we are. live alone. system together. us too! typing again hello!! hi!
not dead i guess. i dont think could die. not physical at leas.t different life. not killed in body because no body hehesecret
srry sligping

ok

what else today

deanery penance service 7pm. late because dinner
father s from olote was there. went to him like we did for lent
he was happy to see us said he missed us at church
asked us to come to bible study on thursday again if we could we said we'd try.
he said... something nice what was it?
he said we were honest. very sincere. had a good heart. said we try very hard to be good and he knows we have faith.
meant a lot to hear. we doubt a lot. always feel bad bad bad.
jewel or jay, main person, stayed and prayed for a while
talked to god about us, all of us, mostly the new people outspacers xe cares for them a lot.

went home 8pm. don't remember what after that

okay i'm gonna stop typing. gonna put a block up after me so someone else can fix this later add to it if you want and remmeber stuf!

thank you for typing letting me
have a good night everybody

120922

Dec. 9th, 2022 06:22 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)


(unfinished entry; posting openly regardless for honesty's sake)


Woke up around 10:15

RAN to doctors office for 11AM.
At one point, two Latino guys crossed the street towards me and I NEARLY BLACKED OUT FROM TERROR. That is EXACTLY what happened that morning I was punched out and mugged in NC. I felt horrible immediately running across the road away from them, but please it wasn't personal it was a survival response and I hated myself for it. Still, I was shaking. Every car that drove past me, I literally expected it to slow down and stop and for someone to grab me and pull me into it, or for someone to start making lascivious remarks, or something similarly terrorizing. The entire jog over was panicstricken. I felt SO unsafe and targeted and in danger.
This is no way to live. I'm practically agoraphobic at this point. The sight of a crowd makes me want to throw up from fear. If people get too close there's a coin's toss chance of my either becoming the "pretty and proper doll" or the rabid animal that will rip your arm off if you get too close. I hate living this way. Trauma has ruined me and I don't want to be like this. It's not me but I can't turn it off.

Didn't get home until 230PM.
We were smart and had everything out ready to prep so it didn't take long to make breakfast.
Sat down at 3pm. Had to push almost 1000K because it was so late; if we ate less now, we'd be hungry enough later to possibly binge, and we wanted to prevent that at all costs.
Basically we just doubled the broccoli and olive oil, added another half an apple and some sun chips. Simple really. As I said before, we've got a set mealplan now so there's no prep or planning stress anymore, unless we obsess over macros. The System is helping with that; just because we love even numbers and ratios doesn't mean that if we have 49/29/22 instead of 50/30/20 we've "failed" and it's "wrong". That obsessiveness is one of our biggest dangers, so we're being very wary of it. Again, communication is key-- which means TALKING, not "shutting people down." When an ED Nousfoni is resorting to "behaviors" you TALK TO THEM ABOUT IT. You ask them what's up, what are you feeling, what do you want to do, what would help, etc. NO "stop that" or "that's bad" or "you're being stupid" or anything our family might realistically say. No. We treat them as the friend and family they are and we HELP THEM.
...Laurie's new "mercy" attribute is actually helping a LOT more than anyone expected. She's been telling Spice "let 'em have an extra chip" when that one girl asks for them. And... today the girl said "NO THANK YOU." Like, when she was able to have what she wanted when she "craved" it at first, she LEARNED to not "need" it??? She admitted today that yeah, she always enjoys them, BUT she doesn't want to "keep eating them" just because of that. She said she would "rather wait until later" to make it "special" and to eat with everybody else, not at random from a drawer, by herself, feeling rejected and alienated. We're including and acknowledging these kids, which NO ONE OUTSIDE EVER DID, and it is MOVING MOUNTAINS in their recovery. Thank God. This is wonderful. There's so much love in here.

We just... need to do that for the other damaged Nousfoni in the System. The other half of the abuse.


...On that note.
Massive trigger warning for outright trauma talk coming up here.

...After breakfast, we made the mistake of going on Tumblr for a few minutes to distract ourselves from our body going "oh thank God we're finally eating" and not 'registering' that we're done for now (it usually takes about an hour; we can deal with that). We were just scrolling down our dashboard, but... we forgot that some of the folks we follow can post some very triggering things.

I swear I am about three seconds away from burning that website to the ground.
Really, I'm about a millisecond away from burning EVERYTHING of our pervading society to the ground.

I'm so sick of "pop culture" and "memes" and "the in-crowd" and "current fashions" and "modern thinking" and "new age" garbage. I am so bloody tired and furious over "liberalism" and "progressivism" and "humanism" and all that garbage. I hate what our governments are doing. I hate the hellscape they are turning this planet into. I hate how the "powers that be" are trivializing and abusing and objectifying and desecrating human life and worth and purpose. And SO MUCH OF THAT seems to be hyperdensified on the bloody internet.
Cyberspace is where the ugliest, most vicious, most demonic thoughts and ideas fester and propagate and infect countless minds. The most inhumane and immoral concepts seem to seed themselves there. Humanity dehumanizes itself online, even moreso than offline in my opinion, because online they strip themselves of a concrete identity and can exist as an anonymous point of corruption. There are entire websites where people salaciously share their most degenerate ideas without shame or even accountability. It's nauseating. I want to take a bloody hacksaw to it.

What set me off, you ask. An absolutely repulsive post about planned parenthood is what.
I apologize for all the vulgar intensifiers but I am FURIOUS and I have no other readily available way to translate that in an immediate candid manner, other than crushing this keyboard with my teeth.
Anyway. Apparently they have this "chatbot" on their website which is meant to """educate""" visitors on... topics that should NOT be discussed so lackadaisically. I always use the term "blasphemously" for this sort of talk because dammit it IS, when you get down to it.
You know what, let's just be blunt. No stupid "euphemisms" or "friendly talk" about things that should NOT be treated so insouciantly.
First off. The bot says it's "here to answer your questions about bodies, sex, and relationships." Pardon my french but KINDLY SHOVE THE HECK OFF. I loathe when people use the term "bodies" in that cursory way. It feels so coarse and degrading. And I REALLY HATE when "sex" is treated like a CONVERSATION TOPIC. I'm this close to spitting bullets, ESPECIALLY since the whole gross trio concludes with "relationships." IN THAT SAME CONTEXT. It's a subtle injection of sexuality INTO that word's definition IN GENERAL.

This corrupt chatbot is turning children into ADDICTS is what it is.
It's the same reason kids develop eating disorders and drug habits. People find out something that the human body can do and then abuse it to death.

Yeah, I said children. THAT'S what has me so enraged. The bot asks for your age, but BEFORE that it says, "don't worry... it won't take long. I can wait." And the demonic emoji winks at you.
I swear I was about to punch my computer screen. It felt LECHEROUS. Listen I have been through childhood sexual trauma and my traumabrain IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZES THOSE DANGER SIGNS and THAT WAS ONE OF THEM.
"Don't worry" my ass. "It won't take long" has me wanting to eviscerate someone on the spot; that is the HALLMARK of sxabuse. "I can wait, WINK," don't say that to me unless you want your tongue ripped out and shoved down your bloody throat. No you CAN'T wait, you're so freaking hellbent on getting what you want that the "waiting" is just another means of torturing your victim. They can't escape, and they can't fake enthusiasm anymore, so as they drag themselves through the dread, screaming internally, to puppet-dance the way you want, you can absolutely "wait" with that simpering smile on your face, emptily reassuring them "don't worry! it's okay! it won't take long! it won't hurt! it's okay! it's normal! this is a good thing! it'll be fun! you'll enjoy it!" etc etc etc straight to hell.
Sorry. Kind of horrorventing here. It can't be prevented if I refuse to censor this pain.
But yeah. THEN you can enter your alleged ethnicity, gender, and age. The first is straightforward; the second is fairly tame too-- it allows for binary, nonbinary, trans, intersex, questioning, fluid, & "cis." I won't get into that topic now because yes I am Catholic and I do believe that the binary is legit for spiritual reasons BUT I also know that intersex is a real thing, AND that the chemicals I had pumped into me as a baby gave me medically induced dysphoria, so gender confusion is the "story of my life" and I cannot judge others for feeling the same, even if my more "tradcath" brethren tend to sweep the table clear of all of their concerns without a thought.
My problem here is with the age options.
IT STARTS AT "TWELVE AND UNDER."
I am going to frickin GUT SOMEBODY.

Here I am, "roleplaying" myself as a terrified tween, and when I ask "does it hurt" and "is it normal to bleed" they're like "yeah it can happen but sex can also be fun" YOU'RE THE DEVIL. STOP ACTING LIKE IT'S OKAY FOR A LITERAL TWELVE YEAR OLD TO BE ASKING ABOUT THIS.
...I'm just thankful that there is a page on "consent" there, under the "relationships" tab. The bot says: "Consent means that whether you’re kissing, holding hands, or having sex, both people are really, truly into what’s going on, and no one is being guilted or pressured into anything."
...THAT is something I wish someone told me as a kid, that bit about guilt. I was always told push through it, this is what you SHOULD do, etc. I just wish they used the word fear, too. Not just "pressure." Sometimes the other person seems "fine" but you're absolutely terrified and you don't want this but... they're not being mean, they're doing things that are supposed to be nice and kind, right? so shouldn't i just do what they want? 

Another good point:
"When a relationship is healthy, you feel good about yourselves and each other most of the time. You both feel like you have respect, kindness, trust, honesty, equality, and good communication. And you also give each other space to have your own lives outside the relationship."
...That's not something I've ever had in the waking world, sadly. I don't want to go in-depth now but it is deeply depressing.
You know, what the heck. No running away. In-depth it is.
"Respect" was always shallow and fleeting, and it refused to "learn too much." They'd claim to give it, but it was just a word. It was more like temporary tolerance UNTIL you changed to become something they were more comfortable with. "I respect you," they would say, but they wouldn't follow through. This one is hard to put words to. I guess it's how Jade feels, too. People claim "respect" and then blatantly act in contrast to it, especially in subtle ways-- with her, it's the constant deadnaming and mispronouning, the casual invalidations of their spiritual beliefs and identity, EVEN from people who say "I respect you; you can identify as and believe whatever you want!" They forget to add the key part: "...and I will treat that identity and belief WITH respect." That part is conspicuously missing. Even from me, in the past, I have to confess. I didn't understand this virtue well myself, and honestly STILL don't, what with the Catholic aspect of it. "You CANNOT respect heretics," I'm told. "You SHOULD invalidate and denounce them. God's Law is more important than someone else's delusions." Well, yes, intellectually so. But... if I know that telling someone "your feelings and beliefs are false, but mine are not" is going to send them into a suicidal breakdown, I'm NOT going to say it, even "indirectly" through behavior and language. Except... I have been doing that. It's because I don't respect MYSELF, either. I've never been respected for who I am and what I believe, so... I can't properly show it to myself, OR to others, as a result. I'm genuinely struggling with this. I'm glad I'm writing that down. It's something I MUST work with, intrapersonally and interpersonally.
"Kindness"... same thing. Too much disingenuous behavior there. I try to think of examples of "kindness" and outside of parental care, I... can't find much. What do I define as "kindness," personally, I must ask. It means... acting and speaking in ways that do not harm, that actively work towards a benevolent end for someone, that is gentle and considerate and compassionate. Kindness. Treat others with friendship and care. Be personally invested in their well-being. It's a monolith virtue, really, a close sister to Love itself. And... like I've been hinting at in my recent Scripture studies, I haven't always been kind. I WANT to be, and I do try to be, but... I fail, a lot. I'm usually too scared to do what is "kind," because "I'm afraid of the cost and consequences to myself." WHY. WHAT MADE ME SUCH A COWARD. Is it the stupid trauma? That my "fear of others" has become so pervasive as to undermine kindness? That I hesitate to offer a helping hand because it might get stabbed or bitten? Or because they might grab it and pull me to the ground and use me all the more "now that I've given them unspoken permission?" Why do I see "kindness" acted upon as a "doorway to abuse?" My mom tells me this ALL THE TIME. "You need to be harsh and mean towards people," she says, "or they'll treat you like garbage. You need to learn how to shout back, and fight back, and when they push you then you push back harder." et cetera. I don't want to be like that. Good God is this why I feel so achingly drawn to Mimic??? "Friendship is a weakness" and all that? Yeah I have to be brutally honest and admit that DEFINITELY has its fangs in me somewhere. I do avoid making friends, even though I desperately want to, because... all my past friendships have damaged me. They've "put my life on the line" and I always ended up feeling like a trapped animal, even when I did love and care for the other person. Somehow, in the end, the "friendship" always had a huge price tag attached. My Christian instinct tells me, "all the better! Love is most virtuous when it is unrequited and even rejected! You can only be TRULY kind if you are choosing to be kind to someone who treats you like trash!" "Virtue is only virtue in extremis." I adore that line but it haunts me, too. I WANT to be a kind person. And yes I want Mimic to learn how to be kind, too, but I've gotta admit half of that is definitely a mutual-problem projection. I see how he brazenly throws people under the bus to save his own tentacles but I have done that in less obvious ways, too. I cannot tell you how many times I've woken up, shaken, from dreams in which some catastrophe is occurring and I don't run back in to save anyone. I get myself out of there and THEN I realize, "oh no, I didn't save anyone else." My instinct was to get my own worthless self out of there, and if everyone else died... well. I wake up in a cold sweat and hating myself. But I refuse to surrender to despair. I refuse to define myself by those base impulses. If that IS what my subconscious is geared to do, then God help me I had BETTER WORK TO CHANGE THAT. I can't give in to the darkness that I KNOW is lurking in me. I WON'T. I am DETERMINED to be a kind person. I just... most days, I get so scared that it's not possible. I fear I'm too evil TO be kind. But dammit I still try. I still stop and listen to my neighbors talk even when I'm almost grinding my teeth with impatience; I stop and make the effort to genuinely listen and comment and care, because I DO care, I just don't like talking. And that selfish bit likes to overpower any sincerity. Same with the Christmas cards I keep getting. I could easily chuck 'em in the bin and say "I don't know these people" OR I could go the "religious spite" route and say "these are all secular cards, I'll send them all explicitly religious ones in return", OR I could grumble and protest "I can't afford to send so many cards," OR I could do what I'm REALLY tempted to do, which is to say "if I send them a card back, that's opening the door to ANOTHER controlling "relationship" and I am so tired of feeling obligated to entertain and chat with everyone; if I just snub them all maybe they'll leave me alone and I'll have peace." But deep down I'd be miserable, because I STILL LOVE PEOPLE and I DO want to give them all Christmas cards but I'd love to do so anonymously. Except if they asked I couldn't lie. And I AM overwhelmed by the effort. But dammit LOVE IS EFFORT, and it's a CHOSEN EFFORT, so unless I REALLY want to be a hypocrite I had better buy some cards and do this. I want to, in my heart of hearts. My TRUE "instinct" is to not only send cards, but gifts and flowers and the whole shebang. My deepest urge is to lavish love on everyone, like I did in high school, when I first had a job and didn't understand the concept of "savings" and all that. It was just, "oh cool I have cash, I'll buy myself something and then I'll buy SO MANY GIFTS." I made it a point of honor to spend at LEAST $100 PER PERSON on EVERY HOLIDAY. And back then my ONLY complaint was that I didn't have enough money. NOT gripingly-- more like, "if I DID have more cash I could get stuff for MORE people!" I didn't care about the cash. I just wanted to dote. My only regret in hindsight is that, due to my upbringing, I had "gifts" as a "love language" forced upon me. It's what my immediate social circle demanded. Touch was considered whorish and filthy, Words were considered empty and easily forgotten or skewed-- AND I couldn't give them casually; you know me and words-- Time was something I didn't have in order to give, and Acts were fused with gifts, really. I lived that "act" bit; it was my default. It subtly still is. If I see a "good deed" I can do, I'll do it, especially anonymously. But I'm rambling. I WANT to be kinder. Just... I struggle. And I struggle with naming examples of it shown to me, at first. The only ones I have feel so hollow it actually hurts. Like, "I got Christmas cards from the neighbors!" but they were given to everyone, just a generic "happy holidays hope it's fun" with a signature, and I've never met them in person. Is that the criteria for kindness? If I set the bar that low for defining this virtue, will I slack off as well? And will I ever admit my need of kindness in my life, if I just settle for the most robotic expression? Again, Christian-brain says "yes! You shouldn't seek kindness to be given to you! You should be happy with being treated like dirt! Your feelings don't matter. What matters is BEING kind. If others are kind to you, remember they don't owe it to you, and for all you've done you don't deserve it either. It's not a reward or a recompense. Be grateful for it, but don't cling to it." And although that is sound advice I'm starving for some actual sweetness here, I might sound like a whore but I want someone to WANT to be kind to me, even "just because." Honestly that's one of the things I was thinking about with Mimic, earlier. "Virtue is only virtue in extremis" again. Love is a CHOICE, and it's PURE that way. It DOESN'T use words like "deserve" and "owe" and "should." If it did, then it would exclude and judge others. But no. Love, and kindness, and all virtue, DECIDES to just do good for others because they exist. Simple as that. "Why me," and I say "why not you," and when they list all the reasons why they "don't deserve to be cared for" it just... honestly it should just go over my head. Love doesn't care about that. It doesn't justify things, no, it wants you to do better and heal and move forwards, BUT it also doesn't deem you "unlovable" because of them. That's the fragile dance. To truly be kind, to truly love, you MUST see and love and care for the WHOLE ENTIRE REAL PERSON, without labeling them, AND without "leaving them in the dirt" either. I want what's best for them, honestly best, what will bring genuine joy and purpose to their life, what will not hurt their soul. That's shown through kindness... through mercy. God shows me that all the time. I haven't gotten it much from people. But I need to make a list, and NOT one that says stuff like "they didn't throw me on the streets when I was being a bitch" and "they still fed me even if I was an ungrateful pig" and "they didn't insult me when I shared my personality" BECAUSE it doesn't mean "they went out of their way to make me feel safe" or "they were respectful and considerate when I displayed negative symptoms" or "they talked to me about what I valued with a genuine interest." I don't have things like that to list. And that's where kindness is really shown. It's heartfelt.
"Trust". That one hurts. I always "trusted" BUT it also always occurred IN OPPOSITION. I would be scared to death BUT I would still choose to "trust" because "that's what good people do," and "they're not a bad person!" But... I don't think anyone ever trusted me, in contrast. Ever. I didn't deserve it, though. I admit that. It still hurts to realize. I have longtime issues with compulsive lying, and half-truths, and sometimes not even knowing what's real or not due to dissociation or derealization. Not only that, but my "people-pleasing" programming often "makes" me knee-jerk agree or offer to do things that I'm NOT CAPABLE OF DOING, or even willing to do in the first place. And it happens SO AUTOMATICALLY that the only escape I have is... making myself a liar. I'll say "yeah I'll do that" or "yes I like that" or "yes that's okay" or "no there's no problem" etc. and it's completely false BUT I say it so reflexively. And then I'm pinned like a butterfly to a board. Doomed, unless I bail and run. It happens far too often, and then people call me "two-faced" and a "manipulator" and all sorts of just accusations but I honestly don't know what else to do. I am COMPLETELY untrustworthy in bodyspace, and probably have been since my youth. I grew up in a family that legit taught me to lie and even ENCOURAGED it in many situations. My mother STILL TELLS ME OUTRIGHT to "lie" to get out of trouble, or avoid an undesired outcome, or to "make things easier" or the like. She doesn't see it as lying if "the ends justify the means," I guess. But then you can't be trusted, if you do things like that. And I DESPERATELY WANT TO BE TRUSTED. If I had to make a list of my emotional needs that would be one of the first three, hands-down. Again... this is something Chaos 0 & I talk about very often and we bond over it a lot, too. But... maybe even more than him, I know what it's like to be constantly suspected, to be assumed guilty without trial, to be seen as inherently deceptive and shady... to be known as a backstabber, a double-crosser, a traitor. God knows I have literally heard those words more often than I want to count, let alone admit. And I deserve it. But just like kindness, God I WANT to be trustworthy, so badly it's killing me. I WANT to be reliable, and honorable, and loyal and true and faithful. I want my word to mean something, that when I give it, it can be depended on. I want to be staunch and stalwart and steadfast, like a rock-- like a precious stone, isn't that ironic.
"Honesty." This ties into "trust," and as a result it's probably what I've had the least of in my life. You can't trust someone if they're not honest. But... again, it's what I've lived with, and learned. My family always wore masks, hid things, told baldfaced lies. My "relationships" were hallmarked by people admitting to personae and playing roles. I never knew who people actually were. I never knew what they actually felt or thought or wanted or intended. I never knew how to be myself, either, with that atmosphere. So I wasn't honest, either, out of fear and self-distrust. What a stupid irony. All I wanted was for people to be honest, but... when I tried to be honest myself, I got punished, or called a liar anyway.
"Equality." Not even sure how to define that. With my family, it's prominently lacking-- I've told therapists before how I was always treated shockingly differently from my siblings because I was born with different chromosomes.
"Good communication." Another absolute F on my report card here.
"Space to have your own lives." ...This one was the killing bullet in all my "relationships." I was always caught in situations where I was bound to "exist FOR the relationship ONLY."

...The only healthy relationships I've ever had are in headspace, and even those have so many rough spots because I fail to live up to my part.

(continue)
...


Sorry for rambling. Let's get back on the main topic so I can be done with this.
Next is ABOUT THAT "CONSENT" THING. Notice what they grouped together? "Sex" and "kissing" and "hand holding." Three COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS that can overlap but SHOULD NOT BE GROUPED BY DEFAULT. EVER.
That's the disgusting slippery slope mentality that has turned my life into a living hell SINCE childhood. It infects EVERYTHING. How in the world are you supposed to have a NONSEXUALIZED RELATIONSHIP if people keep subtly associating innocent acts of affection and closeness with literal intercourse??? Like if you have one, you're GOING to have the other. It's one of the most devilish things that ever happened to me, internalizing that after hearing it ad nauseam.
...

I'm just so disturbed by this entire bank of info they offer because it's split between two opposing things. On one hand, they're legit giving some good information. They're fairly informative about how to get help after abuse & what pregnancy is & why consent is important, BUT they're also speaking FROM A BASEPOINT of "it's ALSO okay to masturbate and have abortions and treat sex like a toy!" NO IT'S NOT. And that corrupted foundation wrecks the whole entire thing.
There's a sentence in their info pages that basically says "pregnancy can result from sex." WHAT THE HECK, WHAT DO YOU THINK SEX IS FOR??? But here it is: on another page "People define 'sex' in different ways!" MORE TRAUMA LIES.
Honestly the dichotomy on this site is insane. On one hand they're treating sex like a game or a recreational activity-- they're giving tips to literal children on how to abuse their own sexuality, telling them "only you know when you're ready" and "virginity varies from person to person" and other such garbage. They talk about sex like it's this "fun thing to do" AND YET they have full sections on rape and assault and bloody abortions. MAKE UP YOUR MINDS. IT CANNOT BE BOTH.

I'm sorry, I cannot do this. The wrath is quickly turning into absolute existential despair and I am going to end up having nightmares and flashbacks and abusive episodes if I keep this up. No.

...Someone commented on the Tumblr post, "Applying their own twisted morality to impressionable children is grooming and abuse."
I agree entirely. That's what has me so wrecked about this. I see the entire traumatic pattern of my past looming over any children who stumble across this abomination. I wasn't "ignorant" when it happened to me, and it didn't help at all. You can sugarcoat extramarital underage sex all you want, it doesn't make it right, and it doesn't make it not terrifying either.

...
I am so bloody angry. And I want to scream and cry on some deeper level.
There are so many nousfoni that deal with so many aspects of this. Julie and Infinitii and Ashen and Dread and all the adult women that (thank God) we haven't seen in ages. The little boys who are so unstable they're almost not alive. The little girls who shriek constantly. Sugar and Wreckage and all the other unnamed Protectors who would tear out the throat of any would-be assaulter on a dime.
And then there's me, of all people, me and my awful Red heart, acting like Cupid hirself and defending this entire topic with all my might and yet I'm such a stupid hypocrite, aren't I? I'm a tangle of paradoxes. Queer transgender Catholic. Fictoromantic asexual cardiophile. Obsessed with sensuality but grossed out by physical bodies in general. I mean for God's sake my daengel is Infinitii, I can sputter out all the fumbling alibis I want but ze is the damning evidence, the judge's hammer personified.
...Yesterday night, I clicked on hir Spotify playlist.

(continue)

...

We got a text from our new therapist around 6:30, which was good because we were getting so emotionally distressed that we needed a break from typing this. Unfortunately she sent us a "Depression Inventory" to fill out, haha. We're not touching it until tomorrow when we can answer it in earnest with a clearer head. Right now everything would be skewed from being so mentally disheveled.
But yeah, we ACTUALLY have our intake appointment tomorrow at 1pm! Thank GOD; our CPTSD symptoms have been getting pretty bad post-inpatient and have been spiking lately with all the family overwhelm and online triggers. I think it'll be a video appointment; I don't think we'll have a car until Sunday (and we have to go shopping then anyway, as much as we hate to on a Sunday; we'll have to put Larnelle Harris on loop while we drive). But the new therapist is actually only a few minutes away from our apartment! So that's awesome. I'll have to check if there's a local bus that goes that way, maybe we can schedule around that? We'll see.

We spent a little while filling out the "new patient data" and skimming through the legal jargon; we're very familiar with it but it still needs to be reviewed and signed before we can become a legit patient. HOWEVER. This is the first time we've been asked for our gender and pronouns on a form. Remembering how disturbing it was to "wake up" as a System DURING INPATIENT-- AGAIN-- and to realize that whoever had been driving prior was presenting us as the birth default, which literally does not apply when we're PLURAL in any case. So, seeing it on this paper, we recognized that we had to be completely honest about it. Pronouns are they/them of course, but "gender?" How do we state that? Yes, it varies in-System, but the System as a whole isn't fronting as a whole during therapy. That's gonna ideally be the Core. But... they're not binary, and they're not actually "nonbinary" either, since-- as Catholics-- we DO recognize that male/female dichotomy as a legit split and that is apparent in the System, even with folks who are ACTUALLY "nonbinary" in that they are nonhuman and sexless. Typically people still choose one set of binary pronouns, and see that pink-blue complement as a sliding scale, almost? Like, look at Laurie. "She" is OBVIOUSLY not "female." She's not a "girl." BUT she's also not a "boy". Literally Laurie is "neuter," as all Nousfoni are, with the VERY rare function-based exceptions of Julie and Infinitii. Nevertheless, our System still recognizes "masculine" and "feminine" as valid descriptors... BUT IN AN ANDROGYNOUS FASHION. And THAT is what hit hard, thinking about our "body gender" today. Laurie uses "female" pronouns, but in the System, "femininity" is ONLY safe if it's "MASCULINE." Likewise, Knife uses "male" pronouns, but "masculinity" is ONLY safe if it's "FEMININE." Literally both binaries paradoxically merge the binary into a united harmony? While still being "independent" qualities? It's kinda beautiful really and yes we CAN have "feminine girls" and "masculine guys" but they historically tend to be abusive or corrupt. Child Nousfoni don't really adhere to this at all, because their presentations are almost always wrecked by trauma. Not only that, but "male/female" behavior characteristics really don't appear until the teenage years, so to speak. Before that, it's straight-up androgyny. And THAT'S what we really present as, physically. We NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE. We DO get dysphoria-- we look in the mirror and to this day the body looks wrong and feels foreign and we are always taken by surprise in that respect, negatively so-- BUT it goes for BOTH BINARY CHARACTERISTICS. We don't want ANY reproductive organs, which is priority, so for years we thought we were "neutrois" or "agender"... but then we realized we felt comfortable with facial hair and a more "masculine" presentation. BUT even as we lived "as a guy," we didn't want to BE a male? Not the way the world saw males, at least. We didn't want to "be in that group," or associate with that label. But we ALSO DID NOT EVER WANT TO BE CONSIDERED A GIRL, even moreso than a boy. Furthermore, the "adulthood" thing feels wrong in BOTH ways, possibly due to trauma, UNLESS we're a DAD. THEN we can be a "man." Our personal identity on the masculine side is hilariously weird-- either we're an anime protagonist dude, or we're a videogame single father, haha. Those are the tropes that fit! As for our "feminine" side, there's... not one? Which is BIZARRE. We do have "feminine traits" and yeah we were trying on dresses the other day, but we must always add that "boyish" edge or it feels COMPLETELY WRONG. We cannot have long hair, or makeup, or too much jewelry, because the instant we "step over the androgyne line" we're NOT OURSELF.
So... that seems to be the gender term for us to use, to communicate this properly. "Androgynous." A mixture of male and female, WITHOUT BEING EITHER. It's a "third gender," that doesn't reject the other two. We'll "wear" this term for a while and see how other people respond to and perceive it, to make sure it's giving the correct impression, even if they don't know we're a System-- probably especially so. In any case, that's what we put on the intake form. "Androgyne, they/them." So that was a little milestone.

It was getting late around that time, and we needed to eat at 8:30 at the latest, so we put in a solid effort to exercise around 7:45. We got 35 minutes in, but again we had to put the resistance on 4 and go slow because we're still nauseous and we KEEP getting palpitations when we exert ourselves at all? The edema in our legs is back, too, as of last night, which we haven't had since inpatient. What the heck is up with all this? It hit so suddenly and won't go away. The "malaise" is awful. Did we catch COVID again and not realize it, what with all the running around we've been doing with mom while in such a stressed-out state? God only knows, but I hope it's not that serious. We'll see, I guess.
...Actually hold up, our bloodwork results from this morning just came in. Our CMP is ACTUALLY NORMAL across the board, which I don't think has happened in YEARS. However our CBC shows that our WBC (white blood cells) are still in the low zone, BUT now our HCT (red blood cells) are really high? Which is NEW. Hopefully it's just dehydration, and not heart trouble. At least this explains the headaches, dizziness, & fatigue, apparently. At least our platelets are completely average; platelet disorders run in our family. I'm just hoping that this white/red imbalance (how ironic) isn't... well, cancer. That runs in our family, too. But... our grandmother suffered and died from it, so if we had to, too... it would be a weirdly bittersweet sort of recompense. Like we could share that, empathize with her, after the fact. I don't know. I'm worrying too much, getting too close to unearthing that unresolved and crushing guilt for her death. I can't handle that right now. Therapy is tomorrow. We'll see what the doctor says about the blood. Tonight we can't do anything about either, so put it in God's hands and let it go.

Anyway. Dinner was at 8:45, I think? No carrots this time, and a full bag of broccoli (we were craving it for some reason). Also, Xenophon reminded us that she wanted to try eating the "wiggly egg" on the english muffin we always have, so we did that-- and it was really nice actually? So we thanked her and shared it with her and we're definitely doing that for dinner from now on, haha.
We're also completely out of all all yogurt flavors except vanilla, which is our favorite so no complaints there. We had the last cherry one today and I still can't figure out if I "like" that fruit as more than a concept or not. Yes, it's red and glossy, but do we like the taste of it? No clue. No idea why our brain does that in any case, the whole "conceptual fondness" thing. It's interesting as much as it's frustrating, as it makes it very hard to form our "own opinions" because "preferences" don't really exist in that "obligatory" context. We're trying to work on it, but it's all experimental, so to speak. So we'll have to try another cherry one when we do a grocery run.
Oh. That reminds me. That dream I had yesterday morning... well, after that scene the dream did what dreams love to do and got a bit random. Apparently we had to "reintegrate Mimic back into society" and part of that process somehow involved teaching him to eat properly?? Which feels like a specific subconscious reference to our inpatient treatment & release. But, the only food the Restoration crew had on hand was yogurt. Like tons of bizarre flavors of it. Amusingly, Mimic was trying them all, as interestedly as if he had never eaten legit food before. I remember one of them was like... "Lingonberry & Brass." Yes as in the metal. Apparently this was his favorite one too, haha. Thinking about all this after I had this sudden mental image of Tangle asking Mimic "why are you eating all the yogurt" and his reply was just "no bones." Which is HILARIOUS, what the heck dude. So now, uh, when we go shopping I'm going to have to try lingonberry flavor. Just because.

Ah hold up I just remembered what else I had to tell you!
Xenophon (thankfully) pushed me to do MUSIC WRITING today. "Even just three notes, dad," she said. So I went on the League laptop (good ol' Scherzando) and started by finding all our old FL Studio files-- honestly the last time we were really prolific musically was from 2008-2015, with Abbey and that "temp laptop" that a Protector/Persecutor literally destroyed when they found out hackers were using it. We still mourn that loss-- it happened during the most productive creative phase we've had in YEARS, and... everything was gone in an instant. Days worth of art and music and writing, erased with one furious punch to the motherboard. Gone. Still, it was fitting penance; we were in the WORST state of our mind as well, simultaneously. We still refer to 2015 as the "hell year," even if we don't actively remember it. That's the reason it's missing from recall.
Anyway. We want to start again. So I found the old files, and moved them all into their League folders, but when I got to Imagirealm (Otherside) and FFN I forgot that their tunes had been moved into other Leagueworlds somewhat? So I stopped, and decided, "let's bring up ALL the FL filenames and check for location doubles." Surprisingly there were only like three; everything else had been correctly moved prior, apparently... and then there was this one file in a subfolder for Oneircia?? We FORGOT that when we almost scrapped "Immaculata" we dumped the "angel" file into Oneircia as a placeholder, and there was a tiny music loop saved in it. "handbells_2". Just a short thing, but it had such a cool vibe and I really liked how the handbell sound had been edited to sound "rounder" and more metallic. Wondering where to put it, I started adding some chords to the melody line, just for fun, and then thought "hm I wonder what to do for a bassline" and decided "let's go full-out grunge kicks" and tossed one in there. Well it sounds BOSS now. And I had to stick a limiter on it because that bass was peaking instantly, haha. But yeah, I spent like an hour just having fun with that. I miss that-- creating for the sake of creating, even just loops, because they're still beautiful sounds and they still enrich and express the Worlds they later are given to. I think we're going to keep this one in "Immaculata," because I don't want to scrap ANY Leagueworld, and this little tunebit-- which I'm calling "warrior angel" for now-- might be just the seed it needs to regrow into something real.
You know... it actually sounds like something I would have written back in college. It's got that same vibe. That means a lot to me, considering we thought that creative spark was lost after the trauma resurgence of the same time period. Apparently not, thanks be to God, because we just made something from that spark! 
Oh and when we exercise now I have ALL the Leaguetunes that exist on our phone now, so we can LISTEN to them again. And I FORGOT how much I legit LOVE the Flairousia OSTs!! Those are my "fun" projects; little transformation themes for each character that follow the same rough structure but NEED to match their personal "elemental" vibe. And they're SO FUN TO LISTEN TO. Gosh I need to jump back into writing THOSE, even if the series is under major rehaul right now. Don't care bro, I'm still gonna compose stuff for it. Heck, it might even help with the reconstruction! In any case, the music MUST still be relevant and it WILL be. So that's my next goal-- FINISH YVONNE'S TRANSFORMATION THEME FOR HEAVEN'S SAKES, haha. It's the only one NOT complete from the first generation of kids. Then I can work on the other dozens of 'em, geez louise. *dean mccoppin pose* ART!
(OH and Neon Flames Phase Two STILL ROCKS. It's such a dynamic track.)
Lastly I just brought this topic up because exporting it as an mp3 was taking forever and it's probably done an hour later, haha. So let me go close that up and I'll come back here to the new laptop (good ol' Sophrosyne) and close this up so we can SLEEP for heavens sakes, it's 1am already and we NEED to get like nine hours in to make up for the past two nights. 


Sorry for the emotional whiplash AND obvious multiple authors in this entry but this screen's been open for hours.
It's good, though. We're being completely sincere with our life, moment to moment, with this daily journaling again. Recording the pain and sorrow as well as the love and joy... it's essential.
We'll be back here again tomorrow to do the same.

113022

Nov. 30th, 2022 09:48 pm
prismaticbleed: (held)

i'm having one of those evenings.

It's been a weird day.
I was woken up by a sudden phone call from my mom at 8:30, after barely 6 hours of hellish sleep and near-hacks, in which she told me that my sis/bro had finally gotten a job, and she had their work clothes and some extra food in her car, but she was at work and they started their job at noon and the only way to get the stuff delivered was for me to drive up and do it. i said absolutely, jumped out of bed, threw on an outfit and got on the road.
i was barely conscious, really. not very safe to drive! but i was determined. mom packed up the car, i delivered them to my sibling (they're still wearing the exact same outfit they were wearing over two months ago. no shoes. clothes torn. my heart kinda broke) along with some extra toiletries, meds and food that i packed, and wished them the absolute best. their affect was still totally flat. i wonder if they hate "me." technically i broke the restraining order by not only going there but talking to them, but honestly i don't care they're family and they needed help. the court can kiss our collective ass if they think we're going to forego compassion because of a piece of paper. it has its purpose but this isn't it.

anyhow. mum told us there was a "library sale" going on at the mall down the street, and gave us ten entire dollars for it?? so when we drove away from our sibling's apartment, of course i called genesis over, and asked "do you want to go to the mall--" to which i got a "YES" before i finished the sentence, haha. honestly that's why i asked; we used to just chill together like that all the time when we were younger. so even though i was tired and hungry i wasn't going to pass that up.
the first thing i saw was the first 3 deltora quest books. those had been definitive for my sibling and i when we were in late elementary school; we had so many injokes around them, and the series lore got into our personal world more than a little. honestly i considered buying them but thought, no, they also have dvds and i'd rather grab those. (tomorrow i should get paid from ssi; if i have some cash left after getting groceries i'll totally swing by and grab the books though. i think we have $5 and $8 up the house?) so gen and i started looking. of course i'm talking out loud to him this whole time, but he keeps giving me this stern look and saying "jewel, you're dissociating." which i really was. sleep deprivation and post-purge starvation plus sudden running around in public places equals my brain is not working at all. again, thank God for Genesis. so he kept calling me out and bringing me back centered, as much as he could. it meant so much. honestly dude i know i was a mess but thank you, i love you, honestly i'd be so lost without you keeping me constant company in social settings since 2005. you're one of the biggest blessings in my entire life and i treasure every moment with you. even dissociated ones as i peruse the used dvd section in the middle of a mall, haha.
but! we found our THREE most definitive childhood films-- ferngully, we're back, and the secret of NIMH. i bought the first two because i actually have the third on DVD thanks to goodwill, but i was not passing up the opportunity to FINALLY watch those other two beloved movies again. i did see several other movies i considered buying-- notably inception and the shape of water-- but those were so important to headspace that if we did buy them, they would have to be special editions. not two-dollar secondhand markered-up copies, as oddly sweet as owning such a thing is. however! we found a SUPER RETRO care bears book-- the same kind they have at the daycare at the oblates! i immediately grabbed it, haha. haven't read it yet but i plan to tomorrow. i love the original care bears; i'm not a fan of the reboots (the more infected they get by pop culture the more they seem to lose the "heart" that drew me to them initially) but the 80s-90s stuff is great.
last problem: i kept losing things. i had to run back out to the parking lot because i actually dropped my money in the doorjamb, and kept misplacing my keys in my pockets. sleep deprivation is wild.
oh that reminds me. we parked beneath the boscovs and took the escalator up because there are so many childhood-vibe memories there, it was nice to just pass through it. but the instant we got off the escalator there was a mannequin with this silver-sequin dress? and genesis randomly comments "i'd wear that." and asked if i was gonna buy it for him. i asked if he was joking and he said of course, but still, he'd wear it. lord knows where he comes up with these things. but if i do go back to buy those books, i'm gonna take a photo of it and draw him in it, there you go.
i would try it on for the heck of it, but... body dysphoria is literal hell. and it's been so bad today. hence my current devastating depression. but we'll get to that.
we talk too much. we babble a lot in public as we were taught to by BOTH our mother and grandmother growing up, which we've mentioned before. we were raised to "chat with the camera" that was always pointed at us, or to "entertain" our parental figures and siblings, et cetera. but we were expected to talk. it's exhausting. but i can't turn it off cold; thankfully i can reroute it and just talk to genesis or xenophon or whoever else wants to ghost with me that day or in that place. i thank God for ghosters too; when i'm in "social mode" it often locks me out of headspace which is EXISTENTIALLY TERRIFYING so having someone show up to walk and talk beside me is literally such a relief i could cry. it means so much to me.
it's ALSO the only reason i'm surviving in this apartment now, i'm tempted to say no thanks to umpc, but no, that's too cruel language. i'm just... bitter today. i have to admit it. again, "we'll get to that." gotta write down basic daily events first because i keep slacking off in journaling because of depression and i need to just power through it right now.

so. we got two dvds and a book, got back in the car, and left. while i was at the red light exiting the parking lot, i remember just feeling trapped in entertainer/social mode and being so, so wrecked by it. i was trying to listen to chaos 0's spotify playlist and i couldn't BECAUSE "social mode" makes me incapable of blueshift emotions and when i try to feel them it causes self-loathing. i become too aware of how incompatible my "social self" IS with deeper feelings, and it just... makes me hate myself. it's toxic, this public persona garbage. literally lethal.
i don't remember how i got through it. i don't even remember driving. i know i did keep some music on, and i was inevitably talking to genesis, but... no memories. that's sadly not surprising.

on the way home, i decided to stop at walmart to pick up a box of cereal with the extra $5 we had saved from mom, because that's a staple food and we had no other money. again, no memory of being in the store, but genesis got us in and out quickly.
then we went to redners because we decided that we were going to return the pasta we bought immediately post-inpatient, as it was an "obligation food" and we were not going to eat it by choice; plus, not only does it take too long to prepare, but we have "trauma" from both cooking accidents AND old binges with pasta and we really don't need panic attacks every time we see the boxes in the cupboard. lastly they're too hard to properly portion and measure anyway, and they don't fit our dietplan without having to replan everything. so back to the shelves they went, which gave us like $7.50 in foodstamps back, thank God, so we immediately bought two powerade (for emergencies) and a bag of carrots, which was about $4.50? then we ran over to aldi, grabbed a pack of raisins for spinny (redners wanted a whole extra dollar for the exact same amount, geez) and a single avocado and got out of there within like two minutes.
our only problem? talking to the cashier. she asked us "how we were doing" and we, like the boundary-less idiot we are, replied that we were exhausted but happy since we'd been "running errands for the family/ies since 8:30 this morning" and mentioned our sibling getting a job and giving them stuff. almost offhandedly. just being honest. but it felt so wrong to say, like we were "boasting," and that only hit me AFTER "we" said it. that made us genuinely miserable. "well, God's not going to bless you for that now, because you told someone about it! good job, you arrogant asshole." and that just... made us feel like, what's the point then? if we keep publicizing the good we do? if people keep noticing it and thanking us and saying "you're such a nice/ kind/ good person?" does all that equal damnation and shame in God's eyes? i don't ask for it, i don't want it, but yeah it is nice because it makes me feel like gee, maybe I'm NOT the scum of the earth after all; maybe i'm NOT a hideous monster that ruins everything it touches; maybe I'm NOT pure irredeemable evil after all? but even feeling grateful for the sweet comments we get makes us feel filthy and ugly and wrong because you're "delighting in the praise of MEN instead of GOD." ...but "we are but unprofitable servants; we have done only what we were expected to do." which is true. but... even if i don't want to be thanked, i still... selfishly want to feel like i did do something good? and right? which is junk. "virtue is only virtue in extremis." i need to learn to keep my mouth shut.
when i buy food for the family, i keep the receipts a secret. i sneak the food into the house. i don't tell them it's from me. i hate when people find out. i like to secretly buy people gifts and leave them on desks and slip them under doors and i don't want to be noticed or thanked; i just want them to be happy and to feel loved and cared for. it's not about me. if you do make it about me i will probably try to eviscerate myself because NOW the "good deed" has become pride and that's worthy of annihilation, good job you idiot, you're "only doing this for attention" etc.

self-loathing is off the charts today.

got home around noon. i think? late. too late.
head was a blur. laurie and xenophon had to keep me on track just to stay conscious enough to make breakfast. i remember vacuuming first and scalpel was talking with knife about something and lynne is still sticking around, and of course julie-- it's so good to have her part of the daily crew and not hiding all the time like she used to-- but... i couldn't pull myself together.
breakfast was at like 1:05. we didn't get done until almost 2 because i kept trying to do the bible study at the same time and wasn't accomplishing either. so i set it aside and just focused on eating mindfully, or as much as i could. that way we wouldn't trigger that tragic trauma response of "i don't remember eating, and if i don't remember something it means i dissociated, and dissociation usually means trauma, so we probably experienced trauma with the food, which means it NEEDS TO GET OUT" and then binge/purge cycles happen. it's so sad and bizarre how trauma triggers cause binges first out of a feeling of helpless devastation. like, "i'm already ruined and violated; i might as well just perpetuate it"??? or something? it's a feeling of forced addiction and the nousfoni that act on it are TERRIFIED and have told us multiple times that they WANT IT TO STOP but they "can't." they feel trapped. and that's heartbreaking. so we're trying so hard to help them now, and to talk to them.

...laurie's function-warping disaster is causing some really weird side effects when she tries to stop them. since she doesn't want to go back to her ultraviolent walls-up-everywhere state of mind, like she was when she was created, she hesitates to use force lately? it's so strange. but she'll try to talk them out of it, and reason with them, but she can't force them to stop and when they hysterically insist on "please let me just finish this" or "just a few more minutes" not out of any genuine want but out of that panicked obsessive ritualistic loop, she... doesn't fight them. she goes almost on standby and i THINK that's being caused BY her function cracking BUT what happens is that, instead, she feels what they're feeling. i have NO IDEA WHY. genesis and i later sadly surmised that it might be because I'M not doing MY job, as the "heart" of the System, and so Laurie is once again taking on all the "empty jobs" herself in her absolute driving determination to be everything for everyone, to be THE system protector, in an almost universal sense. 
but... geez it is unreal to see. maybe it's her purple color working; xenophon is honestly the same, and SO IS MARKUS to be honest with you. purples have this strange ability to reach people, to understand when others don't. xenophon can argue with the e.d. nousfoni and they will LISTEN to her. they can FEEL THINGS when they talk to her. that is UNHEARD OF. in all our years of fighting this war, i think the closest we ever got to that was with zucche in NC? when chaos 0 was fighting with her over that, too. but his function in the system IS emotional sincerity so obviously his involvement could get even an e.d. nousfoni to reconsider their actions, even momentarily. but xenophon somehow takes it further, differently? she can DIALOGUE with them. she gets so sad and she actually cries and shouts but she's just hurt, and the eating voices hurt WITH her? whereas Laurie is doing that in reverse now? it's fascinating as much as it is worrisome. i don't want laurie losing herself in this. there are some things-- many things, actually-- that SHE needs to be protected from, and... she hasn't been doing that. she's pushing herself too hard and taking on roles that she CANNOT hold without shattering, so the rest of us NEED to get our butts back to work so that things CAN run the way they're meant to.
...man. how many years has it been since the crash-reset? five? and we're only NOW starting to "turn the power back on?" we're only now starting to resurrect and communicate and LIVE? geez. honestly i don't even remember the past five years offhand. like at all.
hence all the archiving i'm dedicated to doing lately. still, we haven't touched that stuff yet. but we will.

i'm getting a legit headache. and i'm dizzy. really need to sleep. why is our body hungry again we ate a 700k dinner at 730, we should not be this hungry three hours later.
well geez, i think to myself, maybe if you didn't bike for two solid hours you wouldn't be.
but. like i said earlier. dysmorphia.

after breakfast i don't remember what we did. around 3pm i did get on the bike. i was going to watch the "steamboy" movie our mom got us for christmas like ten years ago but we never watched, but i felt guilty about "not watching something religious" so i found a goodwill dvd i bought of "jacob and joseph" that was like exactly 92 minutes long? which is perfect workout time. so i put it on.
...i have not had that much trauma directly triggered in a LONG TIME.
i was legitimately disturbed. i did NOT expect that from a bible story movie. there was so much jarring stuff-- so much genuinely frightening behavior, mostly from the WOMEN, that i legit stopped biking a few times because i wanted to throw up. i was THAT shaken.
i don't want to talk about it, at all. i really don't. i felt sick. the way people behaved, and spoke about each other, and treated each other... i kept trying to find the silver lining. "God is clearly showing us WHY He doesn't want people to do such things." well boy howdy he sure is, seeing that stuff so starkly presented made me want to upchuck my bloody intestines. honestly i threw the dvd in a donation bag as soon as it ended. i was shaking. what the heck. at least there were good points in there, legit shows of virtue and forgiveness and kindness, despite all the awful behavior. i guess that's human life. God knows my life is one hellishly ugly mess, too.

...the bike logged exactly 110 minutes by the time i quit. adding in all the running around the mall i did earlier-- yes, actual running, to and from the car; i rarely walk-- that's about 2 solid hours of exercise. xenophon insisted i eat dinner immediately, so we got it ready and ate around 730, like i said. we immediately did the dishes and turned out the lights, and i realized that IF i front and LEGIT DISSOCIATE while I'M there, the binge voices CAN'T SHOW UP because we're "NOT IN THE BODY." so that's a HUGE new development, thank God.
i made a shopping list for tomorrow (we're out of meds mostly), took out the garbage, said the wall-prayers by choice (haven't done so since before the hospitalization; we were using them as "punishment" almost at that time so it felt wrong to "force" them), and then went onto the other laptop for a while with the intention of backing up our phone files.
...bad idea.
yes, i did have to back up the data. but i made the HUGE mistake of listening to a file i had recorded of myself singing in church? and i was so unbearably ashamed of my voice. not only that, but the fact that i HAD recorded it just screamed "proud-ass arrogant bitch" and i deleted it and went into a depressive spiral.
then i made an even bigger mistake. i looked through our saved photos.
there... there were photos of tbas. with that face that scared us. immediate terror trigger. god why were we so afraid of them so often? we have like TWO memories of such sweet expressions they gave us on two VERY specific incidents and we loved who they were in those moments BUT in so many other moments they legitimately scared us so much. there is SO MUCH CONFLICT there. we're... we still feel so used and violated and broken and horrified by what we apparently let them do to us. so much acting and dissociating and forced forgetting and self-abuse on our part. i know they started picking up on it the closer we got to bailing. but... it went on for so bloody long. the suicide attempts were the worst. we'd never felt so hopeless in our whole entire life. i STILL don't know how we got that good of a poker face, with all the memories i have literally feeling JAILED in our own head, like looking out from barred windows 20 feet away, at a body that is doing and saying things WE DON'T WANT, and us feeling such pain and RAGE and even hatred, but never showing it??? like how many times they would say something to us and we would smile but inside we were SCREAMING AND SOBBING and how did we never express that???? no wonder the eating disorder got so bad. it was our only way of expressing and acknowledging the HELPLESS FEAR and SELF-VIOLENCE we were constantly feeling.
it's a mess. not going to think about that.
oh. but there was a photo of us, too. recent. one we hadn't seen before. it was when we bought that purple cotton button-up from goodwill and cut half of it off so it was a "crop top"? whatever you'd call that. but we were GORGEOUSLY THIN. and yes i use that emphatic language because i legit CRIED. our body was PERFECT. we were thin and muscular and small and god i never realized just HOW beautiful it looked. it sounds horrible to say that. but honestly now, well we put on 30 pounds and we are so bloated and fat, we're not muscular anymore and we can't wear anything revealing like that anymore because it would look lecherous. it's gross and disgusting. it's enough to drive me to despair. it does, sometimes.
isn't that stupid? to value the appearance of this body so much? but i'm being honest. part of me says "you idolized it too much, you wanted to be perfect and thin and beautiful, and you were, but God TOOK THAT FROM YOU so you would be humiliated and ground into the dirt, now no one will see beauty in you, now you look like a whore, now you don't deserve love because you're misshapen and WRONG." like honestly a BIG part of our brain back then would see our thin body and think, "i'm worthy of love now. i'm capable of love now." whereas this fatass body we have now is INCAPABLE of love and respect, and we feel so dirty and whorish and gross, i look in the mirror and i weep. what happened??? where the HECK did all this fatphobia come from??? is that all because of the abuse? of the women with "womenly bodies" god i want to SCREAM AND SOB AND KILL EVERYTHING, JUST TO MAKE IT STOP,
it's not worth it. it's not worth it at all.
except looking that perfect meant being 90 freaking pounds and we COULDN'T SURVIVE LIKE THAT. laurie and chaos 0 both keep reminding me that "gaining this weight saved our ass" and i have to admit yeah it did, we're STILL UNDERWEIGHT even now, even if this body looks unbearably disgusting.
but i'm working out, now. i'm gonna get muscular and i'll be STRONG and i can HELP PEOPLE and PROTECT PEOPLE and i can FIGHT if i need to. i couldn't before. i became so shamefully weak and cowardly and selfish. not anymore. look at this morning. i can BURN again, like this. oh yes i wanted to, being thin, but it just made me ice. i was too tired and cold and depressed. starving our body to death out of fear, out of this desperate desire to be clean and pure and untouched. and physically we looked it. we honestly did. but... our body was still dying.
now, we're alive. now, the war has started again. now, we're fighting hacks and overrides and all sorts of nightmarish things. daily life is a struggle. but at least we're all together again and i would rather bleed in the arms of someone i love inside then to be alone and pretty and just drifting through "life" outside. in the end, if that body is what i had to sacrifice in order to see my daughter again, and to dream of chaos 0 again, and to spend days with genesis again, and to find everyone who was lost again... well, to be honest, as insane and terrifying as it sounds to say this, i'd go through another 10 weeks of hospitals for their sake. in the end that's what it boils down to.
...in the end, i need to stop thinking that this body is me. it's not. yeah i try to make it match but it can't and it won't. it's deeply disturbing and it drives me to tears but i need to accept it. skin and bones and blood will change even if my soul doesn't. and how the body looks and feels doesn't define me as a person, ESPECIALLY not morally. it's so hard to accept, weirdly. there are too many direct ties between the body and trauma and sheer evil. too much agony tied to looking and feeling certain ways. but... inside, the true me, isn't defined by it. i've been trying to tell "myself" that since i first realized the body was changing, around 2003. i remember how scared we were back then. that hasn't changed, for the most part. still. gotta accept it sometime. i want to. it's just terrifying.
...i honestly do feel incapable of goodness, when i look and feel like this.
oh geez and it was WORSE seeing some old hospital & church photos of how we looked with LONG HAIR post-NC. now THAT was disturbing. we looked like a total stranger. it shook me to the core. who the heck WERE we??? who WAS that, living like that for so long??? we have no clue. seeing that weird ugly face... it always looked so hollow. THAT was the scariest part. every single photo of us with that hair looked fake. like there was no person behind those eyes. i wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't. we didn't have an inner life during that time, after all, so who the heck were we, really?
...but yeah. it wrecked me. i was trying to find calming pictures but kept hitting landmines in the process. i was trying to show xenophon some of the pictures i had saved of chaos 0-- her "other dad"-- but even looking at him made me feel worthless and hideous and detestable. like "who in the world am i to care about him? as ugly and gross as i am? you think you're capable of love? you think anyone would WANT to love you? you fool. you stupid whore. no one loves you, and you're an idiot for "feeling" like you do. it's laughable. it's a joke. if anyone found out that YOU, you bland-ass average joe, you transgender freak, you screwed-up prostitute reject, "loved" him, you'd be mocked and jeered out of the country. you should be ashamed of yourself, you pig. misshapen freaks and faggots like you don't get to love. you deserve to be crushed by the weight of your arrogant sins. stop pretending you're in a relationship. he doesn't want you. he never could. NO one could. you're too loathsome. with all the appalling sins in your past, God Himself probably doesn't want you, either! you're worth nothing but garbage. you'd be better off dead, you grotesque excuse for a human being."
...is literally what my thoughts turned into.

it keeps happening. the self-hatred is unbearable. i don't know what to do about it.


one extremely important note.
i told xennie and laurie and chaos to leave me alone, because i was so ashamed and humiliated from looking at pictures of "myself" and the people i "loved"-- and seeing this unpassable chasm between us, a rift caused by my very existence-- that the very awareness of THEM looking at me made me want to either attack them or kill myself, both actions triggered by the same unbearable self-loathing and disgust and shame.
but. i said a small, desperate prayer, "please if there's someone who can sit with me and keep me safe, someone untouched by all that"-- i'm not even sure what i asked for. i just wanted someone with me who wouldn't set off this downward spiral even further.
...
and then suddenly, waldorf was sitting on the edge of my bed.
for a second i couldn't even speak. she looked just like she did in 2002. all glowy-blue and-- thank GOD-- untouched by her previous mangled stint in headspace, too, where her function became so corrupt that she lost herself.
but no, there she was, with that old vibe that TRULY was her, that "scary" edge that she NEEDS, feeling like the past i wanted to return to so badly i could sob.
but i did feel safe with her. somehow. maybe it was because i knew SHE had known be BEFORE all this horror happened. before all the trauma. before our body became our personal circle of hell.
she disappeared quickly. i don't think anyone else in headspace knows. i don't want them to know. right now i'm in so much emotional pain that i think if people started to "drag waldorf into this" i'd explode. no. leave her alone. leave me alone.
so many of us have been socially corrupted. especially laurie and lynne.
lynne being "pushed" into orange-- she noted today that when she still slips into it, her hair "gets curlier?" it actually changes to match the vibe-- literally killed her, taking her "stability" and "maturity" function root and literally annihilating it. she became someone else and she DIED as a result.
now the same bloody thing is happening to laurie and i will BLEED MYSELF OUT in this living room before i let that happen to her.
but... she suffered from NC more than anyone, arguably. well, besides infinitii. i can't deny that. but laurie lost herself COMPLETELY. SHE ACTUALLY DIED. that was considered IMPOSSIBLE because she was always a sort of anchor FOR the system; her dying was like taking a pickaxe to the motherboard of a computer. once that's gone, EVERYTHING is shot. unfixable. lost.
if she still can't pull herself together...
...
...i do miss the old days. when she would spit blood at me and punch me in the face if i swore. no quarters. no making jokes about things. no "commentary" on the fronters. no. she was a PERSECUTOR PROTECTOR and God help us i miss that so much, i MISS her violet violence, i MISS her oddly colorless skin and knuckles breaking my cheekbones and axe-blades against my neck. i miss the blood and the impact and... i miss her. i miss when she cared enough TO hit me. just like i STILL beg my poor mother to do when i get unhinged. but no one will hit me now that i'm "grown up." which is ridiculous. i need the pain TO feel lovable again, and pure again, and good in the first place. without the blood, i'm wrecked.
i miss the retributors too. God I miss Laurie, I will NEVER forget that first night standing in front of the sink, shaking, with her gripping my arm with one hand and holding a kitchen knife with the other. slicing open the first graves into my arm. i still treasure those scars. they're the part of this body that i love the most. all the scar tissue. all the invisible crosses on this bloated ugly stomach. i miss making it bleed, the last time it looked like this.
i remember the day that knife and razor and algorith and mulberry (because she did start as a retributor) sat on the edge of our old bed and cut our legs open. i miss the time algorith named herself the "cleanup crew" in the bathroom, holding a white washcloth covered in blood. i miss knife, sweet knife, holding his namesake and tearing our shoulder open. i miss razor's maniacal laughter as she slashed row after row of hideously beautiful gaps into our thighs with an x-acto knife, the same one we took to art class, watching the skin and muscle split and flood red like a painting. no one cut deeper than her. her scars are my favorites. i miss them.
...I miss Laurie. the old Laurie. the REAL Laurie. not how she is now, her color constantly shifting, her words unsure, her presence flickering. no. i miss her strength and no-nonsense attitude and her fists. i miss the righteous rage in her eyes. i miss seeing her storm into a room to chop a hacker to bloody pieces if they so much as looked at me.
i remember the night she almost killed herself because she failed to protect me. she showed up too late. and she tried to end it all. THAT'S how devoted she is. was. what happened?
what the heck did north carolina DO to her, that now half the time she screws up her own freaking name???
God how do i get HER back?
...how do I get myself back?

and infi, poor broken beloved infinitii, you're more of a mess than anyone i fear, you still won't let anyone get close, you feel all wrong, your form is constantly unstable, you feel tainted, distorted, used--

why do i keep having flat nightmares like last night
when mom's phone call woke me up, i was dreaming that i was sitting at a kitchen table that looked oddly like the one in my dad's parent's house, before they died and it was sold. i was talking to two doctors or professors? i think? about the nature of reality, and of time, and of the human consciousness, obviously influenced by all the stein's gate recently. but they were focused on what was physical and tangible and i kept vehemently insisting to the contrary, no, there are other world lines, and thoughts do affect reality, and what we dream and imagine IS real in a very valid way, AND extant in "reality" even if it can't be touched by our literal hands. i was absolutely passionate about the topic and i was conscious enough to BE in the dream doing so, speaking with all honesty and clarity, and defending my position.
then all of a sudden, i hear a watery sort of yawn, and who walks around the corner to stand, half-asleep and eyes closed, in the doorway behind me, but chaos 0.
"jewel, tell me again why we're in los angeles?"
then he opened his eyes, saw the two visitors, and did such a double-take i almost laughed. he took two steps back, half-twisting his arms and legs around each other as if to hide himself, as i reassured him that it was okay, "they kind of know you're here already," and also feeling almost euphoric because hey, he literally just proved my side of the argument. and yes, the two dudes i was talking to looked just as shocked as he did, haha.
but.
i woke up then, and after the phone call, i threw my arms around his anchor plush and kissed its forehead and said, "you probably aren't even aware of this, but thank you so much for saving me again."
upstairs he looked at me, confused but deeply troubled. "what do you mean?"
"there was almost another dream hack. but you showed up, and just by your being there, it didn't happen. your very existence kept me safe. thank you."
after thanking and kissing him again i jumped out of bed to get ready to drive over to mom's workplace, and that started the day very quickly, but... i was also running away from the reality of what i had just implied.
i keep having dream hacks.
i still say it's because i gained all this f*cking weight. yeah, horrible trauma pun intended, why not. i keep having these awful hollowed-out nightmares where i am a "faceless whore," emotionless and almost without free will, numbly going through all these scripted actions because "someone wants me to sleep with them and i have to get ready" etc etc. knowing that abuse was going to happen and just shutting down beforehand. but not running. not being able to run. just giving up, giving in to the "inevitable" trauma. objectifying myself first, so it wouldn't be as scary. or so i hoped. et freakin cetera. i'm so tired of this.
...
why, God? why can't i get over this? why can't i be free of this? why does my every waking and sleeping moment have to be tormented by memories of sexual trauma? even that movie today, all those revolting women, i'm sorry but the way they would speak and look and act made me want to SCREAM and GUT SOMETHING. i could have clawed my eyes and ears out so many times. i'm so sorry God. i NEVER want to be like that. i NEVER want to be a part of that. i am NOT A WOMAN and i am NOT A MAN and i want NOTHING TO DO WITH EITHER OF THEM. it's disgusting. it's terrifying. i need a stronger word. but nothing seems to sum up the absolute apocalyptic horror that slams into me whenever i realize that "oh by the way, all that hell i went through in the past? OTHER PEOPLE ARE STILL LIKE THAT. ALL THE TIME. ALL AROUND ME." and i can't escape and i keep stumbling across it EVEN IN A RELIGIOUS MOVIE AND I WANT TO DIE.
God i can't take it anymore. i cannot live like this. i can't live in this hellscape of a body, all fat JUST like a whore now, and I CAN'T starve it to blessed death anymore because i...
...i want to say i have "something to live for," but a detestable deformed monstrosity like myself doesn't deserve to live. and no one deserves to be plagued by my existence. "something to live for" my ass. they don't care.
"they don't exist," a devilish voice hisses in my ear.
to which i want to swing around and punch their rotten teeth out
hence the dream argument this morning
don't you give me that, they're more real than MOST of the freaking tangible GARBAGE on this literal planet, and you KNOW it!!!
laughing at me, mocking, jeering, just like they said earlier, you're a selfish jerk, a stupid empty-headed moron, the laughingstock of the universe, God is ashamed of you,
shut your lying mouth,

and Laurie shows up with her axe.
and Razor. and Wreckage.

wh

all the protectors

all right listen it's like... 15 minutes later i don't know
legit headspace stuff happening just like the old days
laurie, knife, razor, sugar, wreckage, algorith, batta, scalpel, cannon, julie, lynne, leon,
xenophon and genesis and chaos 0 and infinitii
rio and markus
mister sandman even, in a genuinely terrifying moment,
i even saw phlegmoni & celebi & gleam & galadia & ventrium, is he really alive,
why are there so many people aroundn
"because we love you, you moron" laurie spits at me, in tears, still covered in blood

something is wrong with my heart
it's too cold
too numb
every time someone breaks it, it freezes up again
not like ice but like... oh
oh no.
like calcification.

same thing happening in my dreams

but i can't write everything down now, laurie showed up and brought razor and they attacked the devils,
then she turned on me, "i heard what you were writing; i miss this too"
FORGOT exactly why she was the only person allowed to butcher me alive
literally force resets my internal presence
having so much trouble re-forming and anchoring into a sense of "self"
genesis literally rolling his own trauma through me, the gem-shattering and the awful shock of that,
razor and scalpel cutting me open,
axe-blades through my skull. the most euphoric thing i've felt in AGES
knife shoving a blade right into my chest when i was slipping, said that "if my heart was still hard, it needed to be forced open"
so much of it. absolutely insane. my entire identity sputtering like static. white and red everywhere. blood in my mouth,
xenophon hugging me and crying, "dad i don't care how you look, i'll still love you,"
perfect chaos suddenly raging,
scalpel commenting, "that's the most selfless thing i've heard you feel all day"
forgot about everything but him
but the hellish doubts kept hitting
"he's not real, none of this is actually real, it's all fake, none of it matters"
laurie grabbing me by the throat
"define 'actually'"
at some point i told her don't put the walls back up and she just broke, it was the first instant i saw her as purple and not violet,
in tears. told me she wouldn't. she cared too much about me
i flatly commented if she was going to kiss me and she said no, that's not what matters, don't go cheapening that anyway
just pressed her forehead to mine and swore through gritted teeth and tears that she would literally die before letting me be lost
then she kissed me, not even romantically it was like a covenant, the way it should be,
and then i was back in that ruined city with all the water
and all the pain
but he saw me and forced himself back down to size and he grabbed my shoulders and said this is YOUR pain, why won't you let yourself feel this,
i
i don't know. i want to. i can't?
the doubts,
"he's not real,"
that's it, i've had enough,
"well then neither am i, and if this isn't 'real' then i don't want to be real."
i don't want to be stuck in the body. i don't want the hell of physical existence and the terror of the world. if THAT is "real" then forget it all, i'll stay here where everything is love and blood and it's MORE "REAL" than ANYTHING i've ever known or felt or imagined,
but the damned devils kept laughing, even after infi ate what was left of them, coughed up that huge calcified rock--
they don't know anything.
i kissed chaos back.
i chose to. i choose this. i WANT to love him, and to be here, and to MAKE this "real." i don't care what you damned demons keep hissing at me. everything they say is based on unfeeling condemnation and hatred and callous rejection. there's no love. so don't you dare talk to me about "reality."
if love itself is what created everything in the first place then how in the world is this "not real."


i hate these mini-hells
hate all the mental torture
hate the physiological wreck i am after getting literally beheaded and eviscerated in headspace
but i wouldn't trade it for the world if it means i get to be with them, all of them, all those colors,
i'm only hurting right now because my heart is so bloody closed-off
geez didn't this turn into one mess of an entry
gotta be honest though, stop denying the truth,
111 am
nice

but honestly.

life is weird. truth is stranger than fiction. i'm tired of censoring and burying and hiding and shutting down everything because it's weird. no. not anymore. gonna go right back to being jewel the egocidal maniac if that's what it takes.
but no. no "going back." we're going forward. together. all of us.
why are we in los angeles, God only knows but i just realized the name of that city, isn't that a lack of coincidences too?

i miss these disjointed entries. i miss this entire life of ours. THIS feels "real," not the empty denial forced on me for years. enough of that. it's all lies. there's no kindness or compassion in it at all. and THAT proves it's fake. shallow. illusory.
can i "prove" what's going on upstairs? can i "prove" that God talks to me? can i "prove" that human beings have a soul? no. doesn't mean it's not real.

so tired of that argument
so stop arguing. if they don't want to be convinced then who am i really arguing with?
i choose love
real love
i CHOOSE this.
that means infinitely more than passively throwing it all away because "no one else sees it"
love is a decision
so is my life at this point
same thing really

still scared of this body. still struggling.
but it's "real" too
even if it's "not real" in another sense
what the heck does that word even mean
the body exists, i'm in it, i'm not the body, i exist, it's ALL "real" in different ways
but i can't cope with any of it without love.
that's the bottom line
gotta learn to love yourself too, kid
ALL of yourself
and yeah, you SHOULD see it that way.
that's what makes love possible
that body is everyone's home in this world, like it or not
it doesn't deserve to be hated or abused either
so CHOOSE to love it, too.

getting late. feeling myself slipping into asinine platitude mode
don't want that to happen
trying too hard to "conclude" and it's messing up my honesty

listen. i need sleep. we need sleep. i have cinnamon bedsheets and a videogame angel waiting for me in the other room
and i really need to talk to everyone about what the heaven just happened
pull myself together
try again tomorrow
"try what," laurie asks
try to live and love a little better
"you're not trying, you're doing it, kid. we'll just do it even better tomorrow. don't set something you're already achieving as some distant goal. it's already in your hands."
and in my heart, i hope
"yeah well, that's the whole point"

i'm not frozen, i'm not "lost," i'm just... disheveled
out-of-focus
but i'm burning, no matter what i'm still red at the core, red and brilliant white glass, crystals, whatever it is, prismatic pieces.
but red. you can't shut that down. it's LIFE. it's blood and fire and sincerity, and courage and hope and it's REAL.

god i'll pray to you too about this
i do feel very off-balance and hazy right now. loose threads. battered. "understandably"
is that wrong
"no"
"the only thing any of you could do wrong is refusing to love each other"
that's a very general statement
"it's a very general rule of life"
good point
am i lost right now
"yes and no, you know that too"
how can i get un-lost?
"keep following the lighthouse"
(and immediately something in my heart sparks to life)
"in the very act of reaching out, in that hope, you are not lost, because you see the shore"
so this prayer counts too
"of course it does. this is love, too. it shows trust. you can't have one without the other."

i need to close this up and i'm feeling ashamed
"of what? talking?"
yes in general. thinking, oh this isn't socially acceptable. it's not 'normal.' it's weird and bizarre and i 'should be ashamed of myself'
"why do you constantly label and condemn yourself?"
...to beat myself into shape i guess?
"what kind of shape? is it even a good shape? have you thought about that?"
...no, actually
"the shape that condemnation will beat you into is a broken one. it's not what i want for you. hatred only begets hatred, and it will keep you lost forever."
so... should i be ashamed?
"of what? telling the truth, even just to yourself? being dedicated to love even if it's difficult? being 'different,' even as I made you? do you think even this could happen outside of My jurisdiction?"
...but why,
"what have you always told Me 'brings you closer to God?' where have you learned My deepest lessons most directly?"
...upstairs
"then why would you wish to toss it aside?"
i don't, that's the problem, i want to-- no, i do love them, i want to believe it's okay to.
"why would it not be okay to love them, or the life you have with them?"
because i'm afraid it's pulling me away from You and what You want from me
"is it?"
i... no? i think i was worse when i abandoned it for those years
"you were. yes, you were religious, but half of your heart wasn't in it. now... I get all of it. I get all of you. pun intended?"
yeah. yeah honestly that's true. they push me to pray more than i would "alone"
"you're never alone, not with them, and you're never without Me. go to sleep, child."
sorry
"no need to apologize. this was important. but there is a time for rest, too."
sorry if i'm getting words wrong or paraphrasing i just want to record this
"you did right in doing so. i want you to pay more attention to our conversations, too. I want to talk to you more often. I miss you, too."
good then you know i do miss You even if i don't act on it always and i'm so sorry
"I forgive you. always. but do come visit me more often again. I'm always there."
please increase my faith. and my love. and thank you for all the grace.
"pun intended?"
always
"you are always welcome, child. just be patient. the most beautiful flowers take time and care to grow. but they are growing. trust in Me. I will make sure of it"
my gardener and my lapidary and my Lord and my God
"and your Beloved, too, don't forget."
...that's... that's very important and very true thank You
"it's real, my child. and be brave. I am with you always. I promise. do not be afraid. now go to sleep!"


can't argue with that

all right that's it there's too much going on to keep ramble-typing anyway.
let's finish this old school
love you kids, see you around



I only want to feel the cold lightPretending that it's never overI only wanna smile at your eyesIt doesn't help that I've never thought to go home
Now when something is building insideThinks I'm back I have it all the whileI wanna get up and shout

With a little luck we could owe it to ourselves, in the endThe time to finish is the time I need to dwell
I only feel there's something else I should've known, you knowBecause I nearly didn't feel it at all, you know, it's soAnd how does it feel? Now that I'm real?

I knew this kid who wanted to find himself, in your arms...

prismaticbleed: (Default)

RELAPSE PREVENTION PLAN

Positive changes you have made so far in treatment:
"Normalizing" many fear foods; being able to sit with/ distract from fullness without panicking; not counting food; eating with eyes open; RESISTING URGE TO PURGE; learning how to make OWN food choices without obsessing over patterns & "right/wrong"; ability to say "NO" to compulsions?

Current and ongoing challenges:
"Completionist" compulsion; LOTS of trauma memories tied to foods that I keep RELIVING & getting lost in; notable physical body discomfort; INTENSE DESIRE TO RESTRICT: to FLATTEN stomach & trauma kickback "YOU CAN'T MAKE ME EAT; I WON'T LET YOU HURT ME OR TOUCH ME ANYMORE" resistance.

Techniques & strategies that help & you will continue to use:
Industrial distraction methods; EXCHANGES; lower volume food combinations; PORTION CONTROL (use smaller bowls/ plates); distress tolerance skills; accountability sheets; food tracking sheets; trauma grounding & emotion regulation skills; JOURNALING; educatedly seeing food as NUTRITION; PATIENCE & TRUST!!

Situations & times that you are at highest risk of E.D. behaviors:
RESPONSIBILITY OVERLOAD; Sensory overwhelm (AUDITORY); feeling dirty (dropping/ spilling/ crumbling/ dribbling food); self-loathing episodes; trauma flashbacks (ESP. PHYSICAL); social overexposure (lose internal awareness/ self); feeling full/ bloated/ sick; DISSOCIATING AND/OR TRIGGERS WHILE EATING

Warning signs that you are starting to slip, and how to turn things around:

SIGN: Trying to entertain/ people-please; babbling or seeking to mollify? Talking too much; commenting, muttering
SYMPTOMS: DISSOCIATING; mindless, compulsive talk; anxiety/ panic; "imminent terror/ danger"
PLAN TO STOP: Close eyes, BLOCK EARS, shut your mouth! WRITE instead; SYSTEM TALK instead

SIGN: Trying to heal ALL AT ONCE/ "I can do EVERYTHING" / "Nothing is wrong"
SYMPTOMS: Invincibility, risk-taking, NO future prudence
PLAN TO STOP: ISOLATE & RECENTER INTERNALLY. Burn off mania with HARD LABOR & EXERCISE

SIGN: "I hate food" "Food is evil" "Gaining weight = moral corruption"
SYMPTOMS: Destroying food, restricting/ fasting, suicidal ideation, depressive collapse
PLAN TO STOP: Check the facts; read Eucharist books? Remind self of medical consequences to behaviors

Dealing with setbacks: list lapse behaviors what led to it, and how you can do better in the future.

BEHAVIOR: PURGING
CAUSE: Weight felt internally
TO DO DIFFERENTLY: STOP eating when full; DON'T FORCE!!!
TO GET BACK ON TRACK: Cleanup/ EAT small, sleep

BEHAVIOR: EXCESSIVE FASTING
CAUSE: Feeling dirty/ carnal
TO DO DIFFERENTLY: ONLY fast 12h; talk to priest?
TO GET BACK ON TRACK: Break fast slowly with safe food?

BEHAVIOR: CALORIE RESTRICTION
CAUSE: Fear of fullness/ weight
TO DO DIFFERENTLY: Actively challenge with MEDICAL FACTS
TO GET BACK ON TRACK: Add calories slowly & in small amounts

BEHAVIOR: OCD PREP/ PICKING
CAUSE: Anxiety when eating
TO DO DIFFERENTLY: Occupy hands DIFFERENTLY
TO GET BACK ON TRACK: Leave meal, de-stress, THEN return

BEHAVIOR: "FEAR FOODS"
CAUSE: Trauma flashbacks
TO DO DIFFERENTLY: Face them with OTHERS?
TO GET BACK ON TRACK: Process trauma = JOURNAL

BEHAVIOR: BINGEING
CAUSE: Mania; compulsion
TO DO DIFFERENTLY: SET HARD LIMITS
TO GET BACK ON TRACK: Portion control/ Time management

We MIGHT be able to help reroute the "prep & picking" obsession with the GUZHENG??

CAN we get a food prep job and chop things up?? Is there a CRAFT to facilitate that urge??

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LETTING GO OF THE PAST

I STILL KEEP GETTING STUCK IN TRAUMA-VICTIM MINDSETS.
This means I apparently CAN'T LET GO of something about it. It's keeping me tied to the past, and letting my view of myself OR OTHERS to change & HEAL & FORGIVE.
GOOD MEMORIES still exist & I CANNOT/ SHOULD NOT deny them!!

CRISIS SAFETY/ RELAPSE PREVENTION PLAN FOR APARTMENT

TRIGGERS for E.D. behaviors (when these things happen, I'm more likely to feel unsafe/ upset):

+ Dream hacks & nightmares
+ Trauma rumination/ flashbacks
+ Seeing the body when it's bloated, especially "chubby" abdominal area over clothes
+ Reflux/ nausea/ fullness/ tightness: feeling physical discomfort, esp. gastric
+ Gender dysphoria
+ Responsibility overwhelm/ social exhaustion
+ LACK of stimulation/ purposefulness
+ In public: others eating less; disturbing topics/ music; diet comments; large portions; being watched
+
Reading/ hearing about religious fasting
+ Hearing mom/ others saying fatphobic things & promoting diet culture
+ Seeing attractive, very thin bodies, IRL or in art
+ People talking when I am eating, and/or about food and/or sexual topics
+ Close contact
+ Lots of noise, talking, movement in general
+ Being touched and/or people putting things in/ taking things from my hands


HOW DO I THINK, FEEL, & ACT when I'm TRIGGERED/ UNSTABLE?

+ existential dread/ panic
+ "tunnel vision" rage
+ screaming noise inside head, looping/ no exit
+ "stuck movie reel" mental visual looping
+ body restlessness, fidgety, jumpy, "tics"
+ increased physical awareness; "stuck"
+ flashbacks begin/ continue
+ hypervigilance; easily startled
+ dissociation/ derealization/ depersonalization
+ hearing voices WITHOUT THOUGHTS
+ sharp decrease in mental coherency; hard to form thoughts
+ talking OUT LOUD to "myself"
+ wringing hands; pulling at sleeves/ hair; tapping feet; scratching/ picking at hands with fingernails
+ extreme: high pitched whine, hyperventilating, eyes darting around, crying
+ extreme: flattened affect, no speech, breathing shallow/ stopped, going totally still/ frozen; shaking
+ overly social, chattering, loud talk, joking & laughing, trying to "entertain" or be "socially conforming"
+ closed/ tight body language, staring off rigidly into space
+ stuttering, slurring words, "garbled" speech, going nonverbal
+ clenching fists/ claw hands, angry brow, tense muscles, focused breathing, gaze fixed, clenched teeth
+ lying down on table/ putting head down WITHOUT ARM SUPPORT
+ covering face with hands; clawing at forehead; pulling fistfuls of hair, growling
+ thoughts become insistent & repetitive, panicky
+ intrusive, disturbing, violent/ fearful automatic thoughts
+ pacing, muttering, folding arms


THINGS THAT HELP ME CALM DOWN, STAY SAFE, OR FEEL BETTER NOW:

+ getting away from close contact/ social proximity
+ getting away from loud music
+ if overwhelmed: closing eyes, not talking, rocking
+ shivering out/ shaking out stress
+ RUN LIKE SONIC! (one day I'd LOVE to "Sonic bike" again-- we'd need a new GBA or XBox?)
+ read inspiring religious books/ study Scripture
+ GOOD sense override; bright hues, nice scents, fave music, strong impact?
+ Church, if possible-- even a solitary visit
+ prayer! just TALK to Jesus!!
+ listening to choir &/or calming music; even "rain/ snow" sounds
+ listening to my "cheer up kiddo" & "chill out kiddo" playlists
+ hug unis, chaos, celebi, or cherry
+ play klonoa or sonic; SPEEDRUN?
+ read old inspiring letters & quotes; review workbook advice
+ lifting heavy weights; step machine? jump rope?
+ play the guzheng and/or cello (violin/ viola? erhu??)
+ look at and/or read Leaguestuff; IMAGINE SCENES!
+ photos of SWITZERLAND, CATHEDRALS, & HEADSPACE PLACES
+ TALKING TO LAURIE, GENESIS, & CHAOS 0
+ journaling/ XANGA SESSIONS
+ go outside? just soak up nature; take photos?
+ watch something inspiring on the TV? (the chosen, dr. who, anime, ewtn, old animation)
+ GRATITUDE LISTS
+ get lost in Spotify or research diving
+ drag the couch around in a circle
+ change clothes/ clean & wash up
+ LAUGH at something goofy


CHANGES TO MAKE IN MY ENVIRONMENT TO FEEL SAFE/ CALM DOWN:

+ reduce noise & babble
+ leave kitchen/ put all foods in closed containers/ "CLOSE OFF" door? (curtain rod!)
+ JUNK major trigger foods if prudent
+ hug a plushie to "disarm" agitated hands
+ CLOSE THE BATHROOM DOOR
+ go OUT & walk the steps for a while
+ go look outside! expand your perspective!
+ keep POSITIVE CREATIVE COPING TOOLS in immediate access locations
+ laptops on STANDBY?
+ keep a book or two ON THE COUCH; keep journal/ workbook(s) IN SIGHT
+ GET A GLITTER LAMP? something to divert vision positively
+ CONTEXT SHIFT! go outside for a bit! DOORWAYS ARE YOUR FRIENDS
+ put up inspiring post-its? hang up art & quotes?
+ PUT OUT CONSTANTLY SEEN VISUAL REMINDERS of the LEAGUE/ SYSTEM
+ keep a living room altar in PLAIN SIGHT
+ reduce clutter! keep things neat & tidy!
+ rainbow sunstrips on window? hang little crystals around?


THINGS THAT MAKE ME FEEL WORSE:

+ being touched
+ trying to hold my hand (I WILL probably scream)
+ having to verbally answer questions
+ being referred to by name, especially if I'm in a flashback
+ people panicking & being dramatic
+ no decrease in noise level or movement
+ telling me to "snap out of it" or "quit being a baby" etc.
+ being focused on or stared at
+ being asked "what's wrong?"

"Self-attention" is catastrophic. focus my attention on GOD, or if I'm struggling to initially, then focus on some beneficial external data source? (books, music, leagueworlds?) Honestly just HAND ME A BIBLE


WHEN I NOTICE TRIGGERS, TO PREVENT THINGS WORSENING, I WILL...

+ NOT EAT! wait until everything settles!!
+ PRAY!!
+ read the Bible/ inspiring religious literature
+ TALK TO LAURIE
+ close my eyes!!
+ SIT DOWN!! STAY ON YOUR BUTT KIDDO
+ practice breathing exercises? slow down!
+ "IMPROVE" SKILLS
+ MINDFULNESS exercises; GROUNDING mentally/ physically
+ Identify emotions & action urges; describe & validate BUT do opposite action
+ Self-soothe & distraction skills (sparkly things! minty stuff! soft things! nice music!)
+ GET AWAY FROM THE TRIGGER if possible
+ STOP TALKING!
+ progressive muscle relaxation: DROP the tension!
+ ACTIVELY PRACTICE RADICAL GRATITUDE & TRUST IN GOD
+ Contact the Retributors & ASK FOR THEIR HELP
+ FORGIVE
+ call a crisis hotline or therapist if relevant
+ let SOMEONE ELSE switch in if possible
+ LEAVE THE CONTEXT if possible
+ IMMEDIATELY go upstairs & talk/ journal about it
+ .do something PURE & UPLIFTING

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prismaticbleed: (held)

DIALOGUE WITH "ED", PART TWO

Revisit the conversation with "ED," but use your "recovery voice" to respond.

TOO MUCH OF "INTELLECTUALIZATION" DENIAL HERE!!!

ED:
I can't stop. I've tried. I just make so many stupid scary mistakes with the food; I get SO FRIGHTENED of what it will do to my body so I HAVE to throw it up. Feeling that MISTAKE, that SIN, that WRONGNESS in my stomach is UNBEARABLE and I CAN'T LIVE with that existential terror. I HAVE TO GET IT OUT.
YOU:
The more we learn proper nutrition & healthy coping skills, the LESS "mistakes" we will make. Following our hospital mealplan will ALSO help, since we won't be "guessing" and feeling thus INCAPABLE of right decision! Food isn't "evil" or a "sin"-- feeling it is NOT a condemnation, or a set of shackles. Think of what "foods" ARE-- LIFE!!

ED:
I don't want to eat. It feels invasive, all that swallowing, all that touching in the mouth. It's WRONG. I don't want to put anything in me. I want to be empty & pure & CLEAN. Eating things destroys them and makes me abusive. I want to be HOLY & UNTOUCHED.
YOU:
Dude, JESUS ATE! So eating, in and of ITSELF, is OBJECTIVELY FINE. They even ate in pure Eden-- AND Heaven is a "feast"!! I know you want to feel empty ALWAYS because of trauma, but then you can't be "full" of LIGHT & LOVE & GRACE, either. Don't be a void. Eating is NOT abusive-- it's TRANSMUTATION & PERPETUATION of LIFE!! Holiness IS VULNERABLE!!

ED:
When I drop food, it becomes DIRT. It BELONGS ON THE PLATE and if I RUIN that harmony it CHANGES INTO FILTH. I can't stand it. I get food on myself like a WHORE, filthy & wrong. I don't want to eat because it's SO DIRTY. I'm worse than a baby. I'm such a pig.
YOU:
When apples fall off the tree onto the ground, do they "become dirt?" No-- even YOU pick 'em up & check 'em out! And even if they are buggy, they're STILL FEEDING ANOTHER LIFE FORM. Besides, FLOWERS GROW FROM DIRT! And PLATES DON'T EXIST IN NATURE. It's okay. Babies aren't evil. Pigs aren't either, actually. A "mess" ISN'T "sinful," it's just something that happens. Your MOTIVES are vital!!

ED:
Sometimes I get so hungry I HAVE to eat or the body won't work right. I feel so helpless. I CAN'T STOP once I start. I buy foods I "must eat" and choke them down, terrified. It makes me sick. I feel like I'm trying to please or appease or obey someone, like I'll be rejected if I don't "prove I CAN eat everything."
YOU:
The body DOES need to eat to survive. That's the POINT of hunger; you're not sinning by listening to that signal; it's DESIGN. The reason why you "can't stop" is because you're STARVING. But NO FOODS ARE "OBLIGATORY" ON PAIN OF PUNISHMENT!! Eat to please GOD, NOT PEOPLE. And He NEVER forces or compels you to choke ANYTHING down. Rest in His peace!!

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COPING WITH COMMENTS

You may be faced with comments from individuals about sensitive topics relating to the eating disorder.
List possible comments, your immediate response, and a more helpful response you can use in recovery.


COMMENT:

"Your figure is filling out so nicely"
UNHEALTHY RESPONSE:
I WANT TO DIE INSTANTLY. may black out and attempt to do so.
RECOVERY RESPONSE:
Be honest? "I'm not comfortable with that!" "I don't know what you mean by that; can you explain?" "What do you mean, 'figure'?" DO NOT just say "thanks" if you DON'T UNDERSTAND THEM!!!

COMMENT:
(physically stopping me from eating) "That's enough."
UNHEALTHY RESPONSE:
Out of control. undeserving of ANY food; want to throw up/ destroy ALL food; angry, violent, sobbing
RECOVERY RESPONSE:
Meekly accept this. Apologize for slipping into near-behaviors. THANK them for caring enough to intervene; I was probably dissociated &/or unaware of PROPER portions!

COMMENT:
"Now make sure you don't throw it up!"
UNHEALTHY RESPONSE:
Humiliated, shame; "why even try"; feel damned to forever be seen AS my past failures & struggles
RECOVERY RESPONSE:
"I will do my very best, but please have faith in me too. It hurts when I feel like I'm being expected to relapse." ENFORCE SMO with THEIR HELP; PROVE you're trying!!

COMMENT:
ANYTHING about "looking like a woman/ female/ etc." and/or "attractiveness"
UNHEALTHY RESPONSE:
RAGE & DESPONDENCY; self-loathing. TRAPPED; want to reject & deny that cursed reality. Likely FREEZE or FIGHT; shutdown or EXPLODE
RECOVERY RESPONSE:
IF SAFE, mention gender issues? OR just say something like "I'm not comfortable/ don't feel safe with that language"?? Call them out and ask "does that matter??" "THAT'S NOT THE POINT?" 

COMMENT:
"You've put on so much weight!" "You're so much BIGGER now!"
UNHEALTHY RESPONSE:
FEAR; I STILL REALLY WANT TO BE SMALL? / "Yeah, and I'm MISERABLE about it" / Probably get angry & WEEP/ RAGE; helpless
RECOVERY RESPONSE:
"I know! I'm gonna be a TANK!" but seriously, maybe ask for reassurance? "IS that a good thing?" ADMIT that I'm scared? "I'm struggling with the changes"?

COMMENT:
"I'm glad THAT'S over with." "Took you long enough."
UNHEALTHY RESPONSE:
Humiliated, AND anxious-- "cannot show ANY symptoms or struggles"; "FAILED at recovery"
RECOVERY RESPONSE:
Explain that IT'S AN ADDICTION; I will need to fight to "stay clean" FOR LIFE; it will ALWAYS be an echo. Recovery is a PROCESS, too! It's NEVER "DONE!" 

COMMENT:
"Now are you going to eat like a NORMAL person?"
UNHEALTHY RESPONSE:
Defensive; "what if I CAN'T?" or "what is normal?" / Might "go through the motions" then immediately purge in an act of rebellion; I don't WANT to be "like everybody"??
RECOVERY RESPONSE:
Tell them that I'm UNSURE WHAT THAT MEANS and if they want me to "be normal" they MUST TELL ME HOW. Still maintain recovery plan; emphasize that? But COOPERATE meekly!!

COMMENT:
(when buying food) "Are you going to eat that or waste it?"
UNHEALTHY RESPONSE:
Think, "THEY'RE THE SAME DAMN THING"; SAY SO. Refuse to buy any food at all. / Start crying; "I WANT to eat it"; still purge from self-hatred
RECOVERY RESPONSE:
ADMIT struggle? "I know I HAVE to eat it, but honestly I don't want to. What do you think I should do?" Maybe ask also, "What would be wasting it?" before you admit that you don't want to eat anyway. Don't get defensive!!


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LIST OF POSITIVES

List some positive qualities and aspects you can recognize & admit in yourself.
If possible, ask some individuals that you trust to list some good qualities they see in you.


+ Hope in God/ strong faith/ prayer
+ Intelligent, insightful, self-aware, perceptive? (So I've been told)
+ Creative, artistic, imaginative, inspiring
+ Loving, caring, considerate, cooperative
+ Well-spoken, articulate, good speaking & singing voice
+ Flexible, adaptable, tenacious, motivated
+ Courageous, dedicated, compassionate, sincere

GENESIS:
"You're my best friend; you taught me everything I know! You've never forgotten me, just like you promised. Without you, I'd be lost."


LAURIE:
"Kid, you are literally my reason to live. What I see in you is worth protecting. Your heart is gold. You can see the light in everything. Don't you ever give up. I'm here with you."


INFINITII:
"...You don't have it in you to hate. You always offer that second chance. I exist because you want to love things back to life. Do this shadow work with compassion. Live."


CHAOS 0:
"You love me. You are the rainbow after every storm. You are unquenchable joy; the fire of your soul will burn with love forever. I know this because I know YOU-- the TRUE you, no matter what the body you're in looks like. I love you. Forever."



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TRIGGERS

Make a list of things you consider to be triggers for your eating disorder behaviors.
Then, create a coping plan to adaptively handle the triggers.


BINGES ARE ALWAYS FOLLOWED BY PURGING


TRIGGER: EATING IN PUBLIC (BEING WATCHED)
WHY: Fear of "performance"; boosts "clean" obsession & anxious shame; eating to "impress" or "be approved"; analogous to sexual voyeurism
BEHAVIOR: Restriction, bingeing
COPING PLANS:
+ PEOPLE WATCH. TALK TO GENESIS. BRING A NOTEBOOK. SIT BY YOURSELF.
See people with love!! Don't be afraid! When you eat, DO IT TO PLEASE GOD, & don't worry about how others may react or judge. Love them! But respect your alone time, too!

TRIGGER: TALKING WHILE EATING (DIRECT ADDRESS)
WHY: "Social mode" trigger; VAPID CHATTERBOX. Loss of genuine self; "entertain/ appease"
BEHAVIOR: Bingeing, purging
COPING PLANS:
+
WAVE IT OFF OR HOLD UP A HAND/ FINGER. Be assertive!
 TELL PEOPLE BEFOREHAND that you're NOT a talker!!
+ GROUNDING/ MINDFULNESS EXERCISES. Stay present!
+ Speak wisely & kindly, speak little, and DON'T "talk just to talk"!!

TRIGGER: "FEMININE" FIGURE (CURVES) ("BELLY")
WHY: "Look like abusers" = UNENDING FLASHBACKS; "BECOME" THE TRAUMA
BEHAVIOR: Restricting, purging
COPING PLANS:
+
SYSTEM HELP! Remember the BODY DOESN'T DEFINE YOU OR US!!
+ EXERCISE!! Do crunches & planks! Focus on abdominal training!
+ Look up POSITIVE/ HOLY role models who HAVE "curvier" bodies!
+ RADICAL ACCEPTANCE. It's genetics. WORK WITH IT; DON'T REJECT.

TRIGGER: "GETTING BIG/ HEAVY"; FEELING WEIGHT IN/ ON ABDOMEN
WHY: "Violation" feeling; heavy things on top of me; "pinned"; explicit trauma echoes
BEHAVIOR: Restricting, purging
COPING PLANS:
+
Distract if it's real bad. Stretch? PRAY & BE MEEKLY PATIENT.
+ WEIGHT TRAINING. Put that "bigness" to good use! TANK UP!!
+ Think of INFI?? Realize what the "weight" IS-- plants & water & muscle to help you grow, and fat STORING VITAMINS & ENERGY for you!

TRIGGER: TRAUMA ECHOES: WORDS, CONTEXTS, SOUNDS (ESP. MUSIC)
WHY: "Perpetuation" of trauma; "no escape" = "WORLD is a threat" = unable to feel safe around ANYONE
BEHAVIOR: Restricting, purging
COPING PLANS:
+
PAUSE. CALM DOWN. THAT TRAUMA IS OVER and it CANNOT TOUCH YOU NOW. Take that power AWAY from it!! Ground & pray & get System support.
+ If you can, LEAVE THE AREA if risks continue. Do NOT "push through it"!!
+ ACTIVELY FORGIVE the current (and original) "perpetrators." ONLY LOVE & MERCY CONQUERS ALL.

TRIGGER: BEING DIRTY (FOOD ON HANDS/ FACE) (CRUMBS, SPILLS, ETC.)
WHY: NO LONGER "UNTOUCHED"; "Dehumanizing"; animal, disgusting, UNCLEAN, IMPURE
BEHAVIOR: Restricting, purging
COPING PLANS:
+
Bring sanitizer with you?
+ REMEMBER MARK 7:18-19 & 5-6!! Don't panic!
+ NAPKINS: on table AND lap. Grab extra always. Carry tissues with you?
+ TAKE YOUR TIME AND STAY CONSCIOUS. Dissociating & rushing BOTH cause messes. EAT MINDFULLY & GRATEFULLY. Be HUMBLE! Lighten up too!

TRIGGER: FACED WITH "TOO MANY CHOICES" THAT ARE SCARY &/OR UNKNOWN; POTENTIAL FOR "CHALLENGE"
WHY: OBSESSIVE & FRANTIC FORCED "EXPOSURE" -- "ALL AT ONCE TO GET IT OVER WITH FOREVER"
BEHAVIOR: Bingeing, purging
COPING PLANS:
+
Start with one you THINK YOU'LL ACTUALLY EAT AGAIN/ LIKE!! DON'T "FORCE" STUFF JUST TO "GET EXPOSURE OVER WITH FOREVER." Choose a challenge ONLY if it feels RIGHT to do so; NO FEAR FORCING!
+ Learn to LOVE THE LIBERATING UNKNOWN. YOU DO NOT "have to know everything"! Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to what's for you-- and LEAVE the rest!!

TRIGGER: "MAKING A MISTAKE" WHILE EATING-- TOO MUCH, WRONG NUMBER, UNCLEAR DATA, "POISON," NEGATIVE EMOTION "SWALLOWING"
WHY: "WRONG"; the whole act is a FAILURE; "MUST RESET & RESTART"
BEHAVIOR: Bingeing, purging
COPING PLANS:
+
WRITE DOWN YOUR "RULES" & CHALLENGE 'EM FOR INTEGRITY. If they DON'T affect your health or soul, and/or if they're compulsive, JUNK 'EM!! Real health & goodness is NOT DOING BEHAVIORS!!
+ Eat in a calm, lovely environment, inside & out, to assuage anxieties.

TRIGGER: DESPAIR OVER BODY & TRAUMA; "NO HOPE FOR HEALING"; GIVE IN TO SELF-LOATHING & DESIRE TO ERASE SELF
WHY: "If I'm going to look/ feel like this AND be this haunted by trauma feelings forever, then I should just stop trying and DIE"
BEHAVIOR: Restricting, bingeing, purging
COPING PLANS:
+
NOTHING IS SET IN STONE!!! ALL CHANGES!! Take a few minutes to PUT PENNIES IN THE HOPE BANK. Life some weights & step some steps! Flex your growing muscles and PROMISE YOU WON'T STARVE THEM! Look at the beauty of GOD'S CREATION-- of FOOD-- and PROMISE TO BE A GOOD STEWARD OF IT!! Read Scripture & remember that GOD GIVES YOU NEW LIFE!!!


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PERFECTION

(open your heart, it's gonna be all right)

Make a list of the perfectionistic expectations you have for yourself.
Then, create a coping plan to adaptively challenge your perfectionism.


the caveat to ALL my expectations: "if I fail to do so, EVER, then MY EXISTENCE IS A FAILURE"

EXPECTATION:
"I must ALWAYS speak with wisdom, intelligence, clarity, and purpose"
CHALLENGE:
This IS a noble ideal, BUT it CANNOT BE FORCED!! Thinking "I MUST be wise" ACTUALLY PREVENTS WISDOM. Trying so hard to use "perfect & precise" language hinders CANDOR & OPENNESS. True clarity comes from the HEART, not obsession. Intelligence is "relative"-- stay educated, yes, but it DOESN'T make you "more worthy of being heard." Let your SOLE PURPOSE be EDIFICATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

EXPECTATION:
"I must ALWAYS know what to say when asked or expected or encouraged to"
CHALLENGE:
You're not an encyclopedia, search engine, or magic 8 ball. Again, LOOK TO GOD FOR HELP. When you rely on GRACE, you no longer have to try to "prepare for every possibility" because GOD WILL MEET EVERY SITUATION FOR YOU. And, if you DON'T have an answer, ADMIT IT. BE HUMBLE. But ALSO trust that if you SHOULD say something, GOD WILL INSPIRE YOU-- IF YOU ASK TO RECEIVE!

EXPECTATION:
"I must be entertaining, education, inoffensive, and WANTED"
CHALLENGE:
Those things VARY BETWEEN PEOPLE & it's LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE to be ALL that for EVERYONE! Entertainment is NOT a noble motive, so DROP IT. Education should be HUMBLY acted upon-- NEVER see yourself as a "teacher!" You're just a student SHARING what you've learned; you are NOT AN AUTHORITY. Strive to be inoffensive, always speaking with care & kindness, but know that some folks will STILL insist on finding offense. As for being "wanted," seek that ONLY FROM GOD, and both respect and accept human refusal.

EXPECTATION:
"If I have ANY alleged skill at a task/ knowledge of a subject, I CANNOT stumble"
CHALLENGE:
"Stumbling" is HUMAN, INEVITABLE, & INOFFENSIVE! If a kid learning something new "gave up" when they stumbled, they'd NEVER BECOME ADEPT!! Stumbles are opportunities to GET EVEN BETTER, BUT they ALSO KILL PRIDE!!! So they're actually GOOD to have every so often!! Not only that, but you can LEARN from your "stumbles" in CREATIVE WAYS-- think of the new songs invented BY "wrong notes" being hit in BEAUTIFUL ways!! Plus, you're not a machine. Let those little fumbles speak to your human vulnerability, even as you strive to improve. 

EXPECTATION:
"If I fail to perform art/ music/ writing at high, even professional skill, I'm a TOTAL sham/ failure and "never actually learned""
CHALLENGE:
LEARNING IS A LIFELONG PROCESS & SKILLS ARE FOREVER IMPROVING. And we ALL start as TOTAL AMATEURS! It is impossible to pick up an instrument & instantly be "professional" at it. And that's the FUN & BEAUTIFUL part-- LEARNING! Skill improves bit by bit. Performing at a beginner's level is NOT failure-- it's BEGINNING!! Enjoy the process! You AREN'T expected to be "a pro" JUST because you're NOT A CHILD, physically. But then BE CHILDLIKE! Be open to NEW BEGINNINGS & growth!

EXPECTATION:
"I must ALWAYS challenge myself and face my fears; NO "cowardice" or "seeking safety" allowed"
CHALLENGE:
FORCING "COURAGE" ISN'T VIRTUOUS. If you "do something scary" JUST to "prove you CAN survive," there's no MERIT in that! It's FOOLHARDINESS & FEAR masquerading as strength. When you DO face your fears, ADMIT that they're fears, & face them WITH GOD'S STRENGTH!! Also, SAFETY IS NOT "BAD." Seeking it at the expense of moral courage IS. But safety is an IDEAL, and a GOOD thing, ESPECIALLY to GIVE TO OTHERS! Lastly, DO challenge fears, WITH LOVE. DO challenge yourself, to GROW IN VIRTUE. Let THAT be your motive!

EXPECTATION:
"I must ALWAYS be actively working to achieve or accomplish something? "Idle hands are the devils slaves""
CHALLENGE:
REST IS HOLY TOO. THE SABBATH EXISTS FOR THAT REASON! "Achievement" can be QUIET & HIDDEN, too-- patience, prayer, temperance, hope... they are all HUGE victories, even if they aren't "evident" AS the HARD WORK they ARE. So yes, DO work with your hands, but ALSO with your HEART. And THAT is the work you must always do-- the work of SAVING GRACE, of building & supporting the Kingdom of Heaven!!


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CONTROL

Make a list of things you want to control, decide whether they are reasonable/ achievable, and then come up with reasonable alternatives of things that are actually in your control.

MOTIVATED BY "HELPLESSNESS" TERROR
"ALL OR NOTHING" CORE
Ask, "what CAN I control about/ related to that thing?"

I WANT TO CONTROL: BODY SHAPE (non-feminine, non-abusive)
CAN I?: Not safely
ALTERNATIVE: WORK WITH THE BULK. If I CAN'T be thin, I CAN be STRONG!! Instead of being "small enough to run and disappear," I can become "BIG enough to FIGHT & DEFEND"?? Is that morally allowable??

I WANT TO CONTROL: What goes into my body (sexual abuse overlap)
CAN I?: I HOPE SO!!!
ALTERNATIVE: DUDE YOU MUST CONTROL THIS. You must ALWAYS CHOOSE, WISELY AND WITH SELF-RESPECT & INTEGRITY, and ONLY EVER CHOOSING WHAT HONORS GOD. Receive what HE gives you with gratitude. But BE DISCERNING! BE GOOD!!

I WANT TO CONTROL: Whether or not I feel sick after eating
CAN I?: To an extent; not guaranteed
ALTERNATIVE: Take meds if needed; they help what you CAN'T control (genetics, disease)! But DO be prudent with food choices; if something ACTUALLY & CONSISTENTLY causes you distress, DON'T EAT IT! There are plenty of other good foods available!

I WANT TO CONTROL: CLEANLINESS (moral overlap)
CAN I?: To an extent; but dirt ISN'T EVIL
ALTERNATIVE: Clean your apartment regularly, do your dishes immediately, take showers, wash your clothes & bedding, throw out unnecessary things, GO TO CONFESSION, watch your speech, delete junk files, organize stuff... cleanliness ISN'T "only about food!" Crumbs are MINOR!

I WANT TO CONTROL: PURITY (body empty)
CAN I?: NOT LIKE THIS
ALTERNATIVE: "Blessed are the poor IN SPIRIT!" THAT'S where the REAL HOLY "EMPTINESS" IS! Still, we SHOULD fast once a week. And we MUST spiritually be "empty" of ALL the "heavy" things weighing your heart down. Be empty of SIN & PRIDE. But be FULL OF LOVE.

I WANT TO CONTROL: Wild emotions ("starvation sedation")
CAN I?: NO; hunger backfires
ALTERNATIVE: Starving the body will TRIGGER emotional distress BY NATURE. Instead, remember that THOUGHTS CAUSE EMOTIONS, and hunt 'em down!! You CAN control those, and you CAN practice mindfulness to DISEMPOWER anything automatic/ intrusive/ wild!!

I WANT TO CONTROL: Trauma flashbacks
CAN I?: I don't think so
ALTERNATIVE: THERAPY. GROUNDING. COPING SKILLS. POSITIVE FOCUSES. MINDFULNESS & PRAYER. We can DISEMPOWER flashbacks through FORGIVENESS & GRIEVING WHAT WAS LOST & REBUILDING LIFE & JOURNALING THROUGH PAIN. We CAN heal!

I WANT TO CONTROL: Organization/ precision
CAN I?: NOT meticulously
ALTERNATIVE: MIDDLE GROUND. Keep things neat but don't obsess over number & color & such. There is NO "RULE" saying things MUST be in even numbers or triplets or patterns to be "right." You WON'T "screw up" if you're a smidge over/ under a "mathematically precise" measure!

I WANT TO CONTROL: Variables/ unpredictability
CAN I?: Limitedly; NOT sustainable
ALTERNATIVE: Find the beauty in the chaos, wink nudge cough. Honestly surrender to the hidden but REAL pattern of GOD. I can't predict outcomes & odds, and trying to robs the future of its potential joy. Flow with it! Expect the unexpected! Be open & curious & willing to CHANGE!

I WANT TO CONTROL: "Work to be done"; measurable
CAN I?: YES, prudently!
ALTERNATIVE: MAKE LISTS & DAILY SCHEDULES! PRIORITIZE!! Determine what you CAN do today, REALISTICALLY, and break it down into steps. Don't freak out over tomorrow's work! It'll get here soon enough! For now, do what needs to be done NOW, and focus on that. SET SMART GOALS daily!

I WANT TO CONTROL: Time scheduling
CAN I?: To an extent; MUST be FLEXIBLE
ALTERNATIVE: Determine FIXED TIMES & PRIORITIES: church, sleep, meals, prayer. Then determine what FLUID priorities we have: creative work, cleaning, exercise. Lastly, PLAN FOR THE UNPLANNED, like doctors appointments & shopping trips! Adapt AROUND prioritized events!

I WANT TO CONTROL: CAPACITY for harm; "small = harmless"?
CAN I?: NO; besides, small CAN be vicious too
ALTERNATIVE: BECOME A PROTECTOR OF THE SMALL. BECOME STRONG & DEFEND THE VULNERABLE. TRUE harmlessness is INTERNAL; it is a COMPASSIONATE DEDICATION. Size has nothing to do with it. All men are equally capable of harm. BUT it is "reduced" by one's capacity for LOVE.

I WANT TO CONTROL: "Bad" behavior of others
CAN I?: NOPE; FREE WILL
ALTERNATIVE: YOU CANNOT, AND SHOULD NOT EVEN TRY TO, CONTROL OTHERS' BEHAVIOR. Acting in that motive is HARMFUL, merciless & arrogant. You can only TEACH, INSPIRE, HUMBLY CORRECT, & WARN WITH CARE. But the choice is THEIRS. Don't EVER act in proud anger!!

I WANT TO CONTROL: Safety/ security?
CAN I?: Not with food!!!
ALTERNATIVE: "FIND" A SAFE PLACE (CHURCH) & GO THERE if you need physical reassurance! BUT!! Remember that YOU ARE ALWAYS SAFE & SECURE IN GOD'S HANDS, no matter WHAT happens! REST IN THAT. Christ's peace is unbothered by ANY storm!


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SECRETS

The secretness of the eating disorder actually decreases as SELF-RESPECT decreases; feeling helpless or powerless to change, despite one's best efforts, causes DESPAIR and "GIVING UP" the fight to a certain extent; one thinks, tired to the soul, that "this will never end" and figures, "then why try to hide or conceal it? It "rules my life" anyway and I'm so tired of battling it already; why exhaust myself even more by denying that reality?" So, for me at least, NOT trying to hide symptoms anymore meant I had STOPPED RESISTING THEM AS "ABNORMAL" AND DECIDED TO REDEFINE "NORMAL" AS THE DISORDERED BEHAVIOR!!! This meant bingeing WITH people watching, purging and KNOWING people heard; openly spending all my money on obviously abnormal amounts/ ratios of food at abnormally frequent/ regular times (e.g. buying 20 bags of broccoli & a bottle of olive oil EVERY DAY for WEEKS) ...I just gave up resistance and let it "win." THAT is what ultimately almost killed me; it was becoming COMFORTABLE to surrender so lethally.

Still, secretiveness is a RED FLAG for disordered behaviors! Whenever I feel that I NEED to hide something, and I feel FEAR & SHAME about what I want to hide, THAT'S SOMETHING I NEED TO ACTIVELY & IMMEDIATELY REVEAL to someone of integrity!! Remember what Jesus said-- evil SEEKS the shadows TO hide!! But Christians are CHARGED to FIND & UNCOVER those hidden sins, to BRING THEM INTO SIGHT, into LIGHT, where they CAN BE HEALED & FORGIVEN! But you NEED to CONFESS them first, and you CAN'T confess what you're hiding.

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SPIRITUALITY

AT THE CORE OF OUR SPIRITUALITY, WE ARE ALWAYS ROMAN CATHOLIC. HONOR THAT FACT.
The most immediate & obvious aspect of how our faith is a KEY part of our recovery is THE EUCHARIST!! God Himself BECAME FOOD FOR US IN ORDER TO FEED OUR SOULS & GIVE US ETERNAL LIFE. Heaven ITSELF is compared to a "banquet" & a "WEDDING FEAST"; Jesus's first public miracle was even AT a wedding party! Jesus is called the "Vine," the "Bread of Life," AND the "Passover Lamb." He fed THOUSANDS because He REFUSED TO LET THEM GO HUNGRY! He speaks of how "ALL foods are clean" and CANNOT defile you. He ALSO says "DON'T WORRY ABOUT WHAT YOU WILL EAT! GOD KNOWS YOU NEED FOOD TO SURVIVE, AND IF YOU TRUST HIM-- NOT YOURSELF-- TO PROVIDE, HE ALWAYS WILL, and you will ALWAYS HAVE WHAT YOU NEED." But ALSO REMEMBER that Jesus emphasizes the GREATER NEED for SPIRITUAL FOOD.

prismaticbleed: (shatter)

- no meat. we're not cooking meat.
- gluten free maybe?
- same with dairy ask the doctor
- NO. COOKING. NO PASTA NO SOUP NO RICE
- broccoli, evoo, chicken sausage that's okay
- avocado, carrots
- soybutter?? is that safe?
- pepitas you keep saying are THEY safe      ASK ALLERGIST FIRST
- eggs are still nice
- tofu since we know soy is safe?
- oatmeal! we're allowed it's allowed for the children
- BEANS still BAd NO pEAS nO



ALL RIGHT SO OBVIOUSLY THE REALLY FRIGHTENED KIDS HAVEN'T BEEN FAZED BY COPE. DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE GONNA BE. SO WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO NOW? OBVIOUSLY THE KIDS ARE SCARED FOR A REASON.
WHY THE HELL ARE WE DISSOCIATING SO BADLY


prismaticbleed: (aflame)


AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Try to identify things in your history that influenced the development of disordered eating.

My memory is pretty shot, and I'm tired of focusing on trauma. The System Archives are autobiography enough.
I want to use this space to jot down HAPPY things, proofs of JOY in life, a life I feel cut off & rejected from. But I STILL EXIST IN TIME & SPACE, AND MY PAST IS REAL-- ALL of it, NOT just the recent trauma!
I have had SO MUCH GOODNESS in life, DESPITE the trauma, and I CAN AND WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE GOODNESS!!

ACTUAL nice memories I have from childhood:

★ Spinning in circles under the overhead light in mom's room, the light as dim as it would go, pretending (believing) it was a "ritual" to transform into a dragon. I remember the soft blue carpet beneath my feet, and the feeling of solemn faith in my heart. The low ember of a lightbulb, its glow a soft reddish-gold circle, felt like a heart of its own. It was a very intimate thing, that transformative spinning, as a result. I kept my dragon-ness a brightly burning secret within me as I re-entered the daylight, knowing I was "something more" than was apparent. I wondered if anyone else could tell, or know.

★ The scents & visuals of the beautiful, bright flowers at our home forest, around Easter-- grape hyacinths, bluet flowers, violets, dandelions, clovers, buttercups, arbutus, tulips, irises, peonies, white & purple lilacs, forsythia, Easter lilies & hyacinths, and my WISTERIA BUSH, to say the least! Blueberries blossoming on the hill. Wintergreen peeking through the snow. The sticky gorgeous scent of evergreen sap. The smell of the pine needles in winter. The scent of autumn maple & hickory & oak & sassafras. The plush wet texture of thick lichen-studded moss, like a carpet of emerald softness, rolling like mountains over the side yard. The taste of birch bark, given to me by dad. The smell of spring in the air. Eating grass with Viral and thinking it was hilarious. The old roses on the garden gate. The old grapevine on the back hill. The old apple tree I tried to climb, and the endearingly wizened, sour little fruits it produced. The cherry trees, and all their ants. The rose-of-sharon trees in the corners of the yard. Finding wild scallions & eating them gleefully. Picking raspberries from the garden like they were gems. ALL OF DIAMEW.

★ Walks up & down the pipeline, long before any industrialization arrived. I loved the steep climb, the wide flat rocks, the random hidden puddles & ponds higher up, the hidden waterfall off to the right (that I don't think exists anymore). I remember the glorious headrush of ORANGE as we walked it in autumn, finding old train tracks & imagining where they could lead. It always felt, climbing that ascent, like I was deftly & swiftly taking hold of the future itself, a wild & beautiful thing, untameable but fiercely fond of all who came to meet it here, on the rocks & ridges, with a sense of wonder & adventure & hope. I treasured all my scrapes & scratches & bruises. I miss those days.

★ The beautiful smell of Thornhurst trips: woodsmoke, river water, evergreens & shade. I remember roasting marshmallows until they bubbled bronze & brass, enjoying the crisp & chewy bite that guarded such soft warm sweetness. I remember dad grilling burgers as we lit the charcoal and watched it shimmer red. I remember the cool wood of the picnic tables, and the quiet of the trees. I remember Fernsburg, all the foam on the water and its loud white rushing song. I would always try to walk on the rocks peeking above the surface, scared to fall but fiercely joyful to be IN the river regardless. There was a log across it further down but it was too soft to hold weight. I don't know why that river felt so potently magical, or why I felt it was so important to cross. It felt like there was something on the other side, something in the crossing itself-- a rebirth, almost; the start of a new & long-awaited story. I knew that if I made it across, it would be a new world. I would be a new person. And I knew I was expected, awaited with joy, over there.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


some system memories.

♥ After the System massacre in late December '13? Walking around the living room & listening to "Good Day" by Jukebox the Ghost, WEEKS later? And suddenly "seeing" Laurie with wings, and KNOWING-- FEELING-- that she was still alive; there was still hope. It was like the world itself came back to life. Everything was suddenly saturated with hope & joy. It truly was a "good day." I felt my heart opening like a flower after a long winter.
♥ Mister Sandman kissing my nose & forehead before we would "go to work" for the night; his aged yet vibrant, gently strong hands cupping my face.
♥ Standing over the oven range in SLC and abruptly dissociating for OVER AN HOUR for Marik's 3rd *incident*; until that day we HADN'T been close, but AFTER we forged such a sincere & strong bond. He was all gold with HOPE, even after succumbing (briefly!) to despair. I'll never forget it.
♥ Chaos 0 sitting with me on the couch in SLC when I assumedly got food poisoning & was so scared, sad, & alone. I wept in his arms, and thanked God for him.
♥ That one horrifically numb-depressed day in ~2015 when "I" was in the kitchen chopping up carrots & feeling miserable hollow; suddenly XENOPHON appeared GHOSTING-- which she had just learned how to do-- and asked if I was okay. I said no, so she tried to cheer me up, by asking that I bring up her favorite song on Spotify-- "Simple Reminder" by Tokimonsta-- and dance with her. Even though I felt so numb, I'd never say no to my baby girl. So there we were, dancing to Tokimonsta in the empty kitchen on a quiet autumn evening, and suddenly I felt real joy. Life was worth living, if only for her.
♥ "Meeting" Scalpel as he sang Everything Everything that one day in CNC I "tried to run away." I remember the metal in his teeth & the rings on his zealous hands.
♥ Christmas Eve's Eve, 2011, with Chaos 0, on the living room couch by the tree. I saw the green of his eyes & felt the ocean of his heart. I was so in love.
♥ That one night after an "avoidance" period when I went upstairs to meet him, and he gave me this look of pure love and heartache that struck my own heart back to light.
♥ The night I tried to kill myself in front of the bathroom mirror and Laurie FIGHTING LIKE HELL to stop me... then me, weeks later, doing the same for her.
♥ The night after a hack when I reached out to Julie and offered her hope with us. I was standing by the bathroom closet. I FELT something change in her heart.
♥ That one morning on the bus on the way to high school when, after an aching discussion, Genesis & I basically made out. It was so sincere & real. I FELT his Gem.
♥ Genesis ghosting alongside me for YEARS. Laughing out loud & elbowing him & asking him to "hold stuff." Him saying he loved me at the Confirmation altar.
♥ That LCCC morning where I think I actually skipped class & stayed in the car, because we went upstairs to FIND LEON, I think? I remember Julie being SO STRONG & COURAGEOUS; her heart really shone through. I remember cathedral arches; I remember how cold it was. I loved them all with my whole heart.
♥ Leon warping us out of Tar ambushes. Leon being a DEAD SHOT against it, even with his hands shaking. The snow-bluebells-myrrh scent of Indigo.
♥ The BLC heartspace exploration events, and ALL the key moments-- the Angel Helmet, the Mirror Oasis Room, fighting the Razor Splinter on the beach, Lynne using her arrows to paralyze the Tar-Celebi, Leon sobbing & wiping blood out of my hair in the white nave of the Cathedral itself.
♥ Those first few MOMENTOUS seconds in SLC when Laurie PUSHED ME OUT OF FRONTING & took over, and looked incredulously at our hands; her vibe like GRAVITY.
♥ Meeting Razor. Meeting Wreckage. Meeting Algorith. Meeting Knife. Meeting Sugar. Meeting Mulberry. In moments of horror, I still treasure them.
♥ Sitting on the bed at COPE in 2017 and the System WAKING BACK UP from dormancy, Laurie immediately putting a victoriously comforting hand on my shoulder. My ENTIRE sense of life & self SHIFTED & FOCUSED and I felt like I could breathe again. I remember us all thinking, "now what?" but we were TOGETHER!
♥ During "THE Lockout," parked in front of the Albright library, and GENESIS unexpectedly ghosting when I got out of the car, deeply worried. Seeing him, I began to feel HOPE.
♥ That one day after Easter when the Coregroup & I went into Saint John's church alone, & kneeling in front of the altar we swore to ALWAYS love & protect each other. I can still feel the cold white marble, & see the sunlight in the dark, & smell the Easter lilies. It was such a significant and beautiful moment.
♥ Laurie straight-up THROWING A CHAIR at Waldorf during a Xanga; Wally laughed SO HARD it was adorable. Chaos 0 came in later and was SO CONFUSED.
♥ The "heater hell" night; going outside & lying on the roof of the car, looking up at the stars in the cold, and Laurie suddenly ghosting to my left. The feeling I got, with her & beneath the sky... it was transcendent. Looking up into space & shivering, my eyes full of tears, I felt both scared & reassured-- there was the big picture, and I was so small! But then, seeing her looking up too, that iron-violet smile crinkling her face... I felt that yes, I still mattered. I was PART of all that, here, with her.
♥ When physical life gets overwhelming & scary & depressing... remember that what you SEE is NOT ALL THERE IS!! The things-- and people-- that TRULY matter can ONLY be seen with the HEART. So GO THERE!! Spend time TOGETHER again, with EVERYONE! Find people! Meet people! Learn things! FIGHT things! Talk for hours! Just LIVE, TOGETHER!! THAT is what will get us through. WE ARE "RECOVERY." Re-read and print out ALL the beautiful moments we wrote down... then go make some new ones!



110122

Nov. 1st, 2022 10:15 am
prismaticbleed: (shatter)

...I'm being discharged within a week and I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen, let alone what to do. For starters, I just got an absolute BOMBSHELL of a life update from mom: my finances are ENTIRELY under the control of the government now, which means I NO LONGER GET ANY PAPER MONEY. I STILL have no lamp, eating area, working laptop, or cookware. I have no groceries and quite frankly I don't want any. Yes, I'm serious. This is day 46 of treatment, I have about 5 more to go, and I am listening to all the new kids sobbing about "how big their stomachs have gotten" and "how much they hate the food" and I am seeing all the thin & fit & slender employees walking around in blissful ignorance of our turmoil and I'm telling you, I do NOT plan on eating when I get home. I don't want to look or feel like this. I'm bloated & sick & miserable & lost. It hurts to eat. I CONSTANTLY want to puke. I hate how round and chubby this body has gotten. I hate feeling like my stomach is about to rupture. There's no relief. I'm so sick of food. I'm sick of ice cream, sick of chocolate, sick of chips, sick of tomato sauce & cake & potatoes & butter & raisins & poptarts. I'm SO SICK OF FOOD. I'm heavier than I was in North Carolina and I WANT TO DIE. I want to die EVEN MORE than I did when I was sickly-thin & bingeing. At least I COULD be light & pure & empty. Now... now I have nonstop anxiety & nausea, headaches & stomach distress, trouble breathing & bad breath & sore swollen ankles. I'm too tired to fight anymore. I've gained 15 pounds in 6 weeks and it took me FIVE BLOODY YEARS to get it off LAST time. I'm tired.
I want to die. It sounds so utterly asinine but, looking & feeling this gross & sick & bloated & filthy, I don't even have HOPE anymore. When I was thin & pure I could at LEAST feel able to be loved, & to love even, IF I stopped overeating & throwing up. But NOW, now... I see nothing but sin in the mirror. I LOOK LIKE AN ABUSER. THE FLASHBACKS & TRIGGERS ARE BUILT INTO THIS F*CKING BODY NOW. I'm too tired to fight it anymore. I'm done. Let me die.
no. let this BODY die. PLEASE let ME live; let my SOUL live PLEASE for once in my life I WANT TO EXIST FOR ONCE
i'm sO so SO tiRED. I can't, i cant do it anymore. i cant im too sick too tired. im done its done
but they played chaos zero's song in the rec room today. and it rained when i woke up. and why is he always my reason left to live.
i asked him if he hated me today and he looked like his heart was about to break and he said NO, no he never could, no matter what.
and i believed that. i did. i believed him. even if i feel so ugly & ruined i cant doubt him. he's all grace & fidelity. even if i'm the most rotten and disgusting dishonorable fat pig on the planet. im sorry. but he KNOWS this ISN'T ME. and he loves me. always & forever.
i believe that. i do. God can I ever live up to that love? can i ever return it, looking and feeling like THIS?
i want to. God I want to LIVE IN HEADSPACE again. God I want to. please I want to join a gym & walk for hours listening to frost* & sonic music and just talking to everyone. that's all i can hope for. turn this bloated body into A BLOODY TANK or destroy it again we HAVE to starve it our or it'll EAT US. what do we do God what, what do we DO, we HAVE to keep eating here oh God im so tired i want to quit. please. i want the kilograms to go back down please
im so tired of feeling like im about to die. God is this my cross, AM i gonna die soon, please help me let it be a good one full of grace full of hope full of EMPTY NO WORLD ONLY GOD. no food no food non NONE OVER GONE.
sorry just. too much d i s s o c i a t i n g stOP. done for now bye


prismaticbleed: (worried)


+ Our goals for today: BEGIN TO CLARIFY PERSONAL VALUES & RECOVERY GOALS; & EMBRACE UNPREDICTABILITY.
Arguments like yesterday illustrate that we have AMBIVALENT goals? AND that our very DEFINITIONS of "values/ ideals" are wobbly & unclear. Today, like many days, I woke up feeling "lost" because "I didn't know what to do" for recovery today, psychologically. I DIDN'T consider "being open to the FLOW" and letting our psyche REVEAL its most pressing needs & wounds. BUT, I was ALSO obsessing over THE APARTMENT. AGAIN. I "NEEDED TO KNOW" what to do, so that I could "relax" and, when I am discharged, simply "put the plan into action." Nice & tidy; planned out & prepared for; done & dusted. But I CAN'T achieve that outside of the actual action, because I "DON'T KNOW" THE VARIABLES & THEIR EFFECTS. So I'm freaking out, feeling helpless & overwhelmed & frustrated BECAUSE I literally cannot predict what I will encounter: how much space, how things fit, what will be removed, what will be added. The "unknown" is frightening because I am UNABLE TO KNOW IT. So I CANNOT "plan" specifics. I CANNOT "organize" it all neatly. I'm POWERLESS, with NO KNOWLEDGE. And that is INEVITABLE, because I'M NOT GOD!! ONLY HE KNOWS THE FUTURE. Only HE has power and wisdom!! So I NEED TO STOP TRYING TO "FIGURE THINGS OUT: WITHOUT HIM. When I ask Him TO help me plan, He says, "Know what you want to achieve, but leave the details to ME." AND, "If your goals don't match what I want for you (GOD'S WILL), then I will REDIRECT you; and you must cooperate, or else ALL your "resistant" efforts MUST FAIL." And I can't do THAT "in theory" either. ACTION CAN ONLY BE TAKEN IN THE PRESENT. So, yes, I AM trying to be "wise" & "prepared" in brainstorming the remodel, BUT I NEED TO PRAY ABOUT THESE THINGS, and NOT BE SCARED OF THE ANSWER. I apparently have this FALSE CONVICTION that, if I ask God for something, He WILL say "NO," OR He will tell me, "I shouldn't HAVE to tell you what to do," which my PARENTAL FIGURES would say & do, but NOT GOD!! And HE PROMISES OTHERWISE IN THE BIBLE!!! "Ask & you SHALL receive!" "How much more will the Father give the Spirit to those who ask?" "Without Me you can do NOTHING." "Lean not on your own understanding." ETC.!! When I ask Him to help me with the apartment, I hear, "I will help you when you get there." But why won't You help me plan ahead? "Because you can't. You don't know what you're working with, so all your planning will just wear you out. TRUST ME. I will make sure you get what you NEED." And He tells me to rest. What do I focus on, then, for recovery? "ME. And how you can serve and obey and honor ME in your thoughts & actions." So how does that apply to food? "Don't idolize it. You cannot focus on both God & mammon. Your heart will be focused on one or the other, and THAT is what your motives will serve, coloring all your thoughts & actions. Whether your eat or drink, do ALL THINGS for the glory of God. You KNOW what honors MY PLAN for you & for Creation, and what does not. Continue to read Scripture with an open mind & willing heart. You WILL know the Truth, by My Words. Follow Me, and My Truth WILL set you free, from both addictions & control. Trust Me. The body is more than food, but you are my little sparrow, and I WILL take tender care of you. Work with Me; I am ALWAYS with you, holding your hand. Do not worry about what you will eat. "Give us this day our daily bread," remember. I WILL provide, for ALL your needs, AS you need them. Do not fear; I CANNOT forget you, because I LOVE YOU. Trust in My Love, and live for Me in return-- if you seek first & foremost the Kingdom of God, I will ensure that you will never lack what you need. I am your Shepherd; follow Me, and you shall not suffer want."



post-group//

PERSONAL VALUES/ IDEALS/ GOALS

HONESTY = avoiding and correcting falsehood, delusion, secrecy, misleading behavior, etc. Honors TRUTH and REVEALS/ PROTECTS it; candid
INTEGRITY = actions are consistently in alignment with morals; clear conscience; honorable character; practices and seeks to grow in virtue
COURAGE = willing to face fears & challenges; don't hide or avoid difficulty; does not run from trial or persecution; confidence in GOD'S POWER
PATIENCE = willing to WAIT for a result or goal WITHOUT resistance or complaint; trust in GOD'S TIMING; does not insist on priority of self
MERCY = lenience in dealing with guilty; "second chances"
✳JUSTICE = accountability & giving respect/ chastisement where due
✳COMPASSION = tender-heartedness, empathy, willing to "suffer with" others; capable of softness; seeks to soothe & uplift those in pain/ sorrow
WISDOM = able to meet needs & solve problems effectively; considers SPIRITUAL aspects as focus of solution & responses; prudence
TRUSTWORTHINESS = follows through on promises; guilelessness
✳FORGIVENESS = releases offense to enable redemption & restitution
HOPE = conviction of the existence of unseen benevolent things; refusal to despair; ability to pursue future with optimistic realism; uncrushable
BEAUTY/ ELEGANCE = aesthetic & structural/ functional harmony; coordination, etc. wholeness apparent. elicits a sense of wonder? clean.
ORDERLINESS = "everything in its right place & purpose"; precision
✳GRATITUDE = giving thanks for ALL things; sees value everywhere
KNOWLEDGE? UNDERSTANDING? = educated conscious awareness & comprehension of facts/ data; able to apply it to situations
KINDNESS? = always treat others with thoughtful care
✳FIDELITY = unwavering commitment & dedication
✳DISCIPLINE = control of lower nature; even temper
✳TEMPERANCE = no extremes! properly discern "balance"
OBEDIENCE = follow the rules/ authority with total respect
✳TENACITY? = refusal to despair; willing to endure & persevere
✳HUMILITY = lowliness of heart; no ego focus; lowest place; "SOLI DEO GLORIA"
✳VULNERABILITY = openness to be wounded; no defensiveness

RECOVERY GOALS... (TAKE LITTLE STEPS EVERY DAY)
+ no obsessing over "challenges," "trying all options," "force scary things," etc. NO BEHAVIOR COMPULSIONS/ "RULES"!!!
+ eat simply & normally; NO FOOD PREOCCUPATION!! low effort; intuitive; prudent but not obsessive. fuel for OTHER THINGS!
+ get in shape; get back into music; get working on the League? learn digital art & reestablish creative presence online?
+ be ABLE to "sit with discomfort," "embrace unpredictability," and BE FLEXIBLE/ ADAPTABLE with circumstances!
+ utilize POSITIVE COPING SKILLS & emotion regulation techniques in stressful situations/ trauma flashbacks & triggers
+ GET A HEALTHY BODY IMAGE & ACTUAL SELF-IMAGE; self anchored in FAITH & INTERNAL PLURALITY
+ RELEASE "CONTROL" OBSESSION; TRUST IN GOD & live unattached/ surrendering; able to "flow" with change
+ be more active in the church & community; not afraid to be around people; befriend neighbors? find groups?
+ BE GENUINELY SELF-COMPASSIONATE!!! learn to speak GENTLY to self; NO ABUSIVE BEHAVIORS!!!


LOOK, I'M CHALLENGING MY FEARS BIG TIME OKAY???
LUNCH STILL HAS A SHAKE AND THE PIE, SO EXTRA SUGAR WOULD BE STUPID, NOT "BRAVE." THE REAL FEAR IS OF THOSE DAM DORITOS, WHICH WE STILL ARE CONVINCED WE'RE "ALLERGIC TO" & THAT WE WON'T BE ABLE TO BREATHE.
SO I PICKED THEM.
TAKE THAT, COWARDICE!!!!
NO MORE RUNNING AWAY FROM FEAR!!!
FACE THE CHALLENGE OR YOU CAN'T CONQUER IT!!!
AND HEY IF WE DO GET SICK THEN NOW WE "KNOW"
BUT AVOIDANCE DOES NO GOOD FOR ANYTHING.



Looking at this with "flexible mind" AND self-compassion:
You picked the BIGGEST challenge option! That IS progress in courage AND prudence-- choosing the sundae would tempt you to behaviors with this meal, & the other options would be poor timing options/ too easy. So you DID act with integrity here! You ARE capable AND willing, as this proves!
Flexible: the "lunch CS" dilemma CAN AID WITH THIS CHALLENGE. You can CONSISTENTLY retry it if needed, PREVENTING ANY "AVOIDANCE," while STILL facing ALL the other CS options at other meals!
BUT WHAT IF the Ensure option shift WOULD be "wiser/ tougher"?? It would DIRECTLY challenge our fears of BOTH sugar AND Ensure? Which ties into our "drinking trauma" echo that we HAVE been running from as it's STILL INTENSE deep down. So it MUST be brought up to the surface.
PROS: face sugar fear/ face drinking-sweet trauma-fear/ face Ensure fear & flashbacks/ more nutrients/ less volume
CONS: need to CHOOSE flavor at every meal; prone to obsess & "schedule"/ adds sugar to every meal/ fear of vomiting from it



post-lunch//

...I'm starting to wonder if this "Dorito forcing" is just subtle self-abuse. I DID get sick from them, AGAIN-- nose running & stuffy, trouble breathing, hot flashes, ears ringing. My "foolhardy" brain is now JUMPING ON THAT as "MORE REASONS TO OBSESSIVELY REPEAT IT, UNTIL I DON'T GET SYMPTOMS ANYMORE." THAT'S THE EXACT DAMN MINDSET THAT FUELED THE BINGE/ PURGE CYCLE!!! "YOU MUST FORCE YOURSELF TO ENDURE THIS SCARY THING OVER & OVER, NO BREAKS, UNTIL YOU AREN'T SCARED ANYMORE AND LEARN TO LIKE IT." THAT WAS ALL THE SXABUSE!!!



prismaticbleed: (shatter)


+
TRUST GOD MORE. STOP OBSESSING FOR HOURS OVER "WHAT THE BEST CHOICE IS." YOU CANNOT "PLAN FOR" UNPREDICTABLE & UNEXPECTED CHANGES!!! If you keep being so RIGID and obsessed with everything being "PREDICTABLE" & "JUST SO" & "PREPARED FOR" you will SNAP & BREAK when a sudden surprise or change or CRISIS hits-- and it WILL! YOU NEED TO BE OPEN TO CHANGE, ADAPTABLE TO UNPREDICTABILITY, & FLEXIBLE WITH LIMITATIONS!!! We were freaking out SINCE YESTERDAY as to "what CS would be WISEST for lunch?" and we were a nervous wreck over indecision & then GOD CHANGED THE MEALPLAN. So literally ALL OUR OBSESSING WAS IRRELEVANT TO THE ACTUAL CONTEXT WE ENDED UP FACING IN REALTIME. We were FORCED to choose "intuitively." WHICH, HONESTLY, WE HATE TO DO BECAUSE IT "REVEALS" OUR WEAKNESS. We TYPICALLY CHICKEN OUT under stress. And we did TODAY, too. We chose the "less scary" dressing & jello, and Sun Chips instead of ice cream.
THE PROBLEM WITH "FORCING CHALLENGES" = IT OFTEN INVOLVES FORCING "RISKS" & "SUBTLE ABUSE" in order TO "struggle & suffer"!! With this meal, the red jello was "scary" because of the dye. We feared getting sick so we AVOIDED it-- which registers as "COWARDICE"; we "should have FACED THAT FEAR." Same with the dressing: we avoided the Italian because it was "too acidic" to have with jello & a shake; we feared the GI distress of sour + sugar. I'm worried that our tendency to, in that context, define "BRAVE" as "CHOOSING THE HIGHEST CHANCE OF SUFFERING", could become VERY TOXIC. Our "chickening out" is simply a "protection instinct." SHOULD that be challenged, BY DEFAULT? If not-- and honestly it SHOULDN'T be; fear IS able to be justified-- then we NEED to "refine/ revise" our DEFINITIONS of BOTH "courage" & "cowardice." But then would our "rigidity" of "the BEST option" IS COWARDICE?? Because it's NOT "BRAVE ENOUGH" to "RISK FAILURE"?? BUT THAT ISN'T BRAVERY; the "carelessness" of NOT striving ALWAYS for propriety IS A FAILURE. To NOT "fear" a failure to do right is CORRUPT!! Constantly "avoiding scary things" IS COWARDLY, FULL STOP. DON'T TRY TO "HAGGLE" AN EXCUSE FOR IT. NO. You DID chicken out and YOU KNOW IT. Now, you "LIKED" the french dressing AND orange jello, SO STAY FLEXIBLE & TRY DIFFERENT OPTIONS NEXT-- the ones that you "DON'T like"... yet! STAY OPEN & HOPEFUL & CURIOUS. STOP JUDGING & CONDEMNING. STOP BEING SO DAMN STUBBORN!!! "EXPAND" YOUR DAMN "COMFORT ZONE" BEFORE IT SUFFOCATES YOU. GET "COMFORTABLE" WITH "UNEXPECTED" THINGS. STOP RESISTING THINGS YOU "CAN'T CONTROL," YOU ASS!! YOU'RE TOO DAMN STIFF-NECKED. WHAT'S THE "WORST" THAT COULD HAPPEN? STOMACH DISCOMFORT? MAN THE F*CK UP ALREADY!!! IF YOU DON'T LEARN TO SUFFER WELL, THEN YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO CARRY THE CROSS!



post-dinner//

NEW DINNER NEW DINNER!! No more veggie bowl-- now we got LEGIT CHICKEN & RICE & RAINBOW CARROTS!! I actually enjoyed EVERYTHING, even the rice! So that's another small "victory," thank you God!! Now I can practice ADDING rice into my meal planning!! Also. Here is a thing. For snack, FOUR PEOPLE with 3CS choices like us, picked options that added up to ~55g SUGAR. THEY DID NOT DIE. So BE COURAGEOUS, TOO!! Pick a sweet thing tomorrow, even just the ice cream sandwich. Sugar isn't evil. Your body DOES use it. And aren't you ALL ABOUT "BEING BRAVE"?? Or does snack "not count," because YOU'RE CHOOSING the item, NOT someone else?? Like you'll easily eat ~55g of sugar at a meal if they GIVE IT to you-- you'll even chug 30g in juice within 30 seconds! But CHOOSING a sweet CS for snack-- even just one-- INSTEAD of being "brave," registers as "FOOLISH"? IT'S BECAUSE IT'S 8PM YOU JERK. WE CAN'T SLEEP WITH ALL THAT SUGAR.
"Bravery" ISN'T "inflexible"!! Sometimes, it's braver to NOT do something
WISDOM IS WHAT WE NEED, NOT "FOOLHARDINESS"!
THERE'S NOTHING "BRAVE" ABOUT "SHOWING OFF" HOW HARD YOU CAN PUSH YOURSELF FOR THE SAKE OF ADMIRATION OR "PRIDE." THERE'S A PROPER TIME FOR SUGAR AND IT'S NOT AT SNACK. YOU'LL ONLY "SUCCEED" AT MAKING US ANTSY & NAUSEOUS.
COURAGE DOES NOT MEAN "INVALIDATING ALL FEAR"!
FEAR CAN BE JUSTIFIED IF OUR HEALTH & WELLBEING ARE AT RISK
AND IF PUSHING SUGAR HAS HISTORICALLY MADE US ILL & HINDERED SLEEP,
THAT FEAR IS PROTECTIVE, NOT ABSOLUTE.
YOU CAN, DO, AND WILL EAT THSE FOODS WITHOUT (AS MUCH?) FEAR DURING THE DAY, SO "AVOIDING" THEM AT NIGHT IS NOT "COWARDICE".
COURAGE IS WISE. FOOLISH FORCING IS NOT.
in any case, she was right; we SHOULD TRY one sweet CS tomorrow, and SPECIFICALLY GET THE DATA on HOW WE RESPOND PHYSIOLOGICALLY. The point is we ARE still scared of sugar-- less than before, but STILL. And that NEEDS to change for us to TRULY recover. treating ANY food as an "enemy" is unhealthy; it's a BAD SEED worst of all. it will only sprout into weeds of rigid paranoid avoidance, ALL of it fueled by judgment & condemnation & DISORDERED FEAR. remember "there is NO FEAR in LOVE." please remember. try to love more. even the sugar. even yourself, when you are scared, and make mistakes. recovery IS love. work towards THAT above all. it INCLUDES all the TRULY GOOD things we want so badly-- courage, wisdom, growth, safety, beauty, truth & mercy & hope & joy. sacrifice too. for real it's LOVE. that's GOTTA be our base. WORK ON IT!!



prismaticbleed: (shatter)

LETTER TO "ED"

Dear heart, poor tortured thing, why are you so hungry? Why are you so afraid? (→ RESPONSE)

Hey, "eating disorder"? Listen, I DON'T want to treat you as an enemy, and I DON'T want to "invalidate" or "trivialize" you. I ALSO don't want to "pretend you don't really exist." You DO exist. You ARE significant, and you ARE "valid" in your own way-- but that "way" is DAMAGED and THAT'S what I want to discuss with you. You entered my life in the wake of trauma and intense fear, and your purpose was to HELP ME COPE. In that regard, your motives & goals WERE valid! And I MUST RESPECT THAT. Maybe I should even "thank you" for trying to help so much. BUT. In a respectful relationship I must ALSO tell you, firmly but lovingly, that WE GOT IT WRONG. From the very beginning, our methods & goals were SKEWED because WE DIDN'T PROPERLY UNDERSTAND WHAT WE WERE DOING. You saw the body changing, you KNEW what people told us about those changes, and you WANTED TO STOP THE CHANGES in the ONLY "POSSIBLE" WAY-- through not eating. If "eating" = "fat," and "fat" = "female" and "female" = "sex" then I HAD TO BE AS THIN AS POSSIBLE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE!!

You're very controlling, because you're so scared of what you CAN'T control. Life for you was so unpredictable, and the future so unsure & unstable, that the added "unpredictability" of food-- stress that you ATE-- was too much. You refused to eat, until raw hunger would kick in & binge. Then you'd hate yourself for "being weak" and you learned to spit & vomit.
You had SO MANY RULES about what foods were "right" or "safe." You ate the same things over & over, something you could control & predict & understand, when nothing else was clear. But food somehow always ended up being "the enemy," because you were SO HUNGRY you COULDN'T STOP EATING, and that forced consumption-- that loss of control & self, that horrible addiction-- felt like rape all over again.
Unable to quit, you used it to cope. The E.D. was a way of BOTH expressing the horror of abuse CONSCIOUSLY, and "FINALLY" REJECTING IT.
It's a mess. You're a scared, sobbing mess. You have so many trauma scars and the sex you can't escape is your worst nightmare.

Fat = female = sex = mother = food, and food = fat, which loops the whole damned thing, doesn't it?

But "being skinny" still didn't save you.

I know you see "food" as "the enemy," because you can't seem to let go of your associating eating with sexual abuse.
You feel all the horror in your stomach. You don't want to "fill up" the body with ANYTHING. You've seen & heard far too many people making even more explicit associations, over & over & over.
But FOOD ITSELF CANNOT EVER DO THAT TO YOU. FOOD ISN'T THE REAL ENEMY & NEVER WAS.

I know you want to "starve the body into not being female/ adult" but it doesn't work.
I know you're terrified of that body shape, thinking it will make the sexabuse hell immanent & unending.
But we've got to find another way of fighting, one that WON'T KILL US IN THE PROCESS!!
And honestly, the best way I can see is to STRIP THE ABUSERS OF THEIR POWER by DE-WEAPONIZING FOOD.


LETTER FROM "ED"

YOU KNOW VERY WELL WHY I'M SO STARVED & TERRIFIED. DON'T GIVE ME YOUR PETTY PITY AND EMPTY CONDESCENDING "CONCERN." YO'RE NOT THINKING ABOUT ME, NOT AS A PERSON. YOU JUST SEE ME AS A PROBLEM TO FIX UP, ALL NEATLY & TIDIED UP, "THAT'S THAT" AND YOU'RE DONE WITH ME FOREVER.
WELL GUESS WHAT. I'M ONLY DISORDERED BECAUSE I'VE BEEN DIS-ORDERED!!!
I'VE BEEN F*CKED UP AND F*CKED OVER AND I'M RUINED AND BROKEN AND POISONED AND DISGUSTED AND SICK AND DESPAIRING AND SOMETIMES I JUST WANT TO DIE. TO MAKE IT STOP.

BUT YOU DON'T SEE ME AS THE WOUND I AM. NOT REALLY. TO YOU I'M JUST A MESS TO CLEAN UP. YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE THE REAL PERSON BLEEDING, OR THE TRAUMA THAT CAUSED IT. YOU THINK I WANT TO BE DISORDERED?? DO YOU THINK I WANT TO BE IN THIS HELL?? OR HURT THIS POOR F*CKED UP BODY? OR HURT AND SCARE YOUR/OUR BLOOD FAMILY?? NO!!! I DON'T WANT THIS EITHER.
BUT I CAN'T GET BETTER ON MY OWN. I'M USELESS ALONE. THAT'S HOW I GOT SO BAD. I HAD NO HELP AND I HURT SO BAD IT SWALLOWED ME UP. PUN INTENDED. BUT I'M STARVING. I'M SO DAMN HUNGRY JUST FOR COMPASSION REALLY AND HUMAN CONNECTION THAT DOESN'T FLAY YOU OPEN OR SHOVE POISON DOWN YOUR THROAT.
THERE ARE MORE THAN ME, YOU KNOW. WE SHARE THIS SO IT DOESN'T KILL US ALL ALONE. WHY ELSE DO YOU THINK THAT ONE GIRL ALWAYS WANTS TO EAT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE LIKE? BECAUSE THAT'S HER ONLY MEANS OF CONNECTION OR COMMUNION. PEOPLE THEMSELVES ARE UNSAFE. THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET F*CKED TOO MANY TIMES DAMN IT, PEOPLE HURT WHEN THEY T*CH YOU. AND WHEN YOU'RE USED TO HAVING TO CHOKE THEM DOWN, WELL. STOCKHOLM SYNDROME FUSES WITH THE INSTINCT OF AN ABANDONED CHILD. FORGIVENESS IDEALIZES ITSELF IN FOOD. WE EAT IN DESPERATE HOPE OF OVERRIDING HELL. BUT IT FAILS CATASTROPHICALLY. AND WE JUST RE-LIVE THE TERROR. EVERY DAMN TIME. I'M SORRY. THERE'S TOO MUCH FOR HERE. TOO MANY VARIABLES. TOO MANY ANGLES. TOO MANY PEOPLE. BUT DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO KILL US OFF TOO BY YOUR DAMN APATHY DISGUISED AS SYMPATHY. I KNOW YOU. YOU CAN'T FOOL ANYONE.
YOU EXIST TO SPIT OUT PLATITUDES AND MAKE A SHOW OF HOLLOW COMPASSION. BUT YOU'RE JUST A MOUTH. YOU HAVE NO HEART. YOU HYPOCRITE!!

YOU'RE WORSE THAN I'LL EVER BE. AT LEAST I CAN BLEED.


LETTER TO (THE NOUSFONI CARING FOR) MY BODY

I don't like how you've changed.
I don't like that horrific "womanly pouch" of fat behind our navel. I don't like the "handlebars" on your hips
IT'S F*CKING GROSS.

Listen we see "fat" as SEXUAL and so it CANNOT BE ALLOWED or we'll DIE

we're so AFRAID of that roundness. please stop it.

please if there's ANY way to change it PLEASE CHANGE.
please stop making "woman hormones" they're ALL BAD STOP STOP PLEASE!!!

I DOn't WANt tO be thAt

what do we want
we can't stay twelve forever
it's not even "the worst choice" anymore
or is it??
I LIKE the mental maturity we have
the spiritual progress with time
but
NOT THE BODY
NOT THIS SHAPE
WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO????

can we
can we change this for the better

if we can't change your programming
please, LET US EXERCISE
if you're gonna INSIST on being BIG THEN use it BETTER
NOT FOR FLABBY INDOLENCE & "SENSUALITY" SH*T

BURN THAT "FAT" LIKE THE SIN IT IS



LETTER FROM MY BODY

I can't turn off the pituitary gland. I'm sorry.
I couldn't turn off puberty either.
I know you hate that I'm "NOT" disordered in that regard. I know you WISH you had an underdeveloped, malformed, or inert "reproductive system."
But... it is as it is. I mean that as simply as possible. Neither of us can change the genetics & biology God gave us. Whether we "like it" or not, it is what it is.

We're gonna have to live with that.

Please don't starve me anymore. I need food for FUEL, like a car needs gas. I literally WILL shut down without it. I know your fear of sexuality makes shutdown sound very ideal. It's not. There's no hope in it. We'll just die, and that "sexuality" will have killed us. Do you want it to be the victor over us, driving us to death?

Please don't overfeed me either. Food is fuel, food is medicine. It's NOT "just stuff," it's NOT "garbage to remove." Respect it, respect me, respect God's INTENT for us both. Respect US! I know you like rules. Well, that's a rule of propriety. Don't abuse food OR me.

And please, don't keep throwing up. It's scary and it hurts and I lose all my water.
I'm only supposed to throw up if I'm sick or poisoned and then I will do it FOR you, don't worry. You forcing me to "get sick" when I'm just trying to do my job, trying to get enough fuel to WORK so that YOU can live in here... it hurts me.

I will gladly exercise with you, if you don't use THAT to hurt us, either. Be careful with our poor feet & knees; you've pushed them to damage before. That will just make it harder TO exercise! Start slow, so I can get used to it, but don't quit. I like exercise too. I can't get rid of ALL the fat-- I need it to function-- but I can help with the shape a little, the more muscle you help me get. Be patient; we'll get there.

But please. Please learn to love me unconditionally. I already love you.







prismaticbleed: (shatter)


pre-breakfast (night prior)//

+ miserable. freaking out to the point of almost puking, in frustrated frightened tears, because I cannot decide on breakfast options. Yes it's stupid. but it's true. there are SO many choices, too many combinations. i don't know which one is the RIGHT ONE. I can't do applejuice or cranapple because every else does and that's THEIRS. it would look like I wasn't trying. I can't do an apple because I had one yesterday, and I can't do an orange because I'll have on on Sunday and I CAN'T "double" days. BUT a banana would be the "easy choice," AND I CAN'T do a banana if I do OJ because it'll screw up my stomach. I can't do grape because "it's my favorite" & thus the easy option. So if I get OJ & an orange I CAN'T double that on Sunday... but it IS a possibility. Hm. Maybe. It'll force me to "break the pattern" which can get too rigid. BUT CEREAL! I need to "try" Rice Krispies, BUT I'm STILL SCARED of the Cheerios, AND I actually have NO DATA for the Chex... which I think is the ONLY ONE I CAN'T get a single-serving of at home to try. Krispies are "easier" because of HAVEN memories, but "scary" because rice. BUT SAME WITH CHEX, which I FORGET. But I can do those next week? Or is it "chickening out" to NOT do them now? But I'd be a COWARD for NOT retrying the Cheerios. BUT EVERYONE PICKS CHEERIOS. The Chex would be the "challenge" in that respect. You see why I'm miserable. Jesus help me please.



post-breakfast//

+ Today's topic: OBSESSIONS, COMPULSIONS, & BEHAVIORS. What are we struggling with? What are the "RULES?" What "MUST" be done? WHY? What is the PURPOSE, or INTENDED GOAL/ RESULT, of these O/C/Bs?? What DISTORTIONS are present? What EMOTIONS are we feeling AS A RESULT OF THESE THOUGHTS? Are their action urges JUSTIFIED? Why or why not?
= Cannot "repeat" food choices twice in a row; every day MUST be different from the previous, "or I'm being lazy/ stubborn"
= Must have "even distribution" of choices over week, to be "fair" & "to make sense"? Uneven numbers "wrong"
= Must ALWAYS choose the "MOST CHALLENGING/ DIFFICULT" option, "or I'm being a coward/ stubborn"
= Must "get taste data"/ be conscious of eating or it "doesn't count"; "have to do it over"
= Must eat foods in "proper combinations," or it is "disordered/ improper" and "careless"
= NOT ALLOWED to CHOOSE foods that I "like"; that's "self-indulgent"/ addictive/ lazy/ cowardly"
= MUST (PARADOXICALLY) "LIKE" EVERYTHING THAT OTHERS LIKE to avoid offense? + NOT like what THEY dislike?? "DEFINED BY ORDERS"
"Enjoying things"/ "pl*sre" is WRONG/ BAD" "Suffering is GOOD because it is NOT enjoyable and IS brave"
"I must always be brave/ strong" "I must always do the most difficult thing
" "I must always push myself harder"
"I must be GOOD
" → "Good is SELFLESS" → "My own feelings & preferences don't matter"
"
I must be PURE/ PERFECT" → "Goodness is UNCONTAMINATED" "Goodness DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES/ BAD CHOICES"
"I must be OBEDIENT" → "to be GOOD" "unselfish" "self-sacrificial"
"KNOWLEDGE" obsession? Fear of "not knowing." Mystery = FAILURE TO LEARN??? Compulsion TO "find out"?
"Not allowed to like foods" PERPETUATES "fear food" phenomenon? RESISTS RECOVERY because then there's "NO CHALLENGES???" "Recovery = LIKING EVERYTHING BECAUSE I'M TOLD TO"??? UNTRUE!!! (SELF-DESTRUCTION; REPLACE SELF WITH "OTHER")
Obsessing over 'CHOOSING" "one thing over another" = "ALL OR NOTHING." scared of "cruelty/ offense/ REJECTION," even with food (inanimate)
Ultimate goals are ORDERLINESS, PROGRESS, BRAVERY, KNOWLEDGE, OBEDIENCE, DISCIPLINE, SPECIFICITY? PROPRIETY? "GOODNESS." Harmony/ elegance/ cooperation? "Aesthetic" agreement, as well as "choreography" OF choices?? INTENTIONALITY; making impulsive/ "indulgent" decisions is LAZY = BAD. Lazy is COWARDLY, no effort, no strength, no elegance. DIFFICULTY is valued to PROVE STRENGTH, and to PREVENT STAGNANCY? BUT "STRUCTURE" is often repeated? "Elegant;" effective distribution/ planning sticks. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Surprise changes (chosen by TEAM) ARE welcome, BUT MY OWN CHOICES MUST FIT SOME GREATER ORDER? They must be WISE, INFORMED, & CHALLENGING? But then I NEVER REST, AND I KEEP "MAKING NEW CHALLENGES TO FACE/ PROBLEMS TO SOLVE"!!! We did the SAME THING in 2017!!! The thought of "making an EASY/ COMFORTABLE" choice feels REPULSIVE? It would "seriously damage" my MORAL INTEGRITY?? Because "BEING GOOD = SUFFERING"???? "Liking" things is CONDEMNED; WHY?? Feels "OBTRUSIVE"? PREVENTS "CHALLENGE"??? ASSERTS "SELF"???

EMOTIONAL RESPONSES/ ACTION URGES = JUSTIFICATION?
SCARED of "choosing the wrong thing"? NOT the food itself-- ANY of them, IF "CORRECT," would be fine & non-threatening? But I'm "scared" of the "CHOOSING WRONG"?? When I obsess, I think "I HAVE to figure out the SMARTEST/ MOST CHALLENGING option"? I will make DATA SHEETS even!! Do I fear a threat to my "WELL-BEING"??? But fear FOCUSES ON ESCAPING DANGER. WHAT IS THE DANGER? Notably, "wrong" would be the EASY, COMMON, HABITUAL, OR "OUT OF PLACE" CHOICE? The GOAL IS HEALING = REQUIRES "ILLNESS"!!!!!
ALSO tied to DISGUST: "wrong" choosing could SERIOUSLY DAMAGE my SENSE OF MORALITY/ INTEGRITY?? & ORDERLINESS? "THINGS WHERE THEY DON'T BELONG" = CONTAMINATION FEAR!! "Wrong" choices "DON'T WORK/ BELONG" TOGETHER??? "HAPHAZARD"; "uncontrolled/ wild"; "CANCEROUS"
✳ ALSO tied to ANGER: "Important goal" of GOODNESS/ ORDER/ INTEGRITY being BLOCKED by "cowardice/ laziness/ carelessness/ stubbornness"? THOSE qualities are "DISEASES"/ "SPIRITUALLY SICKENING" and MUST BE "HEALED" THROUGH EFFORT/ ACTION/ PRECISION, and the DISCIPLINE to FOLLOW THE RULES/ BE IN PROPER ORDER. No sloppiness or "carefree" behavior. ANGER fights ALL these "ugly tendencies" to OVERCOME those obstacles by FORCE and to STOP FURTHER THREATS. The problem is, ANGER SEES "SELF-INDULGENCE" as a threat and "SELF-DISCIPLINE" as the ideal, so it "DISCIPLINES" the "BAD CHILD" through VIOLENCE & VERBAL ABUSE, with the intended goal of "crushing" all inclination to be "soft & weak & sensual & sloppy & EVIL" -- qualities we ALSO associate with FATNESS. If "fat = evil" then "thin = good" AND "strong = good"? It's a mess. Being "big" FILLS US WITH "ARROGANT RAGE"??? Like the sheer SIZE of our body ELICITS POWER-ABUSIVE TENDENCIES??? WHY. Is it the desperate drive to DESTROY THE FAT=SLOVENLY RISK??? So much disgust. The "clean freak" obsession gets SO BAD. "MUST discipline/ control/ tame/ etc. this WILD/ ANIMALISTIC/ DISORDERED THING." Ironically, the eating disorder got WORSE through the hypercontrolling. ALL EXTREMES ARE UNHEALTHY!
SADNESS: kicks in AFTER ANGER & self-destructive consequences; "things are not the way you hoped/ wanted/ expected" & "PERMANENT LOSS." "I did not behave the way I SHOULD" = "I HOPED I could be GOOD; I WANTED to be BRAVE; I EXPECTED to be SMART ENOUGH... but I WASN'T"??? LOSS = FAILURE TO BE GOOD/ PERFECT = ALL OR NOTHING: "THEN I'M BAD." Keeps cycling back to annihilatory RAGE, WHILE SOBBING typically.
GUILT: "BEHAVIOR VIOLATES MORAL CODE." Obvious & self-explanatory. ALL my decisions are "MORALLY RIGHT OR WRONG", no matter how small.
SHAME: "If my actions/ characteristics are REVEALED, I will be REJECTED BY THE "GOOD"/ BY "REAL CHRISTIANS"!!!" VERY powerful with "bad [food] choices" because those are ON THE TRAY FOR ALL TO SEE, & my choices are RECORDED BY TEAM. SO, if I "chicken out" and choose the EASY option, OR the SAME THING repeatedly, THAT COWARDLY LAZINESS WILL BE REVEALED AND I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO "SET A GOOD EXAMPLE" OR "BE A GOOD, OBEDIENT, BRAVE GIRL" ANYMORE-- the "secret sin" is APPARENT and I AM DOOMED. NO SECOND CHANCES!!!
YOU F*CKED UP AND YOU CAN'T TAKE THAT BACK, THE "DEED IS DONE" YOU LOST YOUR CHANCE, ALL BECAUSE YOU WANTED THE "COMFY OPTION"!!!!

I chose whole milk instead of chocolate and I AM A F*CKING COWARD!!!
I didn't choose it because I'M TRYING to cut down on the sugar
NO EXCUSES YOU F*CKING LAZYASS COWARD
do I have to
I don't want it I dont like all the sugar
ANd, And mr. doctor SAID! dont obsess!
BUT But WE HAVe tO
CANT CHICKEN OUT DON'T BE SO F*CKING LAZY
DO THE HARD THING
STOP LOOKING FOR "EASY" WAYS OUT
STOP RUNNING AWAY FROM SUFFERING!!!!

ISNT THIS SUFFERING ENOUGH

NO
THIS DOESN'T COUNT THIS IS DISCIPLINE FOR YOUR SELFINDULGENT ASS
LEARN TO DO THE RIGHT THING
STOP CHICKENING OUT!!!

MAN THE F*CK UP!!!!



(1) I didn't choose chocolate milk because I was scared of the sugar taste
(2) EVERYONE is choosing chocolate milk
(3) IT'S THEIRS, SAVE IT FOR THEM
(4) IT'S COMMON, SET A BRAVE EXAMPLE BY DOING DIFFERENT
(5) BUT IT'S A CHALLENGE FOR US
(6) IT'S MORE OF A "CHALLENGE" NOT TO CHOOSE IT, APPARENTLY
(7) F*CK YOU THAT'S A HOLLOW EXCUSE
YOU RAN AWAY. ON PURPOSE. YOU CHICKENED OUT


(8) what is the bravest choice, for real, what is "GOOD"
what is "effective"


(9) Our GOAL is to BE BRAVE.
The MOST "EFFECTIVE" THING would be to
- ADMIT we chickened out
- FIX THE DECISION
WHICH WE DID
I'M PROUD OF YOU
SEE I KNEW YOU WEREN'T REALLY A COWARD.
I KNOW YOU CAN DO THIS.
IT'S NOT GOING TO HURT ANYONE
IT CAN ONLY MAKE YOU STRONGER
BY FACING YOUR FEAR OF "SUGAR"
AND REALIZING IT CAN'T HURT YOU/ US
"REMEMBER WHAT THE DOCTOR SAID"
ALL THE CHOICES HAVE NUTRITION
EVEN THE SCARY ONES.






post-dinner/

We were too "proud." We drank it cold & couldn't taste it. The FAILURE distracted us for the whole meal. How ironic. "No right choice." BUT in MEMORY we have data, thanks to Jesus's mercy. We're sorry for our arrogance in "proving ourselves." Please, please forgive our foolish heart.
+ For the record. We DIDN'T "chicken out on Rice Krispies-- they were OUT! So we bravely retried the Chex, AND tasted it this time-- NOT soaking it, but NOT eating it by hand either. We used minimal milk & used a spoon, all proper. The taste, esp. unwet, DOES trigger "trauma echoes." It's humbling & horrifying to REALIZE & REMEMBER JUST HOW BAD THINGS WERE back then. But FEAR NOT!! God has brought us to recovery and we NEVER have to go through that hell again!! In time, we pray, those memories will fade, and the Chex will be "free" & "innocent" again, too. THAT'S WHAT WE WANT with ALL trauma/ fear foods! THAT'S why we're SO DETERMINED NOT to "chicken out"-- THAT PREVENTS HEALING, PERPETUATES FEAR, and KEEPS BOTH ME & THE FOOD STUCK IN A TRAUMA MINDSET!! WE WANT TO BE FREE, and FREEDOM ONLY COMES THROUGH LOVE!! THAT is how to forgive & move on-- you NEED that GRACE first!! So please, PLEASE, pray constantly & sincerely for it!! We CAN'T be "Good" on our own-- we CAN'T be TRULY BRAVE on our own either. WE NEED GOD. We need to do it WITH HIS POWER and FOR HIS FLORY, THROUGH HIS LOVE!!! And tragically we failed to do that tonight. We were SO carried away with self-hatred & PRIDE, wanting to be "brave" but FOR THE WRONG REASON-- almost to spite ourself, DEFINITELY with a smug "victory over stupidity" vibe, shame on us-- that we DIDN'T HONESTLY THINK OF GOD. He WASN'T our primary focus. We didn't choose the chocolate milk TO LET HIS MERCY WORK THROUGH US, but to chastise ourselves for "being weak." And GOD BRINGS DOWN THE PROUD!!! Which He SURE DID for our misguided ass, and THANK YOU GOD FOR DOING SO, because we NEEDED this lesson, DESPERATELY. We could NEVER hope to "make the good choice" WITHOUT YOU, the SOURCE & SUMMIT OF ALL GOOD!! On our own we WERE doomed to fail, no matter HOW hard we tried; our mind was ENTIRELY IN THE WRONG SPACE. I felt that last night, trying to figure out the juice datasheet. It felt so exasperating & distressing; I didn't even PRAY because I was so obsessed & MISERABLE. God I am so, so sorry. Please, CHANGE MY HEART!!! Help me TO pray, REALLY pray, WITHOUT abandoning recovery & "thinking I don't have to care about life anymore." Loving & worshipping You IS LIFE, and I want to do that WITH my life-- ALL OF IT!! I desperately, fervently want YOU to be PRESENT in ALL aspects of my daily life & work, NOT JUST IN RECITED PRAYER. We can't be TRUE friends if I only ever talk to You & spend time with You in "prepackaged" ways-- yes, those prayers are STILL Good & Beautiful, BUT I'M saying them in RITUAL OBLIGATION, something "to be done" by the schedule; I SHOULD be-- and I WANT to be-- inviting You to be with me in MY HUMANITY. Right now, You feel SO "unapproachable," SO "pure & Almighty," that I TREMBLE to talk to You, let alone EAT & COOK & WRITE & DREAM with You. And that's SO TRAGICALLY WRONG. Please, God-- LET ME KNOW YOU. Please, BE MY FRIEND. Hang out with me at breakfast. Share that PopTart. Guide me through lunch. Discuss DBT with me. Let's sit on the patio together. Let's listen to Lofi music together. Let's LIVE, in ALL the little moments, TOGETHER, and so CONSECRATE ALL OF MY LIFE to YOU, dearest Lord... no exceptions. SOLI DEO GLORIA.



prismaticbleed: (shatter)

+ Today we're focusing on DBT AND Bible study-- because without God's wisdom, graciously given to us through His Word, nothing is wise. Secular psychology CAN be VERY TOXIC, because it REJECTS MORALITY & RELIGION, and disparages the TRUE spiritual/ supernatural reality-- it uses terms like "wisdom" & "mindfulness" frequently, but they just feel empty & wrong, honestly because they don't acknowledge GOD. So I MUST make sure I DO, in this recovery process, or it WILL IRONICALLY DISORDER MY SOUL, craftily leading me astray with "empowering" and "nonjudgmental" language, darkly enticing me to rely on my "own strength & skill" instead of GOD'S GRACE & POWER-- to become a humanist instead of a Christian. The subtlety is terrifying. A lot of it IS good, healthy advice. Emotion regulation & distress tolerance skills are useful, IF used prudently-- again, I'm just honestly disgusted by the blatant lack of faith in all of it. Even the "radical acceptance" skills are hollow-- they DON'T acknowledge GOD'S WILL, and so they AREN'T GRATEFUL TO GOD; furthermore, the stance of "acceptance" they promote is void of virtue, because ONLY A CHRISTIAN CAN CHOOSE TO SUFFER, and doing so is BY THE POWER OF GOD! Not "your wise mind" or ANYTHING of human nature. By CHOOSING to suffer, AS CHRIST DID, we UNITE our pain to His and it BECOMES REDEMPTIVE-- AND NONTOXIC!! Disorder CANNOT EXIST when the LORD of ALL CREATED ORDER makes His Presence known. So yes, DBT helps, but the Holy Spirit CAN & DOES ACCOMPLISH the SAME beneficial ends, and INFINITELY MORESO. ...But I can't be an extremist even in this. I can't bash this program "because it's not explicitly Christian." Being so disdainful is ANTIChristian!! AND it's disgustingly hypercritical, because I AM benefiting from DBT, as are so many others. GOD GUIDED THE INVENTORS OF DBT, TOO, YOU KNOW!! The goal of DBT is LIFE, HEALTH, RECOVERY, COMPASSION, WISDOM, HONESTY, RESPECT... ALL VIRTUES OF GOD! The program IS FULLY COMPATIBLE WITH CHRISTIANITY; IT CAN ONLY BE ENRICHED BY IT. STOP BEING SO BLOODY JUDGMENTAL.
Ironically that way of thinking IS a distortion (DBT)-- "black or white" thinking! It's ALSO STUBBORNNESS AND PROUD ARROGANCE. It's POISON and you NEED TO STOP. Just because something exists "OUTSIDE" of religion DOESN'T MEAN IT'S "SATANIC." Geez honestly I'd be MORE afraid that YOUR "GATEKEEPING" of what is "morally proper" / "irreligious" / "RIGHT" IS "SATANIC," because it's FOCUSED ON EXALTING YOU. You're SO DAMN OBSESSIVE over "keeping yourself pure/ holy/ separate" that you FORGET that the REAL EVIL comes from YOU and YOUR dumbass choices-- MATTHEW 15:17-20-- and your STUBBORN-ASS RESISTANCE TO ADMITTING YOUR OWN SH*TTY CHOICES AND THOUGHTS AND BLATANT SINS IS WHAT CAN AND WILL SEND YOU TO HELL FOR BOTH IDOLATRY AND BLASPHEMY. GET OVER YOUR DAMN SELF BEFORE YOU ARE DAMNED, DAMN IT!!!
STOP MICROMANAGING REALITY AND STUPIDLY "TRYING TO BE PERFECT." YOU'RE NOT AND YOU CAN'T BE AND YOU SHOULDN'T BE.
YOU'RE NOT GOD. ...AND I KNOW YOU KNOW A CERTAIN BLUE SOMEONE WHO CAN DRIVE THIS LESSON HOME BETTER THAN I EVER COULD. SO LISTEN. PLEASE. IF YOU DON'T OPEN YOUR HEART, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE.







pre-snack//

+ Quick note-- Marisa just walked over to apologetically tell me we're TOTALLY out of flavored chips-- but with her broad stance, strong walk, and heavy eyebrows, I swear she LOOKED SO MUCH LIKE LAURIE. It went straight to my heart. So remember that. AND remember that SHE WAS IN MY DREAM LAST NIGHT, TOO!!! She's always there to protect me, LITERALLY from death/ being killed, in such dreams. God bless her, I love her so much.




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