Lol, yeah the humour can be very dark. I have a book written by a journalist who spent a year (?) with some homicide detectives in a US city & their
humour was wicked, dark but very funny!
I love Ioan's 'wet work' cameo, so funny! When Alice's shitstorm kicked off I recognised her from The Christmas Card & he looked familiar, it was only as I checked out his work I realised I had seen him in that cameo as well as King Arthur, Titanic & an episode of Castle & since then I have watched a lot more & enjoyed them all though Harrow, Forever & Liar are my faves so far!
I'm glad that some of those broken people you mentioned have become friends. I understand the principle of loving oneself before being able to love others but have always had low self esteem & for most of my life I felt worthless. I know a lot of that came from my feelings & needs never being validated by my family, I was just there to be used so I ended up feeling worthless & invisible.
I'm a little better than I used to be but I still find receiving compliments/verbal affection difficult as I'm never sure how to respond as I struggle to believe I am worthy of such kind words. I know my childhood shaped me in a lot of negative ways although I have a come a long way & learned a lot of painful life lessons. I had to do a lot of soul searching to understand the dynamics of my childhood with my mum, the loving dysfunction & co dependency that was created so I could try to heal, improve myself, learn how to be true to myself, how to say no, to not be a doormat & people pleaser/appeaser, to finally have boundaries, be self reliant & to stand up for myself. I have succeeded in many ways but my self esteem still isn't that good. I'm not sure it ever will be.
I agree about that we have to look inward for love & know that we can only ever truly trust ourselves. I've had a lot of knives in my back from people I loved & trusted going back to teenage years & though I have learned so much (esp' the last 10 years) I have major trust issues which I don't think will ever go. I have built a wall around me & am very choosy who I let inside as I've been too badly hurt too many times.
The system your therapist developed is amazing & how lovely that she has since trained a whole school of new therapists! I would love to experience it! Ah, so she uses acupressure points to get you under. I can't imagine how vivid they were for all your senses to be fully engaged! I have heard of vivid dreams when people are visited by loved ones in spirit but never what you have described. That you were so fully immersed in your dreams but could still speak with her at the same time is fascinating & I love that you were in control of your lucid dreaming but at the same time guided by her encouraging you to explore. It seemed to be the most wonderful in & out of body experience!
Your trip back to your mothers womb was amazing & to be able to control where you want to go sounds so liberating rather than a normal dream that makes no sense & you have no control over.
Your dream about the man who was your grandfather in Italy but who you were also aware wasn't your grandfather was so interesting. It puts me in mind of reincarnation & how we discover our family in this life, our soul group, have always been in our soul group but we have all interchanged our roles during different life times. How incredible for you to come across the very painting he gave you in your dream, that must have been a magical moment! Would you ever be able to see her again? I'm thinking with regard to your going back to the womb as a way of healing from being premature & almost dying? Or are there other therapists she has trained who are nearer? I do think that understanding past lives & things that can trigger us in this life can be helpful as a way to understand & heal trauma.
A dear friend did a reading for me & said I have cleared a lot of old karma from previous lives during the last decade which was good to hear!
I have an awful fear of heights which began from a young age. I physically cringe all over if the camera angle in a film scene pans down from the top of a high building, etc even thinking about such a scene brings about the same fear responses as my stomach churns, my knees get weak & trembly & the physical sensations that wash over me are horrible. As a young child I was terrified of the very steep underground escalators we would go on fairly regularly but never said a word. I always felt my body was going to fall backwards. Anything with a lot of height elicits this fear. I asked a psychic I used to use (a guy) about this phobia. He was shown me in a past life falling from a great height but surviving with terrible injuries.
In this life he then saw a man (my dad) 'throwing' me up in the air then catching me as a baby/toddler (done in a playful manner as many parents do) & he says this incident triggered my repressed soul memory of that awful fall which though I couldn't remember, I did remember the intense fear & the height involved which manifested into my phobia. That made a lot of sense & gave me some closure as to why this fear developed in me so young.
Your therapy seems like a wonderful cross between the vivid dreams of the spirit world & past life regressions. I would be so up to experience this!
The note taking reminds me of when I have phone readings from psychic mediums. It makes sense to go over it all with her before you go on your next trip. It's fascinating to me that you were able to wake, go to the toilet, return & after her reapplying the pressure you re-entered your dream where you left off. Perhaps you experienced both previous lives & your deeper levels of subconscious? You mention that you can return to these dream states on your own so did she teach you the pressure points? If not how were you able to experience new sessions of lucid dreaming again & how often do you go there? It's wonderful how this therapy has helped you with your confidence, your sense of self & taken away your fears.
And you have your soul animal with you always which is awesome! I would love to know what mine is & to meet him/her. What an amazing gift she gave you & your ability to feel love, acceptance & just be is priceless. I love the sound of the other odd creatures who are your friends!
Thanks so much for sharing this.
Thanks re my inner landscape. Looking up the different types I believe I'm an immersive daydreamer, def' not maladaptive, as it doesn't
interfere with my daily life. I can spend hours on & off in my inner landscape which is complex & highly detailed & is entirely my own creation & I feel the emotions of my characters which are actually real people but I don't feature. It's more like I am the camera recording it all if that makes sense? I'm the director, the writer, the producer, lol! It's my haven, comfort blanket, old friend & refuge. How did it begin? It began as a child in response to what was going on with my parents unhappy marriage & how I became my mum's confidante & emotional crutch when I was still a child (it lasted for decades) my inner world was the one thing I had true control over & it was my only way to get respite & escape. It grew from there & has changed over the years although the same cast of characters has been constant for many years now, lol! Music enhances it but I can dip into it wherever I am for as long or short a time as I want. It makes me happy & relaxes me. I lost it for about 8 years during a very traumatic time in my life. Then one night I came across an old pair of headphones (I hadn't listened to my beloved music for about the same length of time due to what was going on) I have a lot of music on my laptop & playing the music that night brought it back to me. It was like welcoming back an old dear friend & it's been back with me ever since! I couldn't imagine a day without it again, but I do have a bit of an addictive personality!
I also have two water signs, (sun & rising) which make being a daydreamer all the more likely! I know to most people my inner world probably makes me sound like a nutter! A dear friend said it's like my own form of meditation!
Thanks again for sharing. xxx Apologies again for the delay in replying.