channelling your inner mom

zoolina · Post by **zoolina** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:55 am

I've made an interesting discovery lately. It doesn't have to do with eating per se, but I think there are things that could be applied...

Anyway, I'm a terrible insomniac and have always had trouble staying asleep. In the past few weeks, when I wake up at night I sort of summon up the voice of a mother (the good, strict kind of mom who loves you but you better do what she says), and here's what I make her say to me: "All right, that's enough. I want you to go to sleep right now, missy. Head on the pillow, now!" Two out of three times my "mom voice" works!

I wonder if I can apply this to snacking: "Get your hand out of that cookie jar, young lady. You can have one when Aunt Bessie comes over on Saturday." "No, you can NOT have cake. You'll have a nice, nutritious dinner when dad comes home."

Do I sound like an utter crackpot?

Z.

Kwag Myers · Post by **Kwag Myers** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:48 pm

Hey, I say, "Whatever works!" And I actually think it's delightful...

Post by **reinhard** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 12:55 am

Sounds promising! Hope it continues to work.

This also sounds like a great product idea...

Get the most maternal sounding voice actress you can find and then sell "Mom's insomnia cure" cds.

As for no-s applications, it reminds me of the "excuses for virtue" thread I started recently.

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1528

Reinhard

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 2:10 am

That is funny!

I sometimes write out silly dialogs in my mind between Emotional Self (ES) and Voice of Reason (VOR). (The third main character, Internal Critic, is officially banned but sneaks back sometimes.) ES is rather childlike (and sometimes childish), and VOR very very rational (think a slightly softer variant of Spock in the old Star Treks).

And as silly as it sounds, when I can give all the conflicting reactions a voice. it sometimes defuses the tensions around "why won't the scale drop when I'm doing everything right" or "I blew it already, sooooo..." or whatever else.

hexagon · Post by **hexagon** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 3:13 am

Hmmm. That sort of sounds like a version of the red sock-gray sock-white sock system. Imagine, instead of an angel and demon and any other internal voice, several sock puppets. The red one is hedonistic (I guess the id), the white one is the voice of reason (the superego?), and the gray is the self-deprecating voice (it's depressing, hence it is gray).

My boyfriend used to say that his white sock and red sock got thrown together in the wash, tainting the white sock, and that's why he had trouble controlling himself around muffins.

Okay, well, maybe not everybody wants to imagine themselves surrounded by sock puppets...I think I still need more sleep. My white sock says I should brush my teeth now and go to bed.

pangelsue · Post by **pangelsue** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 5:50 am

Very funny stuff, folks. I am beginning to think we all need therapy. Whoops, too late. Been there, done that. My appetite is a pouting child, arms folded, really ticked off who wants what she wants when she wants it, occasionally throwing in a "not fair" for good measure. The "mom" is firm but helpful, is trying to use reason and needs a vacation badly. She has been doing this for quite a while. My third voice is an observer who is getting really bored with the whole process and just wants the kid to shut up already. Actually, she kind of wants the mom to shut up too. I am personally rooting for the observer to win. Calmest of the 3 and may just do this No S thing right just to stop the arguing. LOL. Time for bed, I think, so me and my sock puppets are hitting the sack.
Zoolina, seriously, if it works, use it.

harpista · Post by **harpista** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:15 am

A minor tip for insomnia.

Do not ever look at the clock in the night. Set your alarm. Double check that the time is right, the alarm time is right and the backup battery is in place

and then refuse to look at it again until it is ringing at you to get up. Relocate the alarm facing the wall, across the room, and do not get out of bed if you wake up. Just be strict for a while; it helps amazingly.

Anyway if you do wake up.... My favourite things are something soothing to drink (I go for herbal tea, but warm milk etc. would be good) and/or a soothing book ( for me that's childhood favourites, gardening books...). If I can't sleep, I will rest in bed for the sake of my body getting at least some restoration, and be extra nice to myself to calm any anxieties.

The other thing that soothes me is to write, stream of consciousness, for 3 pages (Julia Cameron calls these Morning Pages in The Artist's Way.) Just dumps out the worries. So does making a To Do list, kinda shelves stuff for tomorrow.

Apologies if you've heard all this before