One of my aims at the moment is to try and separate the thoughts that come from 'that side of my brain' from the thoughts that come from the person I actually am- because I know the person I am, and I know that the person I've felt like a lot over the past few months is not that person. This isn't something to get confused with split personality or any proper condition; this is just me realising that I need to face up to everything that's holding me back, and if everything is myself, then I need to separate those thoughts from who I am. Though some people would disagree with me doing this for all sorts of reasons, I want to name the two 'parts' of my brain, purely to help me in my battle to become myself again.
Of course, being me, these names will have meanings. So I have Malvolio for the 'negative thoughts'- Malvolio means 'ill will' in Italian and is Shakesperean. The positive thoughts- the ones that actually come from who I am- I'm going to name Nymphadora. The reason for that is a story I need to tell, but not right now. I don't know whether I'll use these names much, but it's explained here anyway.
Related to this is the need to challenge the negative thoughts- the Malvolio thoughts- to try and overcome them. This is called CBT, which stands for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. It's something that I'm meant to be working on a lot more in the coming months.
Interestingly, a page I follow on Facebook published a bit on CBT today, related to recognising and challenging negative thoughts. I think she's set it out in a really good way, so I asked permission to use her pictures here. Just for a bit of background on the person I got these from- her name's Alis, and she runs a website 'The Girl With The Curly Hair', which is the accompaniment to a book she's working on and is aimed at helping people with Aspergers and neurotypical people to understand each other more. I've found everything on her website and Facebook page really really interesting, so would definitely recommend having a look!!
