Hi there you lovely lot, it is Thought Provoking Thursday again #TPT. This week we’re going to talk a little bit more about physical health issues.
Our brains have a habit of seeing things as one thing or another, finding it difficult to hold on to the complexity of life or perhaps just finding it easier to simplify it. The context may differ, but the fact of the matter is the all do it. From a psychoanalytical perspective Jung termed this splitting. We often tend to see things or people as good or bad, able bodied or disabled, intelligent or not intelligent, feminine or masculine etc etc.
I would like to open up again an honest discussion around how many of us have at one point or another been surprised to see somebody in a wheelchair get up and walk. A similar example is when people see somebody who has parked in a disabled parking spot, however is able to walk to the shop. I have been working with people with a range of developmental, mental health and physical difficulties since the age of 20, and for the past 11 years have known personally what it is like to live in a body that needs adaptations in order to function. Prior to the age of 20, due to a lack of awareness, I like many others would have been perhaps slightly surprised when somebody in a wheelchair got up and walked or at least may have found it difficult to understand. Similarly, I might have negatively judged somebody for parking in the disabled spot when they are able to walk. Now I know that there are a whole host of reasons why this may be the case and I know each persons circumstances are unique to them. As usual our judgments really do come down to the lack of awareness and the tendency for our minds to split things into one thing or another, to set things into a neat and tidy box.
Continuing to share our experiences regarding such matters, openly and respectfully can really help us to open our minds to differing perspectives and realities.
I really look forward to hearing your thoughts and getting another important conversation up and going.
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Thought Provoking Thursday #TPT
As always much love
Krissy
Musings of a wounded healer 