Lived Experience Forum

[StanD]

Thankyou for your feedback @Former-Member I think you may be going helpful advice about overthinking. Practical.

I spend lots of time in my own.

I recall a time when I was more involved in the world. Things become much lighter. I'm battling fatigue. I think @EternalFlower flower might have mentioned it, about feeling exhausted, in a post I read earlier. I'm sorry, I'm having memory problems at the moment. It might have been someone else.  The body and mind connected. The mind keeping me safe, the body tired.

I thought about your question. Not my hobbies, interests - what do I enjoy doing...? It's a great question.

I have an idea. I don't have the word. I will say seeking, for now. I like this question. I wonder if it is one answer or many? There are definately other people, in the answer  I enjoy seeking me in others. That is a description. I don't know how I can find the proper wording. I enjoy doing nothing. I enjoy doing everything.

I see your practicality, I really appreciate your guidance. I'm not there today. I can see simple answer, I had accidentally overlooked. What do you enjoy doing motion, @EternalFlower @chibam @tyme ?

I have a doctor's appointment soon too. I like my doctor. 

I think maybe the opening ceremony could be today motion. Valentine's Day. A world full of love. Enough love for all of us.... What do you think?

[StanD]

Hello @Former-Member @EternalFlower @chibam @tyme 

I was looking over your previous post motion.

I know I am liked.

I know who I am.

I feel good about myself.

What do I mean by power?

This is complicated. I feel like I'm superior in lots of ways to others. It is very easy for me to make other people look silly. I rarely use this power because it can backfire horribly. 

"There is nothing more dangerous than a humiliated man."

Often, occasionally, I do it unknowingly. It doesn't feel good to make other people feel small.

But then how will people learn, if they are never told?

Hope can be dangerous. Others may want to steal it. 

I don't feel comfortable being rude & aggressive with people. It's not my job to define how others behave. I find myself needing to teach people how to behave in order to make my life functional. When really I need to simply walk away.

[chibam]

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@StanD wrote:

It's not my job to define how others behave. I find myself needing to teach people how to behave in order to make my life functional. When really I need to simply walk away.

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So much of humanity's suffering comes down to us not being placed in the right towns/communities/workplaces/families. Being placed amongst people we can't relate to, who follow a code of conduct that is foreign and undesirable to us.

I've wrestled at length with the ethics of how to carry myself around others, and whether it is right or wrong to influence/encourage others to act the way you want them to act. Their conduct suits them, and the society that reflects their values and ambitions. How can it be right for me to wreck their home by disrupting the framework (the code of conduct) that shapes it? After all, it's always been a rotten thing when others have sought to manipulate/railroad me into behaving in a fashion that is contrary to my values and aspirations.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"

Sounds wise; but it just doesn't work. Because the people around me don't want to be treated the same way I want others to treat me. What I considder benevolent, they considder distasteful, and vice-versa.

I yearn to one day be deported to a town where I can live like that. Where I can just say the things that I would want to hear; to treat people the way I would want to be treated, and be greeted with adoration by the community, because I'm naturally behaving exactly the way they want their community members to behave. No more trying to riddle out what the incomprehensible aliens want from me. Just intuitive connection, and acting/talking in a way that feels right.

[EternalFlower]

I so agree @chibam place has a lot to do with how we perceive things 

It's very hard to stand up against people who have totally different values. Sometimes we only have the option to accept bad treatment or walk away....there is no middle choice.

I try and cultivate kindness and match people where they're at.

@StanD I admire your confidence and sense you have some special gifts and knowledge above others. I hope you can hold that 

[tonys]

@Former-Member   Nice,    very nice.

tonys    mb1

[tonys]

@chibam   Wow  I tripped on this wondering around after sampling some home made red.

Very deep,    I travelled around for many years in an old motor home.  I shared a campfire with an old lady that said .   tonys ,   you just have to find your place. 

I did live in a very diverse street in the city,  every culture and L G B T Q . . . . I dont even know what all those letters mean,  but we all got on so well.  I wish I never left.   As for rural Aus.  Well if you are a soft person like me,   Be very very careful,   there are towns,   and then there are towns.

You keep searching mate,   and hopefully you buy the joint next to mine.  

tonys moon base one.

[StanD]

This is beautiful @chibam I missed this post yesterday. You took the words straight from my spirit. This is my utopia.

Indeed.. What do these aliens want?

I want to copy your words out & turned into wallpaper. You explained it very well. I could agree & understand with everything you wrote. All I can say is thankyou.

If it never happens, at least I know finally, beyond all doubt, I am not crazy for yearning this too. It is perfectly rational. So so so often, I am dissuaded that my views are unrealistic. My entire life in fact. Ridiculed for refusing to accept less than harmony. What a very strange world I am in. Now I know, thanks to your expression, this is an honourable expectation. I will always believe from now on in. My dream is reasonable. Why did I question my belief? I knew it was right the whole time. I couldn't see it in front of me. I knew I held it inside of me. Chibam, my pathways now have buildings, houses, trees, mountains, skies & I see a man in my periphery. He is riding past on a red, rusty bike, with a bell on the front. He doesn't see me. I wonder who he is. He has been here the whole time. 

You write clearly chibam. You write well. 

My place is a little less clear. I'm sure it shows in my writing. Please forgive the clumsy style All. I know you already do. I will get better. 

[Former-Member]

Hello @StanD @EternalFlower @chibam @tonys @tyme 

I don't know about anybody else but I feel a warm glow when I log on and find messages of encouragement and wisdom awaiting to be read.

I feel that we all have our own style and each of us are offering something to this new community of kind people.

It is different to the real world as many of us have our own struggles.

Does it matter that we find support here, in this community if we cannot find it in real life?

A community formed by each of us taking a new pathway regardless of why or how we arrived.

We can be ourselves here.

As you said @StanD , you need not accept less than harmony here.

You have every right to yearn.

Others who have ridiculed you are disrespectful  and do not have the capacity to dream as you do. They envy you.

Your dream is so very interesting and I am not going to even attempt to enter that space which is yours.

This is your power, your mind.

This is my passion to help people believe in themselves and so that they too no longer allow others to tell them how to be.

I have had a lifetime of that myself.

I now stand my ground,   StanD.   I do love your name.

If people do not accept me as I am that is up to them. I do not need people like that in my life so I move away .

Motion is my strength.

I am always respectful and try to look at it from their perspective.

Sometimes people are unable to express themselves well. That is different.

I believe that we make our own communities even in the real world and we eliminate those we do not want in them.

We might end up with only one other person sometimes.

Does that matter?

I feel better not looking for nice people.

They turn up unexpected these days.

Even if it is a 15 minute chat.

That is still community.

I often speak to other people on the street as I pass; smile and say hello.

Most love it.

I receive some sparkling eyes smiles back. I love those.

One lady nearly fell over.   Oops

Please write back

[Former-Member]

Hello @tyme 

Do you have any thoughts about communities and learning to be ourselves that you would like to add?

Your caring words are always most welcome.

[tyme]

Thank you for inviting me @Former-Member .

A bit of background about me:

As part of my MH journey, I had a lot of difficulty learning to trust people again. I had been hurt many times and I has also hurt others. It was difficult to know how to communicate my story with people.

This is where I found these forums and our amazing community.

From there, I got so much out of sharing my story, that I became a community guide. It was so rewarding. I learnt to connect with the world once again.

And now, I am so happy that I can share my experiences as a peer worker.

So I agree with you - communities are so important @Former-Member @StanD @tonys @EternalFlower