Image is 4 plate serving of ChickenJoy Rice Meal from popular Filipino FastFood Chain in Philippines. Composed of well seasoned, Crispy and Juicy Fried Chickem partner with hot white rice
#GifsArtidote: the view from my precious 100yr+ willow tree in my local park, where i try to sit on its root seat every day.
it's so beautiful & calming hearing the stream on my left & watching the rippling water create illusions of floating branches as the sun plays with the shadows.
I keep seeing Americans who want to do something about the state of our #politics, but feel like no action they can take will do enough to fix things, so it’s not worth trying.
It’s easy to feel nihilistic. So I’d like to propose an alternative - a 10% improvement approach to political change, of sorts.
It comes from my #PTSD treatment: the idea that no one approach, skill, or intervention can make the #trauma just go away instantaneously. So instead, us humans are left with 10% solutions - things that help a little bit, for some amount of time.
The key to healing is to develop an ongoing set of multiple different solutions that you rotate through based on what feels feasible on any given day / moment. Each one helps a bit. 10%, 5%, 1%. But eventually, you get to making big changes that felt impossible at the start.
The same works for political change and activism. Sure, going to any one protest, or calling your representative, or boycotting a brand, or changing one person’s mind, or donating to one fundraiser won’t fix the entire broken political regime. But it will help A LITTLE.
And if a lot of us continue to find ways to do things that help a little, it will end up doing a lot more.
A movement starts with a thousand little steps that don’t look like much on their own.
Since I found out that I am autistic 4 years ago, especially during the last months, I came to a much better understanding of myself, my neurodivergence, my sexuality and the different parts of my personality.
After having a very difficult time during the last week, including working through several trauma responses, there has been an important step of personal growth for me. I feel more clonnected to myself, authentic and whole.
For that reason I decided to change my online-name and IRL nickname from Kaci to Kitti.
This helps me to leave hurtful experiences I had during the past behind, embrace all parts of my personality and start a new chapter of my life.
i have been working on my website to get properly ready for blog subscriptions & sending an occasional '#GifsArtidote with no guaranteed cure' for free subscribers, amongst other maintenance & updates.
here's a little poem for you, about my toxic relationship with my ex & disgraced father of my son:
"Following the murder of Renee Good, the regime has ordered another 1,000 gestapo forces to join the 2,000 forces already in Minneapolis. The goal is to terrorize Blue states and Blue cities and invoke martial law. We’ve seen this authoritarian playbook throughout history in other countries. It’s shameful this is what is happening in the United States."
"The recent shooting in Minneapolis is so deeply disturbing, not only because a woman was killed, but also because after she was shot, a physician on the scene was prevented by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from rendering aid.
"In medicine, we do not ask who someone is before we treat them. We do not ask where they are from, what they believe or whether they are "deserving." We treat them because they are injured. Full stop.
This principle is not sentimental idealism; it is the ethical foundation of emergency medicine, trauma care and humanitarian response across the world.… What happened in Minneapolis represents a rupture of that shared ethic."
"A society is judged not only by how it enforces its laws, but also by whether it upholds its most basic obligations in moments of crisis. If we lose the commitment to treat the injured, regardless of who they are, we lose something essential. And once lost, it will not be easy to reclaim."
#GifsArtidote: after the horrors happening today i often watch this guy explore the most mysterious & beautiful places in #TurtleIsland, which i will call the occupied territory by billionaire fascists the so-called u.s.a. from now on, it's ligitimate #FirstNation name. #POVchannel
In the midst of a global uprising against police brutality and systemic racism, No Visible Trauma examines a deeply troubled police department and reveals the devastating consequences of unchecked police brutality. Despite its relatively low crime rates, recent years have seen the Calgary Police Service shoot and kill more people than officers in any other Canadian city, and more than either the New York or Chicago police departments in 2018. Five years in the making, the film unravels the intertwined stories of three individuals who were the victims of extreme violence at the hands of police officers. From the kidnapping and beating of a young immigrant from Ghana, to the fatal shooting of an unarmed man during a “wellness check”, the film exposes a criminal justice system that fails to hold police officers accountable for their actions.
Directors: Marc Serpa Francoeur, Robinder Uppal
Writers: Marc Serpa Francoeur, Robinder Uppal
This doc focuses on CalgaryPD but the issues raised are happening across AB, in BC, Mantitoba, Ontario & many more places across Canada. Canadian cops keep getting away with crimes & human rights abuses, daily, in Canada. Systemic racism is still a major problem across the country - no matter how much our governments try to whitewash their PR.
Is there a specific relationship between autism and trauma? Specifically, many micro traumas that would amount to a psychological state akin to a trauma response? (Of my understanding anyway, a trauma response would be defined as psychological insecurity, avoidance, fear reactions or elevated stress when near the source of trauma: I also think it's a spectrum of intensity)
In my case, I do have a reaction like my description, albeit small. I am not comparing my situation to someone who experienced Trauma with a big T. And the trauma response is not something I'm familiar with, hence the question.
But what I experience feels like it. (In one specific domain of my life, and I will not divulge it).
Tania Branigan: Red Memory: The Afterlives of China's Cultural Revolution
Osobiście, największe wrażenie zrobił na mnie ostatni rozdział, poświęcony pracy psychoterapeutów walczących z traumą, przekazywaną z pokolenia na pokolenie.
Last night I got 6h of sleep and my body and brain are starting to recover from what happened.
I will allow myself to miss all the positive aspects of the relationship, because there were so many:
the strong hyperfocus that made us create art,
the connection with a neurokin that made us feel less alone and gave us the opportunity for personal growth,
understanding who I am and who I am not,
processing my trauma to an extent I haven't been able to in decades and finally understanding most of it,
helping another person to see the positive aspects of themselves and providing a safe space for being vulnerable,
sharing knowledge and thoughts to an extent I never experienced before.
I will keep the clock set on EST as a reminder of that, but also as a reminder of the need to set boundaries and protect myself when my intuition tells me that something feels wrong.
The reality is often so much more complex than we are able to see and want to admit. In the end he is just a traumatized neurodivergent person seeking love and connection too, but not being able to truly allow these kind of feelings, because he is trapped in survival mode.
I will keep sharing the music we shared, such a pity that I can't do it with the beautiful music he created himself with his synth, but I hope that he will be ready to do it himself in the future.
tonight's #BedtimeRoutine is in memory of my dog & my ex-partner, my son's dad, who died age 59 of #ThroatCancer during the first #covid lockdown in 2020
last thursday my #greyhound goliath died after having his leg amputated bc of #BoneCancer & recovered only weeks ago. he died bc of a cyst as big as a grapefruit which exploded at the vets. goliath was 8 yrs old
he had raced 3 times, won once. his irish breeder had sent his brothers & sisters to a meat market in #china
..the vet said they couldn't remove the cyst bc it was entwined in his muscles, so they just let him suffer for 3 weeks, and his carer.
i think he meant he couldn't make any money out of him, like these criminal breeders, trainers & gambling companies. their abuse significantly reduces their life expectancy, through #trauma. just like for humans..
One of the hardest things about raising a neurodivergent child is that the approved strategies for behaviour management Just Don’t Work.
When you, the parent, are undiagnosed, unsupported & still in denial & shame about your own lifelong neurodivergence the obvious conclusion is ‘it’s like this because I am bad & broken & inadequate & I may as well die’.
From the inside, the experience of being a child like this, or a parent like this, is living with constant, extreme terror. Self loathing & suicidal ideation become part of the daily air we breathe.
My kids are adults now but I still hold this terror in my body. Every day.
The way to understand these kids’ extreme behaviours is to LISTEN TO US. Please.
LIVEdammit is a mental health support site with stories, tools, free e-course, bookstore & inspiring wearables — for stubborn souls doing the work to stay here, stay human, & stay strong.
LIVEdammit is a mental health support site with stories, tools, free e-course, bookstore & inspiring wearables — for stubborn souls doing the work to stay here, stay human, & stay strong.
A couple of years ago, I had no option but to go back to the house I was abused in as a child. That triggered something in me, and inspired me to start planning a story about a kitten living through abuse and homelessness.
This year, I finally released a digital copy of the storybook onto my Patreon and Ko-Fi.
I spent weeks illustrating the story and handwriting each page. My cousin designed the cover for me, because I wanted another style and another artist’s take on the story. Then, my partner
@magicalgrrrl helped me put all the pages together into a (pdf) ebook.
I am still trying to find the happy ending that the kitten found. We are attempting to recover from homelessness, and continue to run into obstacles. In the eyes of the law, we are still homeless, so we are trying to create stability for ourselves. I hope to get enough ebook sales to one day be in a position to order hard copies to give to folks to purchased the ebook, and continue to sell my book after that.
This was a good first big step in processing my trauma, and I plan to continue that journey by finding a good therapist, catching up on medical care after a life of being medically neglected, writing an autobiography about my experiences, and as writing more music about it (my debut album has been in planning for a few years now).
If folks decide to purchase my book, I am grateful for that. If you decide to boost this, I am also very grateful for that. (I also take art commissions, and) Any support towards my family’s survival right now is massively appreciated. Thank you for reading 🫶
Can anyone recommend a good book/site that goes through step by step how to make your way through the world as an #autistic adult who's been mollycoddled all their life and has no clue how the grown up world works? I want to be independent, but everything is just a blank void. I'm using ChatGPT to help demystify the process of becoming independent, but I'd really like a real human's guidance. Preferably from a UK perspective.
I can imagine showing this to my ex-therapist, her skimming through it and saying, "Yes, this is just self-esteem issues. This is just the same as non-autistic people experience. Also I'm going to assume you're not autistic until you get your diagnosis."
"Autism is viewed as a risk factor for complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). Throughout life, autistic people may experience discrimination and marginalization. Many autistic children have been bullied and excluded at school. It may be very difficult for autistic adults to secure and maintain employment. Up to approximately 85 percent of autistic people are unemployed. When they are employed, they often are overqualified or work part-time and are more likely to be bullied. "