Monday, November 19, 2018

The language and methods of emotional wounding

Day 2 of the course I started yesterday:

Shaming language levers:
blame, ridicule/sarcasm, comparison-making, excessive control, imposition of perfection, silence, image control, physical abuse, favoritism

Which language methods were used most often on you, in your childhood?  Which aspects of your wound did these hit?
I think I was most shamed when my mother was disgusted with my body and my crying, and withdrew her attention. I only got attention when I behaved in ways that made her comfortable. This involved silence and image control. This hit the wounding regarding my body, and that bothered me a lot for many years, but it has receded into the background.

My biggest wounding is around competence, since the main messages I hear in my mind are about whether I'm doing the right thing, and that I haven't actually accomplished anything. Perhaps this was reinforced by silence. If I didn't get approval for things I chose to do (but only for things I was asked to do), this would make sense.

Which language methods do you still use on your own self today?
I've seen that I do silence my inner voice, and I've been working with that. But perhaps I silence my inner voice way more than I think I do, given that's what was done to me. (Later in the day:) Gave some attention to this and I can see that I am constantly silencing myself, judging that what the inner voice has to say is not important, or not hearing what the inner voice has to say!

Do you use any of these language methods on others?
Wow, I constantly use silence. In fact, this is something I listed as part of my personality that I dislike. When someone says something that I don't resonate with, or that I judge negatively, I am quiet and I move onto another topic.

Image control: I interact with others in ways that attempt to highlight the features of their personality, their behavior, that I am comfortable with, and silence or suppress the features I am uncomfortable with. I do this with Eric and Zarina. I don't want them to express anger loudly and Zarina is now on a huge project to learn how to not do this anymore.

I blame Eric and Zarina a lot, and I am often trying to control their actions. Once I've controlled their actions in one aspect, I look for another aspect to be dissatisfied with and to try to control.

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