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#81
Letters of Recovery / Re: To my sub-conscious
Last post by TheBigBlue - January 10, 2026, 02:55:10 PMThank you, Chart, this is exactly what it feels like:
Prefrontal Cortex asks for a weather forecast → Subconscious delivers climate change.
I'm now fully imagining the brain as an Inside Out control room. The Prefrontal Cortex is there wearing a headset and fluorescent vest for visibility and clarity, clipboard in hand, very earnestly trying to run a meeting:
"Okay team. Can we please identify the source of the disturbance? I'm just asking for clearer signals, earlier warnings, and maybe a severity rating. Is this a light drizzle? A passing cloud? Or are we talking full emergency protocols?"
Cut to the Subconscious.
The Subconscious is not in the room. It's underground. In a basement bunker. No windows. No clocks. No Slack. No manuals. Surrounded by ancient levers and dials marked things like THREAT, SHAME, and one ominous red button labeled DEPLOY EXISTENTIAL DREAD. One dial is stuck. Another is on fire. The instruction manual consists entirely of Ice Age cave symbols.
The Prefrontal Cortex keeps sending polite memos:
"Could we get earlier notifications?"
"Perhaps some context?"
"Is this a level-2 concern or a level-10 shutdown?"
The Subconscious responds by releasing:
– lowering atmospheric pressure
– a vague chest tightness
– a fog of sadness
– a random hailstorm of childhood memories
- ...and then, without warning, drops a cylon directly onto consciousness.
- And then (because subtlety is overrated) TORNADO WARNING INSIDE. Sirens blaring. Furniture airborne. Consciousness clutching a coffee mug asking, "AGAIN
?"
It perfectly captures the futility of trying to reason with a system that doesn't speak language but still insists on being heard.
The conscious mind keeps requesting bullet points, timelines, and risk assessments - and the subconscious responds exclusively in foghorns, body sensations, and sudden existential weather events. No memos. No release notes. Just surprise glitter bombs.
Funny, maddening, and painfully accurate. Thank you for making something so exhausting feel momentarily funny. If nothing else, at least we can compare storm reports while we wait for the skies to clear.
Prefrontal Cortex asks for a weather forecast → Subconscious delivers climate change.
I'm now fully imagining the brain as an Inside Out control room. The Prefrontal Cortex is there wearing a headset and fluorescent vest for visibility and clarity, clipboard in hand, very earnestly trying to run a meeting:
"Okay team. Can we please identify the source of the disturbance? I'm just asking for clearer signals, earlier warnings, and maybe a severity rating. Is this a light drizzle? A passing cloud? Or are we talking full emergency protocols?"
Cut to the Subconscious.
The Subconscious is not in the room. It's underground. In a basement bunker. No windows. No clocks. No Slack. No manuals. Surrounded by ancient levers and dials marked things like THREAT, SHAME, and one ominous red button labeled DEPLOY EXISTENTIAL DREAD. One dial is stuck. Another is on fire. The instruction manual consists entirely of Ice Age cave symbols.
The Prefrontal Cortex keeps sending polite memos:
"Could we get earlier notifications?"
"Perhaps some context?"
"Is this a level-2 concern or a level-10 shutdown?"
The Subconscious responds by releasing:
– lowering atmospheric pressure
– a vague chest tightness
– a fog of sadness
– a random hailstorm of childhood memories
- ...and then, without warning, drops a cylon directly onto consciousness.
- And then (because subtlety is overrated) TORNADO WARNING INSIDE. Sirens blaring. Furniture airborne. Consciousness clutching a coffee mug asking, "AGAIN
?"It perfectly captures the futility of trying to reason with a system that doesn't speak language but still insists on being heard.
The conscious mind keeps requesting bullet points, timelines, and risk assessments - and the subconscious responds exclusively in foghorns, body sensations, and sudden existential weather events. No memos. No release notes. Just surprise glitter bombs.
Funny, maddening, and painfully accurate. Thank you for making something so exhausting feel momentarily funny. If nothing else, at least we can compare storm reports while we wait for the skies to clear.
#82
Recovery Journals / Re: Desert Flower's Recovery J...
Last post by TheBigBlue - January 10, 2026, 02:00:34 PMDear DF, I just wanted to say I hear how hard and uncertain this moment is for you. Not knowing which part to listen to, and the fear of slipping back into pushing past your limits, makes a lot of sense to me. It sounds like you're doing the best you can right now: yoga, walking, advocating for yourself with insurance, even while feeling shaky and unsure. That doesn't read as failure or avoidance to me, it reads as care in a very tender phase.
You don't need to have answers or be "productive" to belong. I hope the next steps with therapy bring some steadiness, and until then, you're not alone in this in-between space. 🌱
You don't need to have answers or be "productive" to belong. I hope the next steps with therapy bring some steadiness, and until then, you're not alone in this in-between space. 🌱
#83
Recovery Journals / Re: Steve M...Here We Go
Last post by Hope67 - January 10, 2026, 01:41:26 PMWelcome back SteveM
#84
Other / Re: Our Healing Porch Part 8
Last post by Hope67 - January 10, 2026, 01:38:19 PMNoticed some glimpses of sunshine up here on the Porch - just sitting for a short while and admiring your Scrabble game. Too tired just now to join in, but enjoying the breeze and the sunshine, and appreciating all of you here. 
#85
Letters of Recovery / Re: To my sub-conscious
Last post by Hope67 - January 10, 2026, 01:35:15 PM #86
Please Introduce Yourself Here / Re: Shosh5678
Last post by Hope67 - January 10, 2026, 01:32:56 PMWelcome 
#87
Please Introduce Yourself Here / Re: Hi, I'm mo and I'm new...
Last post by Hope67 - January 10, 2026, 01:32:32 PMWelcome
#89
Letters of Recovery / Re: To my sub-conscious
Last post by NarcKiddo - January 10, 2026, 01:20:38 PMI probably shouldn't have laughed when I read this, Chart. But it somehow tickled me with the no-nonsense way it says it all. I guess it would be kind of handy if we could start a system of "named storms" like the weather people give us these days.
#90
Recovery Journals / Re: Post-Traumatic Growth Jour...
Last post by sanmagic7 - January 10, 2026, 01:19:53 PM
i think most of us have stayed in relationships of one kind or another too long. i remember blaming myself for the abuse in my first abusive marriage - i told a friend that it couldn't have happened if i hadn't stayed with him. we just didn't know what we didn't know, but now we keep knowing a little bit more every day. to be able to recognize what we did and didn't do, and now to know what we can do, i think speaks mountains to our determination to recover from all of it.
keep going - you're doing great! love and hugs