Thursday, May 15, 2008

The "Imaginary Friend" Game

Someone asked me about the game I mentioned playing with myself on Monday when I was trying to keep from talking to Salinda when my best bet would be to keep my mouth shut.

I pretend that I have an imaginary friend riding along with me, sometimes with a hand on my shoulder. That friend can read my mind. If I have a thought that is about to come out of my mouth that is inappropriate, or doesn’t need to be expressed, the friend pinches me .... HARD.

The imaginary friend also works well when I am exercising. Walking for 40 minutes is just unheard of for me. I really struggle to do it. It’s not only that I am bored silly (even while walking and listening to a pod-cast or two) but I hate exercise. So, the imaginary friend is sitting in my brain saying, “Oh come on, you wimp. You’re stronger than that. You can finish this. You can do it.” And sometimes we have long arguments in my brain. ”Yeah, it’s not YOU that is standing here, in some pain, tired, sweating, easy for you to say.“ But in the long run, I finish my workout. (Speaking of podcasts, and encouragement, one of the podcasts I’ve been listening to for quite some time is the Foster Parenting Podcast, featuring Tim and Wendy. They have kept me company on the exercise bike and treadmill for the past several months. This weeks podcast was very motivational and included reference to a video on their website that is quite inspirational).

Sometimes I can ask my imaginary friend questions and just the act of responding to my own questions in my head works well. I might ask the imaginary friend, ”OK, give me an idea. I need one fast. Dominyk’s persistent “i’m bored” mantra is about to make me crazy.“ And my imaginary friend, who, as you know, is imaginary, will come up with one.

It may sound a bit insane, but it is working for me. I have a few other games that I play. Maybe I’ll take time to blog about those in days to come.

Have I kept my commitment to go back to being a better blogger or what? Just like me ... always to the extreme.

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