Too much going on? Press the pause button.........

I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like

I just want to put up my hand and say: STOP!

There's only so much (emotional) information

I can deal with at the time.

Long ago I watched  a movie that made an indelible

impression on me. I tried to find it on IMDB, but no

luck.

So, I remember it being titled ''Dis-soc-iation'', with Emma Thompson

playing the lead. Actually, she was the only actor in the

movie. Basically, the movie was shot from the

perspective of us(the viewers) being inside Emma's head

and in that way ''witnesses'' to all of her thoughts.

After the movie finished I was utterly perplexed.

I asked myself: what on earth was this movie all about????

I looked up the word dissociation: ''Dissociation is a mental process

that nearly everyone experiences at some point in their

lives. Often we may dissociate when we are going

through traumatic or emotionally stressful times. "

Reading the definition of dissociation still made little

sense to me. I decided to put it in the ''too hard'' basket.

And there it stayed until the end of last year.

Like a blade of grass making its way through layers of

bitumen, the word fought its way through layers

of my subconscious until it could no longer remain

there. It surfaced in my consciousness.

I Googled it.

Short version: ''Disconnecting from the here and now.''

I would hazard a guess that most of us engage at

times in daydreaming, mind-wandering, or ''zoning out''.

Experiencing the odd occasion of ''the mind going

blank'', or feeling as if there is a disconnect between

the mind and body.

Which, according to those in the know is considered

as ''normal''.

(Sitting in a dentist's chair having a root-canal, a bit of 

dissociation can be very useful I discovered the last

time I had one.)

In psychoanalytic theory, dissociation is considered a

''defense mechanism'' as it can help us momentarily

''exit'' or at least mute stressful, emotionally charged, 

and difficult thoughts and or memories.

(Especially for children growing up in abusive

environments.)

Perhaps it is a bit like pressing the ''pause'' button

in order to allow our minds to process what we

are experiencing in the now?

I was once the sole eyewitness to a car crash. When the

police interviewed me as to what had happened, my 

mind was blank. All I could remember was the sound 

of the car hitting the tree head on. Until two weeks

later when I suddenly remembered it all.

My mind had released the pause button.

There is a lot of stuff going on in the world

right now, and a lot of it is quite scary.

Perhaps a little ''mindful'' dissociating every now and

then may actually be helpful?

Go on, take a little time out in your mind to

wander down a sunlit path to that still,

glistening, clear blue lake in the middle

of the enchanted forest.

about the painting: acrylic on cardboard