Going ons!

So. I have been going to physical therapy with this body builder guy as my physical therapist. Sometimes he pushes so hard I wonder if it is because he is too strong and doesn't know his own strength? Or is that just how hard he is supposed to push for the manual therapy that they do to release whatever he is trying to release in my ligaments. He is enjoyable for me to have a conversation with because he was once a parole officer with sex offenders, a guard at a jail, and he knows about mental illness. Oh....and my knees feel 100% better after seeing him. He said they are not sore from being overweight. I don't know if that is true but I am choosing to believe him. He said my knee caps are not staying on track. And that is exactly what it feels like and it feels like sometimes I have to wiggle my leg to get it back in place. I am so frustrated by it. So he tapes my knees each time I see him. Last time he taught me how to do it myself and I ordered the special tape on Amazon. It as amazing how much sturdier my legs feel when they are taped. If I can do my exercises regularly for 3ish months the muscles should pull the knee caps back, so that's good. 

I basically spent the most for books this semester than I have ever spent before. $250.00! I died. I could have saved money if I had rented the books but I just can't do that. I need to own them so I can write all over in them and refer to them later. 

For the next person that tells me I should meditate!..........

I learned a new thing in therapy with Joel a few months ago, and I think about it so often because I really think I will use it in my career and my mothering. Have you guys ever thought about the negativity we give towards people who are doing things for attention? We say things like, "ignore them, they just want attention", or "don't' look at them they just want attention", or if they are self-harming, "ignore it, they want attention". 

What if....WE JUST GAVE THEM ATTENTION! Why is it a negative or a bad thing to give someone the attention that they need or that they are crying out for? Why are we invalidating people who are desperately needing validation? I thought that was so kind and insightful and generous and giving. I was like, WOW. So instead of being annoyed when people want attention...we give it to them!!!!! I feel so stupid that I ever thought there was a different or more effective or a better way. 

I told Joel that we need to come up with a quote for that because I thought it was so brilliant. Joel told me there was one. It's called "No Whiners" (I just did Junie B. Jones language right there, in case you care). I was like well that is just RUDE. But he explained it. If we give people the attention they need, they won't need to "whine". The object is to meet needs so that they don't have to cry out and we don't have any whiners, their needs are met. That sounds pretty Christ-like to me if you want to think about it in that way. 

By the way, self-harm is not necessarily a cry for attention. Huh! I am going to blog about that tomorrow.