chrfritz

If cognitive behavioral therapy has taught me anything, it has taught me the power of visualization.  When my doctor first mentioned "guided imagery therapy", I scoffed and asked him why his bookcase housed Buddha and Jesus Christ on the same shelf.  As it turns out, visualization plays a stronger role than medication when it comes to my mental health.  I've never really told anyone this, but I have a mouse.  Not a real mouse.  He lives in my brain and his name is Nigel.  I named him Nigel because he's unbelievably fantastic.

He serves one sole purpose.  To clean out my brain when it starts to overflow with trash.  He sits patiently on a little wooden folding chair until I give him the nod.  He then smiles, fetches his broom and starts sweeping in the upper left corner of the room and keeps sweeping until the entire floor is clean (room=my brain).  Here's the trick with visualization.  You have to be patient and not "fast-forward" like you're watching a DVD or something.  So I watch Nigel sweep.  Sometimes I get impatient and try to rush him.  When I do this, he stops sweeping and just stares at me with his black beady eyes until I tell him to proceed.  When he's done, he sweeps everything into a hole that opens in the floor and closes when he's done.  I then give him my heartfelt thanks, he puts his broom away and sits back down on his little wooden chair.

It sounds crazy, right?  But it's not.  It works.  When Nigel is done, my brain is completely clear.  I'm not particularly fond of rodents, so it surprised me when I visualized a mouse.   Turns out a mouse symbolizes cleanliness and the need to review our resources.  They are fixated on methodology, so they sort and categorize and file things away for later use.  It may seem like hoarding but that's the furthest thing from the mouse's mind.  They are merely putting everything in order so they can explore it more carefully at a later date.

I've debated sharing Nigel with my kid.  But I fear it would only result in a call from her guidance counselor and a possible home visit.  And I'm not sure Nigel could handle all that by himself.