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"Furniture" you use most to cope with life:
Mental ; ideas, theories, beliefs,mental lists etc. 42%  42%  [ 5 ]
Physical; collections of objects,everything in its place,colours,routines of activities etc 8%  8%  [ 1 ]
Switch between; depending on a specific factor, or has changed at certain times in life 25%  25%  [ 3 ]
Switch between ; no noticeable pattern, but do notice two "sets" of "support frameworks" 8%  8%  [ 1 ]
Both at all times equally important/ do not agree with or recognise the distinction. 17%  17%  [ 2 ]
Total votes : 12

ouinon
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15 Oct 2007, 8:07 am

Depending on whether I am eating gluten or not , I am more ,or less, concerned about the position of my mental furniture than about the physical stuff around me. 8)

When I'm eating gluten the position, and alignment, and condition of my mental furniture ( ideas, theories, beliefs) is probably more important to me than almost any physical "markers" in my life.( Before I learned that that is all they are, furniture , I used to get very upset if people tried moving any of it around!! :lol: Or is it just that I've realised that actually noone can get at my mental furniture and make a mess of it ?! 8) )
When eating gluten I take physical things less and less seriously, except in so far as their organisation is necessary to present ,or preserve, the "evidence/proofs" for my mental furniture ( books , papers, web sites etc.), but the washing-up , the clothes washing, the state of my bedroom etc is almost irrelevant.

When I stop eating gluten the mental furniture " fades" , and the physical stuff gets more important again. I start tidying up, washing up, not just in catastrophe mode ( so that we'll be able to eat the next meal off plates ) but because I care about the physical more when not glutening. I cook more creatively , with attention. I salute the daily things of looking after a body , whereas when I'm glutening they are a tedious task to be done as fast as poss.

Before my breakdown, aged 26-29, and before I understood compassion, aged 29,( that pain and hurt are located in the body ,along with love, and this applied to every body ) my mental furniture was very simple , a few bits and bobs off my parents plus some hasty acquisitions of my own to make it look like my space, :lol: :lol: 8) , AND my physical " markers" were minimalist too, NO clutter.

What I had was " tastes". :lol: 8) To hold onto. Which I guess are mental furniture actually , cos they're essentially lists. Like I said , was very simple!!

:?: How many ASD sufferers use mainly mental furniture to structure/support their life, and how many use mainly physical "furniture"; times and objects and physical activities?
How many switch between , for some reason? For how many has it changed completely even?

( I can't quite decide in which field " time" based "furniture " should go!! Is it mental or physical furniture?! )

Thank you for answering the poll!! :D 8)



Last edited by ouinon on 15 Oct 2007, 10:43 am, edited 2 times in total.

ouinon
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15 Oct 2007, 9:35 am

Maybe the best would be to have a balance of the two?
Perhaps that's what actually happens when I experience the switch; it's not from one ( mental ) to the other ( physical) ; it's a balancing up, to include both in harmonious proportions.

Either way realise I have been mistaking the slowness and ( unfashionable! )seriousness and gentleness and needing time for simple daily tasks aspects of ASD for depression for many years.

As if true mental health was zappy, charming , sociableness and ability to do everything very fast, like I used to be able to do when I didn't really CARE about people ( just "behaved myself" most of the time because that's the way I'd been brought up !)!

Does anyone else experience a conflict between the two "systems" , in that one of them ( prob the mental furniture ! !?)seems to ensure success , whereas the other is so uncool!! With the mental stuff you can impress people , OR at least it's relatively invisible ?!



ouinon
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15 Oct 2007, 12:22 pm

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought a classic symptom of autism was obsessive attachment to aspects of physical surroundings to the point of panic if stuff is moved around etc. I know it's probably towards the end of the spectrum , but am interested to see that so far nobody has ticked that box.