From Dermatillomania to Life: dip

In my previous blogs I had been looking at the ways in which I had defined my skin, and the relationship which I had thus built with it. These definitions and word associations were mostly negative, like ‘dry’, ‘stretched’, ‘unpredictable’ etc…. but when I looked deeply into myself I saw that I also held seemingly ‘positive’ definitions toward my skin. One would think this would be good and normal, but if you read on, you will see how I took a ‘positive’ word association that I had held about my skin, and over time used it instead to feed the disorder, just like I had done with the negative ones.

The moral f this blog: don’t judge your skin (or yourself) in any way whatsoever. Just don’t do it. Accept the things you cannot change and change the things you cannot accept. Judging in any way only creates a separation between self and one’s body, it creates a standard instead of natural self-expression and rational nurturing, and it also creates hidden reactions of fear and anxiety. Read on to find out how I reached these conclusions using self-forgiveness, and what I plan on doing about it.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to connect the word ‘skin’ to the word ‘youthful’.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to define the word ‘skin’ within the word ‘youthful’.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to separate myself from the word ‘skin’ and from the word ‘youthful’ by defining the word ‘skin’ within the word ‘youthful’ in separation of myself.

http://www.drjawidkhan.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/dry-skin.jpg

I connect the word skin to ‘youthful’ because at 33 years of age, my skin has only recently been showing signs of aging. Up until now it has been young skin – that’s all I know. I remember looking at the skin on my arm once, it was before I had even contemplated picking my arms, it was tanned and smooth and the light was shining off of it, it had a healthy glow to it. I was blown away by how beautiful, firm and youthful it looked. I thought to myself, “that is the way I always wanted my skin to look”. Interestingly, from then on I started picking the skin on my arms, trying to obtain and recreate that perceived perfection. In the end I ruined it. I always say to myself, it’ll heal, it’ll come back… but as I mentioned earlier: at 33, my skin is starting to show some signs, and in reality, our youthful skin does not last forever.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to look at my skin and creating a feeling reaction within myself that my skin is youthful and that this is ‘good’ and ‘right’, because I see, realize and understand that if I place the value of myself into looking youthful, then I am setting myself up for failure, because as we grow older, our bodies age, without exception.

When and as I see myself wanting/desiring youthful looking skin, I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself back to unconditional self-acceptance by reminding myself that my skin and I are on this journey to life together, as one, and age will happen. I will not accept or allow myself to place my precious value outside of Who I am as Life, as a living being that exists Here and Now, and into a picture presentation of what I think I should look like in order to feel happy within me.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to think/believe/perceive that youthful-looking skin will create peace-of-mind within me, because I already demonstrated that when I had judged my skin as youthful, wherein it triggered derma because I began to fear to lose it and obsessively try to make it ‘better’ and ‘more perfect’. I see, realize and understand that I as my mind have created and now cycle the thinking/thought patterns of dermatillomania, and THAT is the issue, not my skin nor my skin’s appearance. I can’t simply switch over to having peace of mind and self-acceptance by altering the way I look. No. I have to actually stop the current patterns of judgment and abuse, and this is doable by investigating the thoughts, accepting myself through forgiveness, and scripting a change.

I commit myself to accept myself the way I am (watch this TED talk about self-acceptance, it’s life-changing cutting edge stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tkkL9w2pw8), by no longer fooling myself into chasing after youthful looking skin- but instead nurturing my skin as it is, as best as possible.

When and as I see that I am picking at my skin in an attempt to ‘correct’ it or make it look more perfect and youthful, I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself back to reality by reminding myself that what I am doing is having the opposite effect. It is aging my skin, creating flaws and blemishes, and that the faster I stop, the less damage I will do, and I stop immediately, as soon as I become aware of what I am doing.

I commit myself to stop immediately, as soon as I become aware of what I am doing, regardless of the internal energetic experience I will feel: “but I’m not finished”, “but I can’t leave it like this”, “I NEED to do pick this off or else everybody on the street will notice it and look at me”.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to think/believe/perceive that a picking session has a set end time when ‘the task is done’. The task should have never begun in the first place. The task is delusional. The task is only bad and consequential, and stopping is only good for me and beneficial – no matter what way I look at it.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to think/believe/perceive that people in the street will notice tiny little things on my skin. Note to self: get over yourself. Another note to self: What people WILL notice is the mark you leave if you don’t stop immediately, as soon as you are aware.

If you would like to teach yourself how to find the answer to yourself within yourself, check out DIP Lite. You move through the lessons, looking at the mind as you've never seen it before. You are assigned to a 'buddy', someone that has already walked the process, to support you through the writing. It is completely free and confidential. On lesson 6 you get 4 amazingly supportive chats with your buddy.

Also, PLEASE watch this TED talk! Unconditional Positive Regard

If you haven’t already done so, please read my previous blog Here for context. However, this blog can be read on its own, just scroll to the coloured section.

The purple sections are where I forgive myself for 1) connecting the above listed words to the word ‘skin’, 2) for defining ‘skin’ within these words, and 3) for separating myself from the whole process of defining/living the word ‘skin’ by having done this in unawareness and not having considered my responsibility within it all.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to connect the word ‘skin’ to the word ‘shameful’.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to define the word ‘skin’ within the word ‘shameful’.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to separate myself from the word ‘skin’ and from the word ‘shameful’ by defining the word ‘skin’ within the word ‘shameful’ in separation of myself.

The blue section is where I forgive the reasons why I developed this part of the definition of the word ‘skin’, and state how I commit to change in relation to it.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to connect my skin to the word ‘shameful’ because when I think of or see my skin I feel ashamed of what I have done to it because I know that what I am doing is hurting me, yet I do it anyways because it feeds the energies in my mind which allows me to remain the same, stuck in the same cycles which keeps me in the addiction that is called dermatillomania and OCD, wherein I sacrifice myself as my physical body, that of me which is real, for the sake of a psychological ‘need’, which is not real in our shared reality, but only in my mind.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to feel ashamed of the choices I constantly make day in and day out, to submit to the urges, and to not do everything in my power to stop, but to instead put it off, do it later, allow it ‘just once’ more, making excuses, justifications and validating the behavior repeatedly.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to feel ashamed of myself because I developed a disorder due to ignorance and a lack of information and a lack of proper tools to deal with how to direct myself in relation to how my mind processes experience and my reactions towards it.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to think, believe or perceive that it is my skin that I am ashamed of, when my skin simply exists as it is, without judgment, whereas I as the mind attach emotional energetic reactions and judgments to myself and everything around me thus feeding the disorder and deteriorating myself and the qualities I need to develop to be able to overcome it.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing shame to exist within and as me.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing shame to replace action/practical application of the tools I am learning, and I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to use shame to get me down and make me feel bad about myself which I can then use as a justification and excuse to not change and not take care of myself.

I commit myself to replace shame with action, with all the small actions as steps I am taking to stabilize myself and my life.

I commit myself to continue and to increase pushing myself towards developing the discipline, self-will, self-motivation, steadfastness and perseverance that I will require to overcome this disorder as well as to realize myself as Life Here.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to connect the word ‘skin’ to the word ‘stretched’.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to define the word ‘skin’ within the word ‘stretched’.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to separate myself from the word ‘skin’ and from the word ‘stretched’ by defining the word ‘skin’ within the word ‘stretched’ in separation of myself.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to see my skin as stretched because it does not ‘bounce back’ from the damage I do the way it used to and thus I view it as old and dried out and stretched and I imagine a picture of sore and stretched out skin.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to pick and squeeze and scratch my skin until it feels all stretched out, and then to react to it in fear of wrinkles, aging, marks and scars, as if my skin itself were causing the fear and as if I were the victim in the scenario.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to not take responsibility for my actions within not looking at the fact that stopping picking my skin would prevent the premature aging of my skin, and instead simply remaining the same yet adding the dimension of fear to fuel my disorder, wherein I remain in a constant fear reaction that is re-charged every time I participate in another picking session.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to exist within the constant fear of aging and losing my youth and perceived ‘beauty’ or ‘attractiveness’ due to the damage I have done to my skin, and within this, I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to have a heightened reaction to my skin aging due to the heightened value and importance I have place on having ‘perfect skin’ and youth and beauty when I am in fact destroying the potential for any of this through accepting and allowing dermatillomania.

Also within this, I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to fear the very real point of ‘too late-ness’, wherein my skin will slow down and stop regenerating, and I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to fear living full of regrets due to having destroyed something that I have placed so much value and importance upon.

I commit myself to preserve my skin and assist and support it to be the healthiest it can possibly be, not from a starting point of fear of loss/attractiveness/beauty, but from the starting point of self-acceptance, self-love and self-care.

I will continue within my next blog.

I will continue re-defining the word ‘skin’ in my next blog. Until then, check out this video on re-defining words: From Redefining Words to Living Words Self-Study with support, learn to respect you and others, learn how to stop mind chatter, learn how to forgive so effectively that you actually change forever, learn how to stop and change the automatic thoughts that run your life. Sign up for the free course at this link: DIPLITE, try it for yourself .

In my last blog, I wrote out some self-forgiveness statements in order to clarify the experience I was having with regards to trying to lay out plans to support myself to stop picking my skin. I have become comfortable and familiar with accepting and allowing myself sabotage myself in my life, especially with derma. I sabotage life events and occasions by picking my skin, and I sabotage attempts to try to stop picking my skin. Self-sabotage has become the norm.

When I found a solution for myself in my previous blog, it really struck me how difficult it was to continuously push myself to implement the solution in my life. The solution was to script out a detailed plan for myself for moments where I could see I would be averse to fall into a picking session. The bizarre experience I had was actually feeling resistant and even threatened by this solution. I am saying this as if it were immediately obvious and clear that this is what was going on inside of myself and in my head, but at the time, it was just a sensation. For example, I would think to myself: I should make a plan right now because I’m feeling the urge to pick growing inside of me and I know I’m going to be extremely susceptible to caving in. Then I would immediately feel like I don’t want to make a plan and that I would instead rather to just follow through with submitting to derma once again.

I took it upon myself to investigate exactly what these internal emotional and feeling experiences were that were ‘stopping’ me from simply doing what I had directed myself to do, instead of just going with the sensations and falling again. I used the tool of self-forgiveness in my last blog to expose the internal working of my mind and put it on paper. I copied each one of the self-forgiveness statements into this blog and wrote self-corrective application and self-commitment statements to accompany them as a way to ‘arm’ myself for when this experience happens again.

Knowledge is power, but knowledge and information without practical application is useless. The first step is to understand the reasons behind the feelings, and the next step is to lay out a plan for self for how to walk through this hurdle the next time it comes up. So far, for derma sufferers, derma has been the ‘default mode’ of how to deal with life. I think it would be quite impossible to be able to stop without any back up plan or system of self-support laid out for self as a foundation for a new way of living. The mind doesn’t really work that way, at least not for me in my process. When I ‘leave it up to my mind’ to ‘sort it out’ I always go back to derma. It is as if this is all my mind knows how to do. How can I expect myself to stop and change without my input, my instructions and my directions that I figured out when I was in a clear and effective head space?

When I fall into derma, I am not thinking in an effective way. I am in quite a delusional state, a cloudy and ineffective state-of-mind. Without the support I can give myself from a good headspace, I really have nothing to grab onto and ground myself with, so the following blog is where I give myself just that.

I have done the self-forgiveness on the point of sabotaging myself with regards to presenting myself with a solution. This involves slowing down the experience so that I can really look at and investigate what’s really going on within myself and my mind. And then within taking each statement separately and scripting out what’s called a self-corrective statement, I give myself a ‘plan B’ to grab onto and ground myself with. After that, I write at least one self-commitment where I state in writing what I truly want for myself, intend for myself, and endeavor to create and be for myself.

As follows:

“I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to have an adverse reaction to making myself a plan for the day so that I can support myself to do something OTHER than pick my skin.”

When and as I see that I am having a reaction to making a plan for myself I stop, and I breathe. I bring through the realization that I am currently starting a habit that is entirely new and is thus not part of my ‘default-programming’ that I would normally easily fall into. On top of this fact, I realize and understand that I am also within this confronting dermatillomania, which adds another level of resistance and self-sabotage. So I bring myself Here into a stance of taking directive principle to push myself to at the very least, at this stage, plan my next steps so as not to leave time and space for derma.

I commit myself to remain gentle and patient with myself, yet consistent in my application of plan making, because I know it is a rocky road to walk toward implementing new habits into one’s life, especially if they threaten the comfort and security already developed within self through sometimes destructive habits like derma.

“I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to not want to make a plan for my day because I feel it is ‘boring’ and ‘constrictive’ and it makes me feel ‘trapped’ like ‘I can’t move’ or have ‘no freedom’.”

When and as I see that I am feeling ‘trapped’ and like I have ‘no freedom’ due to pushing myself to making a plan and sticking to it instead of picking my skin, I stop and I breathe. I remind myself that I actually become un-trapped and freer when I push myself to walk through and out of derma by applying solutions in my life. I bring myself back into awareness by reminding myself that it is derma that is trapping me and taking away my freedom, and not the other way around, so the experience is not real, it is only in my mind and it will dissipate and when I see the plan through, I will have breathed life into my healing, my beingness, and not into the disorder.

I commit myself to make plans throughout the day and push through the deceptive reactions of feeling ‘trapped’ and ‘no freedom’ and so proving to myself that these reactions are not real and thus cannot contain me and my movement and my ‘Who I Am’.

“I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to manifest the energetic experiences of ‘boredom’ (which is generally avoidance), ‘constriction’, ‘trapped’ and ‘loss of freedom’ in connection to the thought of making a self-supportive plan to help me avoid a picking session.”

When and as I see that I am avoiding moving myself to walk a solution by distracting myself with unpleasant reactions, I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself back to physical reality by reminding myself that what’s ‘boring’ and ‘constrictive’ is being alone and picking my skin, and then isolating myself so as not to have to face the damage or others in my world. What’s incredibly exciting is the prospect that I have a choice in this matter, I have the potential to stop and change and experience life without derma, to be able to freely express myself without the heavy burdens of the disorder.

I commit myself to slice through the distractions like a laser, and to use the focus and direction that I have and am developing to make a plan, and then see it through.

“I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to feel ‘constricted’ and ‘trapped’ when and as I would make a set plan for myself for a period of time because I think/believe/perceive that if I stick to that plan there will be no time for me to ‘do what I want’.“

When and as I see that I am reacting to making a plan because I think that it prevents me from being able to do ‘whatever I want’, I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself back to self-parenting by stepping up and being mature within the understanding that I know what’s best for me, and that I am the one that needs to ‘lay down the law’ and be self-responsible in these moments, because there is no reason for an internal temper tantrum, I know exactly why I’m doing this for myself, and I will be thankful I did it in the end. I remind myself that every time I fall and give in to the derma urge, I feel a million times worse than I would have felt when pushing through the feelings of ‘not getting what I want’, ‘trapped’, and ‘constricted’. (To read more about the concept of self-parenting, read my short blog post Here) .

I commit myself to walk the process of developing self-discipline by stepping up and parenting my ‘inner child’ because I know that the consequences of not doing so will be worse than facing the tantrum. And if I walk the self-supportive plans I make myself I will empower myself to free myself little-by-little from dermatillomania.

“I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to think/believe/perceive that making a plan prevents me from “doing what I want,” when I can see clearly that “doing what I want” means picking my skin because I subconsciously want to repeat the pattern and live out the compulsions because I think I need to satisfy the urge, within this I see, realize and understand that I subconsciously fear having a plan because I see it as a threat to my picking sessions, and if I don’t get my picking sessions, I will feel horrible.”

When and as I see that I’m reacting towards not being able to participate in dermatillomania because I think I ’want’ to do it or ‘need’ to do it, I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself back to self-direction by reminding myself that the feeling is just an energy, one that I have become addicted to, and that I feel uncomfortable without. I remind myself that with any habit or addiction, it will not feel great to stop, but that that is in no way an indicator of what I truly want or don’t want for myself. I want to be free of this disorder, therefore I will go through the withdrawal.

I commit myself to trust my personal self-direction, and that I am doing what’s best for me, and that I am basing my decisions on practical reality and not of feelings and emotions, fears and addiction.

“I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to think/believe/perceive that being free to pick my skin is the same as being free to ‘do what I want’.”

When and as I feel that I ‘want’ to pick my skin, I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself back to physical reality by reminding myself that picking my skin is something that seems ‘comfortable’, ‘safe’, ‘easy’ and generally good only because I have grown accustomed to it, I have fallen into it in unawareness and it is what is familiar and safe for me. What is not familiar and safe is stopping and facing all the things I have been using picking to suppress; is directing myself to not pick but instead to for example exercise or tidy or leave the house. These things seem cold and uncomfortable and scary because I am creating new habits and I have no blue print within myself for how I should feel and what exactly I should do and how I need to organize myself and my time to go about making it happen.

I commit myself to cease the addiction that makes me believe I ‘want’ this disorder in my life, by creating something new to support myself with- new habits, new tools, new approaches to life that don’t harm me, but support me to grow and achieve my full potential.

“I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to fear not being able to pick my skin within the thought/perception/belief that I won’t ever feel better and I will feel intensely uncomfortable forever if I don’t get to pick.”

When and as I see that I am going into fear at the thought of not being able to pick because I believe that ‘something bad is going to happen’/’I won’t ever feel better’/’I will feel intensely uncomfortable forever’ I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself back into myself by breathing in the realization that I will in fact be okay, that the energy will dissipate and I will remain unharmed after it’s gone, unlike if I submit, in which case I will remain however I will be harmed.

I commit myself to repeat to myself and repeat to myself until it is living words within and as me: I will be ok, it won’t last forever, and the feelings will dissipate.

“I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to feel an intense fear when I think I’m not going to be able to pick because I feel like I am losing/denying a piece of myself.”

When and as I see that the thought of not submitting to the urge to pick is causing an intense reaction of fear within and as me, I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself back to stability by reminding myself that I have a disorder that I have created into and as a separate entity within and as me, and that this entity will in fact ‘die’ in the sense of no longer existing, however that entity is a part of myself that is not dying, but simply changing into something that supports me instead of diminishing me. I as it will consist of life as self-direction instead of limitation as suppression.

I commit myself to realize that it’s okay to let this energy go and change and no longer exist within and as me. I am reprogramming my experience in my living flesh. The current self-experience is dying, I am extinguishing it, but my living flesh remains and I endeavor to inhabit it within and as it as equal and one within and as a relationship of love, acceptance and support. (Click Here to read my post about the Fear or Not having OCD).

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to identify so much with dermatillomania that I have begun to believe it is part of Who I Am and a part of me that I couldn’t survive without.”

When and as I see that I am reacting within a ‘fear of survival’ mode in relation to stopping derma, I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself back to self-empowerment by pushing myself to kill dermatillomania, to be angry and to take the life from this disorder, and to free myself to live as Who I Am and not survive in a limited state of self-identification as a harmful, repetitive, cyclical and inescapable disorder that does absolutely nothing of any good for me.

I commit myself to be and become the creator of myself, to become my own living creation instead of the created consequential outflow of a disorder that I have accepted and allowed to exist within and as me for most of my life.

“I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to think/believe/perceive that I would die without derma, and to translate this subconscious thought/perception/belief into extreme fear and anxiety on a conscious mind level which seems undefinable and inescapable whenever it comes up.”

When and as I see that I am feeling some undefinable unpleasant experiences that feel inescapable, instead of following it through to a state of panic and anxiety, I stop, and breathe. I bring myself into self-awareness by looking at my reality and asking myself whether I am safe, whether I have a plan, and whether I will survive and actually LIVE to see a moment where I will feel okay again, and I move myself to take the appropriate practical physical steps to ensure that the answers to all these questions is a YES. I am not going to die, derma is going to die.

I commit myself to self-investigate the thoughts/feelings/emotions/reactions which come up within me, so that I can free myself from being a slave to these experiences, and to instead understand them and behave accordingly in a way that support my recovery and full-potentiated living.

“I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to feel suffocated when I make a plan that doesn’t involve derma, and within this, I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to associate the acquiescence of myself to this disorder to breath itself, as if without it, I couldn’t breathe.”

When and as I am feeling as though I can’t breathe because I am reacting not to being able to freely pick at my skin, I stop, and I BREATHE. I breathe and I show myself that it is ME that is breathing, not the disorder within.as me. I bring myself back to breath by showing myself that I am the one that breathes, that walks, that directs and that decides, simply by showing myself that if I want to take a breath then the disorder has absolutely no power or control over me to stop me from doing so. This proves that the disorder is not bigger or more powerful than I am as the living being. It depends on ME, it depends on my existence and MY acceptance and allowance for it to exist, and in this, I am the boss and the one who decides. I am not the helpless victim; I am instead the one with the power.

I commit myself to constantly and continuously show myself that I am the force that is existent within and as myself, by proving to myself that I can take a breath whenever I want, which means that I can direct myself to do anything in this physical reality, and that dermatillomania actually has no REAL power or control over me, only what I have accepted and allowed.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to associate breathing and freedom to derma instead of seeing, realizing and understanding that I have it exactly backwards, wherein this disorder is controlling me, suffocating my natural expression, and it has me trapped like a prisoner in my own body.”

When and as I see myself thinking that ‘I am free and I can breathe’ when I can pick, I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself back to reality by reminding myself that I can breathe at any time, and that my freedom is within me taking self-responsibility and self-direction as self-control. That I am not in fact the one that is a prisoner in my body, but derma is. I can live and express and connect out in the world, but derma is confined to me, within me. It is my unfortunate creation and I am it’s god that decides whether it will exist or not.

I commit myself to realize my own power, my own self-directive principle that I can walk a process of learning how to create with, and thus become the self-creator and self-creation of something great, just as ever other human being has the potential to do.

I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to sabotage myself by adversely reacting to making a plan because in reality I subconsciously want to continue to pick because I have lead myself to (subconsciously) believe that if I don’t pick I will suffocate and die, within this, I forgive myself for accepting and allowing myself to place this disorder as more important and more vital than myself and my real life and my real breathing and Who I Really Am.”

When and as I see that I am sabotaging myself by reacting adversely to the support I am laying out for myself, I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself bac to self-movement, self-will, and self-discipline by reminding myself that the mind is capable of feat of smoke and mirrors wherein I can convince myself that I don’t want to heal, and that I do want to pick, or that derma is more important and vital than myself, my real life, my real breathing, and Who I Really AM.

I commit myself to show myself the disillusionment of the mind that I have thus far lived and made real, and to walk with myself patiently until I correct myself and my thinking by aligning myself and my thinking with common sense, self-understanding, and a one and equal relationship.

Self-Study with support, learn to respect you and others, learn how to stop mind chatter, learn how to forgive so effectively that you actually change forever, learn how to stop and change the automatic thoughts that run your life --Sign up for the FREE course at this link: DIPLITE, try it for yourself

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