My inner voice, as represented by the interrelated nature of seven overlapping aspects of life linked by seven driving influences, in the form of a 33rpm record (but please don’t try to play me).

If you want to awaken the whole of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering of humanity, eliminate what all is negative inside you.

– Lao Tzu

White Girl in Black Face

One benefit/downfall of many years of therapy is that I have nearly lost the ability to tune out my own inner voice. And let me tell you, she is a talker. Day and night, she rattles on about everything from the benefits of acupuncture to putting more money in my IRA. Since blocking her out requires a dangerous combination of intoxicants and prescription medication, I decided to bring some order to the chatter in a more productive way. This diagram was the result.

The words in the colored sections represent the major components of my life, and the words in the white sections represent the motivation behind them. For instance, comfort and guilt motivate me toward exposure. And exposure brings me more comfort and guilt in return. Unfortunately, food also brings me comfort, which accounts for my frequent choice of pizza over blogging. The words in the center are at…

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