Conflicting Parts
This bright and sunny March morning I have just finished Neil Jordan's wonderful book Mistaken. If I hadn't a family to feed and a business to run I would happily have curled up in a chair and finished it in one sitting. Luckily, I'm very adept at stirring the pot with one hand and holding up a book with the other!
Mistaken is the story about two Dublin boys both living in the Northside of the city, one living in Marino Crescent , where my first boyfriend lived, the other came from Palmerston Park , close to where I had a flat for years on Palmerston Road and spent many an hour walking this park. These two boys were so alike in looks that they were constantly being mistaken for each other, and so a long series of meetings and exchanging of identities begins.
This is a novel beautifully written. Each sentence is urging you to read on, each word, each sentence crafted and lyrical. The chapters float seamlessly from past to present and into the future as your imagination takes the characters into your heart.
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While I was reading the novel I realised that we each of us has a double. I have another Mary. You have another …....! The one who is created in an almost ghostlike fashion. The one who is in some ways opposite to you. Maybe the one who is a little cruel, cold, uncaring, egotistical, back biting, jealous, negative, lacking in confidence. This ghostlike double only comes to visit every now and the then perhaps. Or perhaps this double is present more often. Perhaps you have welcomed this ghost into your heart and soul without realising you have a choice.
There is a part of me, and I'm sure that I'm not alone here, that can be a little cruel, cold, uncaring, egotistical, back biting, jealous, negative, lacking in confidence. I, too, have a long series of meetings and exchanges of identity with this ghostlike part of me. However, I realise that this ghost which inhabits me is like a squatter who has taken over a beautiful space and I can evict this ghost if I choose. Like most squatters this ghost knows that the longer it has been in residence the harder it is to evict so with diligence and perseverance I will continue my route of self awareness and allow the warm, loving,caring, open, non-judgemental, confident real me to come forward for longer and longer.
Thank you Neil for a wonderful story, and thank you to the warm, loving, kind me for shining like the sun on this beautiful March morning.
I highly recommend the book from Amazon:
In my private practice I use Parts Therapy whenever conflict emerges in session. The therapy involves acknowledging the various parts and the roles they play. The object is not to get rid of any part but rather to encourage the client to assign the part a more constructive role. For more information about the work I do as a Clinical Hypnotherapist please visit my website by following the link below:
