LibsterI’ve been obsessed with drawing circles and didn’t know why. Then I recently looked again at Ruth Asawa’s work and realized that she’s often doing the same motion over and over (certainly with her metal sculpture). It’s certainly art, but it’s also an act of endurance. So now I’m thinking that I might be into it as an act of self soothing during such a horrific time. #art #drawing #magicinthemundane
Richard Paul@Libby For years I was obsessed with pairing numbers so they added up to 7, and then picturing those numbers as domino dots. I also found myself singing (in my head) the same 32 musical notes. Then, when I was 63, I was diagnosed as #actuallyautistic (and learned that that behavior was likely an act of self soothing), which has been revelatory. https://youtu.be/bvdZleKAlTU
Who doesn't need a little Megan Thee Stallion to get through the day?
@Spacehistory My youngest kiddo has just been diagnosed with autism at age 17. I’m a decades long career teacher that missed it in my own kid for *17 years. That’s been an interesting thing to sit with lately. I’m a highly sensitive person, off the chart levels of empathy, often to my detriment. My oldest (20 yr) is currently undergoing testing, so we’ll see what I missed in her… lol. I find myself feeling that the range of human capacity and capability is fascinating and wonderous.
@Libby Don’t blame yourself. My mother never saw it in me. I now think that’s because she was there too. It has to be hard to see in a child what is baseline “normal” in yourself and perceive it as anything other than “normal “.
@Spacehistory yeah, that makes sense
DoomsdaysCWYay to self-soothing, @Spacehistory ! I have similar "obessions". @Libby
So, I had this thing I called "the laws of symmetrics". If I did something with one hand, I would have to repeat it with the other (I'm ambidextrous). The same with objects (still do that). I also used to constantly add compound numbers together (and still do). Example: 12 = 1+2 = 3. 81 = 8 + 1 = 9. I used that to memorize multiples of 9, since any multiple of 9 always adds up to "9". Stuff like that. I suppose it is self-soothing. It would give my mind something to do -- especially when I'm stressed, @Spacehistory . @Libby