First up, let me advise you that no, I do not have multiple personalities… My tongue is in my cheek… Or is it? Can we all be different people from time to time?

I commented last year on a book that the Daily Mail were plugging last month about a truly fascinating case of a lady with a multiple personality disorder. It is intriguing how such a case can make us all more aware of who and how we are. Heck, it has made me want to openly confess to my own hidden personality trait…
First up, let me give you an intro into what this article at the Daily Mail has to say about the case and then we’ll get on with my own idiosyncrasies:

Aged 29, Karen Overhill was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder. In one of the most intriguing and disturbing cases of its kind, her psychiatrist helped her identify 17 distinct personalities — the result of abuse she’d suffered at the hands of her family. Here, Karen tells her story — and how she found a cure.

On New Year’s Eve 1989, I took a trip to Las Vegas with my husband and some friends, leaving our two children at home. Initially, I had gone to bed early feeling unwell, but throughout the evening I then found myself in different parts of the casino and couldn’t work out how I got there.

When my husband finally caught up with me, I had $2,500 in my handbag. I’d started with $25. I had to make excuses about where I’d been and why I wasn’t in our room — because I simply had no idea how it had happened.

There had been many other similar episodes in my life around that time. One day, I left the house to go shopping for food; but then I “awoke” in a department store to find myself buying my son a hat. I don’t really remember making the decision not to go grocery shopping; nor do I know how I got to the store.

Sometimes I’d pick up a novel and discover the bookmark had moved — yet I couldn’t remember reading the chapter. Once, I found a knife under my pillow that I couldn’t explain.

Karen had hypnosis to help her in therapy which is what piqued my interest. It really is a wonderful story with a very nice ending, do read the entire article if you have time…

Soooo… In my members area, we have been discussing how many people feel that facets of their personalities can sometimes make them feel like they are being different people from time. We have also been discussing a couple of people who yearn to be tidier. One member said not to worry about being messy and untidy:

“It’s the ones that neatly coil the bathroom sink plug chain that I worry about. Huh”

Hmmm… I clicked into defense mode! Eek. I am so tidy that I do not have any sink chains — they are all chainless!  
 
I have been known to clear up peoples cups before they put them down on the table too.  Is this an alter-ego surfacing?
 
I certainly do not fold my towels, or arrange tins in the cupboard like the crazy guy in the film ‘Sleeping with the enemy’ am am not as fanatical about my skincare as the ‘American Psycho’ (well, not quite…) though I am verging on being more than just fastidious… Let me explain why:  
 
I spend most of my time dealing with ‘non-tangible’ things — my work revolves around and within the mind. What is the mind? It is certainly not physically manifest as far as we know, some might even say it is a concept.

The vast majority of my work deals with concepts. I am also a complete air-head, a total, complete and utter dreamer for most of my life — heck, I could not maintain relationships until I made my ideals more realistic — I read poetry, was into fantasy, art and drama as a younger man… I send LOADS of time in self-hypnosis and trance states… All things which led to creating ideas, ravelled emotions and intangible aspects of life…  
 
Therefore, with such an ‘inorderly mind’, I find utter joy in ordering the physical space I inhabit so frequently.  It maintains some balance for me.  
 
Add to that, getting my hands in the earth and into the garden helps ground me… Though my newly planted roses are all laid out in a structured pattern in my beautiful new rose bed!  
 
I think it makes sense and is not too much to worry about if I straighten things and tidy here and here… Apparently I am a feng-shui delight! So there is at least one other personality I have to add to the dashing version of me presented all over this website.  🙂

Have a wonderful weekend.