Yesterday I spent some time talking about my thoughts. That some of my thoughts tend to arrange themselves into patterns, and it's helpful for me to personify them and give them names. One of the most vicious of these voices is the prosecutor.
The prosecutor's role is noble enough. Look for things that have hurt me, and get me to either fight or flee whatever it is that has its attention. This serves a noble purpose: to keep me from getting hurt or losing the resources I need in order to survive.
My problem is that sometimes the prosecutor thinks he's batman. And like, let's be honest, batman is kind of a nutjob.
My prosecutor is always on the lookout for wrongdoers -- people who have wronged me, people who have wronged other people, or people who are just wrong, and seeks to punish them to the fullest extent of the law. You don't get a slap on the wrist or written warning for batman. Left to his own devices, the prosecutor can not only make my life miserable by delivering harsh judgment on just about anyone less than perfect except myself, he can cause me to forget where I end and others begin, by trying to prosecute for *them* without their requests.
That's why he has a name. So I can recognize him, and say "oh, that's just my prosecutor, doing his thing." Once I name him, I can recognize him and usually stop him from putting on his cowl.
It's also why I like practicing gratitude. If I feed the prosecutor gratitude, it's tough for him to get too crazy.
