Make Your Damn Bed

When things become familiar, we ignore their magic. Defamiliarization is a way to reclaim that magic. It's a way to renew our perception and reclaim meaning.

Defamiliarization is a literary technique coined by Viktor Shklovsky in 1917, that makes familiar objects or experiences seem strange so readers see them in a new way. It works by disrupting “habitual” perception, so the text revitalizes ordinary details and encourages fresh understanding.

It's a way to see things again, for the first time.

This is why art exists. And why it's important to make room for it.

THE SOURCES:

1. https://zuckermanhartung.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/shklovsky-art-as-technique.pdf
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aplG3ia8mA&t=37s
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamiliarization
4. https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-defamiliarization-definition-and-examples

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

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Your thoughts aren't real until you make them real with your reactions. Don't let them snowball into something worse by giving them more credit than they are due.

Learning to detach your attention is a very effective way to reclaim your brain from intrusive thoughts.

THE SOURCES:

1. https://psychology-spot.com/thoughts-are-not-real/
2. https://time.com/article/2026/04/27/should-you-trust-your-gut-feeling-or-is-it-anxiety/
3. https://psychology-spot.com/thoughts-are-not-real/

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

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Anxiety yells, intuition whispers. Thoughts are not reality until you allow them to become it. Use discernment and don't act from a place of fear.

THE SOURCES:

1. https://time.com/article/2026/04/27/should-you-trust-your-gut-feeling-or-is-it-anxiety/
2. https://psychology-spot.com/thoughts-are-not-real/

Support the BDS movement.

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

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(The previous version was yesterday's episode, I am so sorry! But this is the updated one.)

The three broad categories of neurotic needs essentially describe how people can cope with their social experiences. This leads to different personality types that tend to fit into three categories:

• Aggressive
• Compliant
• Detached

THE SOURCES:

1. https://www.verywellmind.com/horneys-list-of-neurotic-needs-2795949
2. https://www.verywellmind.com/how-neuroticism-affects-your-behavior-4782188
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroticism
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

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We exist on a spectrum of neuroticism. Naturally, the more self-aware you are, the more anxiety you will experience about you existence. That said, neuroticism is manageable with some intentional redirection. You can learn problem solving skills and practice mindfulness to learn how to cope with discomfort without disconnecting from ourselves completely.

THE SOURCES:

1. https://www.verywellmind.com/horneys-list-of-neurotic-needs-2795949
2. https://www.verywellmind.com/how-neuroticism-affects-your-behavior-4782188
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroticism
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits

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organize clothing swaps with your friends.

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Info on War Tax Resistance.

Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief Fund

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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We've been conditioned to betray ourselves at every turn, so much so that many of us don't have a clue on what we actually want or who we actually are. We have been taught to self-abandon at every angle, so we can accommodate everyone and everything around us. This self-betrayal is a false security. It's not how the world improves, but it's what we've been taught is necessary for a better world.

But when we're scared to put in our two cents, we often end up two cents short.

OTHER RESOURCES:

Support the BDS movement.

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Info on War Tax Resistance.

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

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It's not a problem that you didn't know, it becomes a problem if you're not willing to update your understanding based on evidence.

Ask for clarification, evidence, and be willing to challenge your assumptions to better understand your ideas. Update your ideas based on alternative viewpoints and the evidence that applies.

Don't take it personally if you were previously ignorant (that's a natural part of being a human) but be willing to open your mind to new information when presented with it.

You have to be willing to challenge your own assumptions.

THE SOURCE:

https://positivepsychology.com/core-beliefs-worksheets/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_questioning

OTHER RESOURCES:

Support the BDS movement.

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Info on War Tax Resistance.

Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief Fund

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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Core beliefs are our most deeply held assumptions about ourselves and the world around us. They shape our behaviors and our reality. Some need to be challenged and some just need to be ignored.

Consider your automatic negative core beliefs as the "fake news" of the psyche. Fact check and challenge them when needed, and ignore what isn't worth being challenged.

THE SOURCE:

https://positivepsychology.com/core-beliefs-worksheets/

Support the BDS movement.

organize clothing swaps with your friends.

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Become a READING PARTNER 

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Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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Info on War Tax Resistance.

Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief Fund

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. 

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

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cognitive dissonance is unavoidable and sometimes even helpful, but we have to be willing to consciously address the ways we're not aligning with our values so we can be a part of creating the world we want to live in.

THE SOURCES:

https://positivepsychology.com/cognitive-dissonance-theory/

Support the BDS movement.

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Join your local DSA 

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Support JULIE (and the show!)

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Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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Info on War Tax Resistance.

Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund and the Sudan Relief Fund

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. 

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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Having negative core beliefs doesn't just affect how we see the world, but it affects how the world sees us.

We all have rules that guide our behavior and choices. We might not be able to clearly articulate all of them, but they hang around in our subconscious and nudge us towards behavior that is consistent with them. Many are great, some aren't so great but becoming more conscious helps us address which rules are helping us or harming us.

THE SOURCE: https://positivepsychology.com/cognitive-dissonance-theory/

Disputing core beliefs

CORE BELIEFS WORKSHEETS

Challenging your inner rules worksheet.

Support the BDS movement.

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. 

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.