It has always been a question in philosophy how one can prove to another conscious being of their own consciousness. I know for certain that I am conscious and that I exist. I also accept that my consciousness is merely an emergent property of my brain and that when my brain dies my consciousness will cease to exist. I converse with myself in my native tongue of English and I can remember doing this from about the age of 2.
When I started school I remember questioning why I wasn’t like everybody else, why I couldn’t say anything right or act ‘normal’. As I got older and developed depression this turned into a constant diatribe of internal belittling. I hated myself for being overweight, lying for attention and being what I thought of as a freak. The only way I could comfort myself was by getting good grades and eating junk. The latter was obviously counterproductive.
This inner voice continued well into adulthood. Having a husband that loved me unconditionally and two beautiful daughters didn’t seem to make a difference. Although very grateful, I felt that I was undeserving of it all. This led to some unreasonable behaviour on my part especially when David wanted to do something on his own. It was only when this behaviour was pointed out to me a couple of years ago that I realised how destructive it was.
Once I’d made the decision to change and worked on thinking and acting differently my self hating inner voice stopped. It took a few months but I actually -for the first time in my life- started to like myself. The change was so startling that my youngest daughter asked if I’d started taking a new medication. I no longer feel inferior to other people despite my difficulties. It is these difficulties that make me who I am and I wouldn’t change anything because I’m doing ok.
My Faulty Brain 