Vibes + Seductress + DR: Regen

Starting a new journal for better tracking purposes, my other one is all over the place.

I decided to add Vibes stage 1 to my stack. I always wanted to run this title and kept putting it off till I achieved some other goals. But I realized after running DR: Regen for a bit and learning how to understand my own needs how important music really is to me.

My plan is to basically start from scratch. Forget everything I thought I knew about making music and just approach it as if I don’t know anything and let Vibes guide me towards better strategies.

I’ve got a TOOOOON of learning resources I haven’t tapped into because I procrastinate all the time. And I have a bunch of ideas for how to make my overall workflow smoother but I have to map it out better.

It’s been hurting my soul lately to watch all these days and weeks slip by without making music and I really want to change that. I can feel the creative urge and fire inside me, but I hit a wall with getting it out into the world.

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Today’s lessons from DR: Regen. (I can’t be the only one that sees that and thinks Doctor Regen lol)

What am I supposed to be vs who do I want to be?

I’ve filtered my entire life through other’s expectations of me. So much so to the point where I genuinely get confused when I realize I don’t have to do something. Like I’m forever dreading having to climb the corporate ladder for a good job and then I stop and realize I literally don’t have to do that. I still have this weird anticipation anxiety that down the road I’m going to have to do that and it’s this feeling of dread. Maybe that’s because I pushed myself on that life path for so long and ignored every impulse in me to do something different out of fear.

Freedom to be myself, make my own choices, live my own life. Such a simple concept, but incredibly hard to execute for me.

Can’t even choose the right subs for myself sometimes lol

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I might be in another toxic company…

There’s nothing to do at this point in my life except aggressively detach from manipulative toxic environments and put myself first. It is so soul crushing to think you landed somewhere different and it starts being the same shit all over again.

The weirdest thing happened while I was at work this week.1 I had an awful migraine, felt sick, and had gotten 3 hrs of sleep the night before. I was losing it. But in my half delusional state making phone calls I felt like I was in school again. With people looking over me judging my “work”. I swear I had regressed or something, I felt like a child.

This is the crap that makes my life difficult. Not the jobs themselves, just how I seem to be so sensitive to the environments. People are always like “seek out good environments!”. Either I’m really bad at picking them or there’s just an overwhelming amount of them and you have to know how to navigate them.

In any case, I seem to be getting closer to taking my needs seriously. I almost cried on my way into work the other day because I realized how much everyone wants to take from me and how tired of that I am and how much is expected of me.

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Imagine a white or golden ball of energy covering you completely. Imagine this energy ball as a shield from all energy loss and unfavourable people and situations.

You can find some videos online about this. You can also search for grounding videos or shielding videos from youtube.

All the best to becoming a bright ball of light

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I’ve been dealing with a lot of self image issues I guess seductress has been pulling up.

I’m trying validate this and move past it in a healthy way vs a bandaid solution that requires upkeep.

I think I’ve mentioned it before but I have some default toxic positivity behaviors that still pop up. So it’s like body image issues? Well just love yourself more! And it’s this weird kind of shame for having discomfort in the first place which doesn’t do much to take steps towards healing.

I wouldn’t say I’m actively negative towards myself right now, more neutral and allowing the painful things to surface without needing to push it away for the sake of being “better” or “positive”. There’s a lot here, maybe more than I originally anticipated because I got so good at invalidating how I felt.

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The White ball of light energy is a bad idea as it attracts astral entities to you while just dissolving the energy back to the greater All. Cloaking is better if you fight astral entities.
if you wanna use energy it is much smarter to either use the feeling/emotion felt as a catalyst to bring about change by going through the emotion and acting in spite of it. Or to spend it through movement or creativity if it’s too violent, go on a jog, draw, sing, do pumps, etc.

Although I’m new to the domain, the migraine sounds like reconciliation to me.
being sick and having a migraine sounds a lot like internal conflict.
this almost crying is proof.
Crying is a way for the body to treat stress and other high emotions, to regulate.

Emotion and feelings are pure energy, there to push for change.
negative emotions/feelings are there to indicate you’re going the wrong way and to give you the energy to correct course (whether you are conscious of your goal/path or not), positive emotions/feelings are there to indicate you’re on the right path and to give you the energy to push forward.

Both are needed to act as a compass and as fuel for you to fulfil your goal and go through any obstacle.

There are always obstacles on the path, there to make you stronger and more resilient, to build your vessel (body-mind ensemble, soul) to be able to handle your desired state of being.
Though there are always obstacles, you also always have the tools necessary to get through it.

The goal being worked toward by your unconscious being set through your active conscious imagination or through what you absorb from around you and take personally.
subs are there to help reconfigure the goal toward something more positive and more useful, and to help remove the self-imposed limiting beliefs barriers so that You (both your conscious and unconscious Self, your spirit-mind ensemble) may do whatever is necessary to get to your goal as easily as possible. Though there will be obstacles, You will have a wider and easier access to the tools necessary to get through it.

Being sensitive to the environment is difficult, it is easy to get overwhelmed when people keep throwing energy/emotions and projecting beliefs around. and it is even harder when we attach to them, when we try to get a hold of them to analyse them instead of letting them run through you. like standing in the river and spreading your arms instead of keeping them close and letting the water rush around you.
However, being sensitive is a tool that allow one to reach their social goals more easily, once tamed.

Lessons (such as hostile manipulative environments) will keep repeating until you learn how to get through it, until you learn how to deal with it, until you evolve beyond.
But know that you can and will get through it.
You are on your path and accumulating merits, building up your strength so that you can pass this obstacle.
like the temperature, slowly rising in a frozen room, until it become hot enough to melt the ice.
How much you progressed will become clear in time. All progress is invisible until it materializes, qnd then it become obvious how much you’ve grown.

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Yeah I’ve had migraines all my life. Usually they occur when I can’t regulate my nervous system and I can’t recover because I’m forced to do something like needing to work. I usually get pre-migraine symptoms, I’ll be more agitated than usual, unable to focus, and have tension I can’t relieve from my body.

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I’m glad I added Vibes, I needed this.

Listening today for 1 min and I’m breaking down a long list of things that were serving as barriers to just making music for myself. Also brainstorming improvements.

I ended up writing a script for myself to make incremental backups for my projects. I don’t do it a lot because I have to pull out an SD card from my gear, but it’s nice to be a little organized with it lol.

I have a programmable synthesizer kit that I never put together, still in the box. Which I see on my desk right now, presently being used as a prop to raise my makeup mirror. Peak ADHD behavior from me.

Speaking of. Everything is still really chaotic around me. The boxes I packed for a move that didn’t happen are still packed up. It’s been months and I haven’t used much or any of it, so I’m looking to sort it into a smaller grouping of boxes and donate or something.

But my place is a mess and I guess the biggest win for me right now is I don’t feel as bad about it. It’ll all come together in time, I know it will. But right now I’m feeling like I just do what I can.

Also the other day when I was going into work I gave myself a pep talk. I realized I’m so afraid of people’s disapproval sometimes or not liking me I’ll just be mistreated. So I was like ya know what? Fine, I’ll be the villain if that’s what it takes to maintain my sanity. Coworkers, bosses, customers, it literally does not matter. Just because I can be sweet doesn’t mean I’m going to put up with nonsense anymore. It’s just so weird that boundaries, putting myself first, and looking after myself is perceived as something selfish or that I should be ashamed of. I don’t want to be the timid woman who’s afraid to get hurt anymore, I want to be the fierce diva who doesn’t give a fuck about the opinions of others.

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I’ll save you a little time because I’ve already done the leg work.

Cubase, FL Studio or Ableton for Windows users.

There is pretty much no point in using any other DAW for windows edit (depending on your goals, I reccomend the big three because it’s the DAWS that other music producers are probably using, so common language and experience in the same tools can help if you plan to collaborate , because these are the big three, so pretty much all plugins, VST, and MIDI controllers automatically work out of the box with them.

Ableton is super popular right now, and there is a ton of support for it: courses, hardware, etc.

If you get really serious and wanna do some heavy production workflow Cubase is the industry standard for windows production for Film, Video Games, and often music also.

FL studio is awesome and the most affordable, but it’s interface can feel limiting depending on the kinda work your doing.

:slight_smile:

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If you happen to be a Mac User, then Logic Pro is the industry standard, also garage band is pretty good from what I’ve heard.

I’m PC for life, so I can’t help there lol.

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Haha I should have mentioned I’ve got my setup already. I’m actually dawless. I use a mpc1000 as my hardware sequencer and some external synths. I like keeping things minimal and focused.

I’m still challenging myself to see what I can squeeze out of this. It’s been a steep learning curve but I feel like the workflow once I get it down will be really rewarding.

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Give it time…give it time…

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Regeneration seems to be bringing up the way I was pushed out of my previous job.

When it was first happening I looked at it from a purely business based perspective. But I think looking back on it now they used business needs to cover for the fact they were uncomfortable with a trans woman. And when I first started socially transitioning, yeah it was awkward. I didn’t pass well at all. But I was going through a process.

From what I’ve learned about unconscious behavior, people will do things and then give the reasoning for it. I think that’s what happened here.

They were always really cliquey. Lacked diversity. And it was ridiculously high turnover. They didn’t want someone trans ruining their perfectly polished image. I witnessed someone who was neurodivergent and had some dyslexia get let go as well in previous years so I know they have a lack of consideration for anything that deviates from the norm.

But it was a blessing in disguise because I needed to be done with them anyway. I think I’m just coming to terms that yes those people did discriminate in their own safe way. That was my experience and nobody is allowed to tell me it didn’t happen because I felt it.

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Vibes be vibing. Ok sort of lol.

I took apart my MPC today cleaned up my buttons and pads a bit. Discovered my pad sensitivity was all wonky so I couldn’t finger drum on this thing without sounding like I was banging on a table to my neighbors. Fixed it a bit. Waiting for deoxit cleaner that I’m gonna spray on these tact switches so I don’t have non responsive menu buttons. Nothing is a bigger mood killer than trying to navigate menus and either the button is inconsistent or I have to press down on it really hard. I am hoping the deoxit performs miracles, otherwise I have to solder some new tact switches which I have no experience using a soldering iron lol.

In short removing the VERY annoying things I’ve been running across to make the music production smoother. Oh and also found a little shelf to elevate my equipment so I can see it better.

Organizing all my wires too just so I’m not dealing with a tangled mess of annoyance. Trying to make my music production space more of a zen space, something peaceful to show up at.

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The deoxit cleaner worked! I got this MPC secondhand used because they aren’t in production anymore. But the guy must have spilled something on it at one point so I was just dealing with crappy buttons since I got it.

It was funny though I took this thing apart and with the faceplate off I was testing buttons. Then I made a drum beat, then I started messing around with samples, and the next thing I knew I was making a track lol. I also started trimming down my drum sample library. Having been around all the sample hype and sales I’ve come to realize it’s more important to get really good source material to work with. A small collection of drum samples that I know like the back of my hand is way better than a 5gb library of questionable stuff and origin.

The most important thing I learned for myself is limiting my choices. I don’t work in a DAW. I’ve seen production videos where people grab like 7 different vsts to do things. Or they work in a synth with advanced wavetable manipulation. And I respect that their minds can work like that and get output. But I just can’t do it and I’ve been constantly burdened by this feeling that I should be able to and I’m missing out. But I think that’s the trap.

Music is weird like that. A guy on the street using buckets and pans can sometimes make something more interesting and compelling than someone on a computer will the latest and greatest plugins and software. My philosophy is really about knowing my tools and how to translate my emotions and feelings through those. Everyone’s got their own process, I think I just have to feel more secure in mine.

Other than that picking up vibes was the right choice. I needed to focus my mind on something other than the hardships I’ve been going through lately. I’ve been finding myself feeling behind and simultaneously trying to make time for myself. Like I’ve been meaning to declutter so it’s easier to move in the future, but at the same time I kinda just want to prioritize me and my needs. I just wish I wasn’t squeezed financially so bad, it makes me feel like I can’t settle or rest and that I have to figure a way out of this. But then it’s like, I’ve had that feeling for a long long time. Sometimes if you don’t know how to make yourself feel settled it turns into a “when I get this I’ll feel different” game.

So it’s a healthy balance I guess. I can’t indulge in everything and let my environment go to crap. But I have to be able to just say fuck it sometimes and just force myself to be in the moment.

Little aesthetic pic of my hardware.

And this interview with James Murphy is the most honest and raw thing I’ve seen with regards to success. I come back to it every now and again

Going down to 45 seconds. Suspected I’m getting hit with delayed recon and I haven’t been catching it.

The hard part for me is I want to grow. But I have to balance it carefully otherwise work gets difficult and that causes its own set of problems.

I have limited bandwidth for all the things in my life and it frustrates me. But I know pushing myself to do it all does me no good.

Lately feeling like I want to detach from my past completely and forget those days. It’s like there’s an increased awareness of the actual emotions tied to my past. Things that hurt but I just numbed out from. I guess it’s more acknowledgement that the pain existed back then but since I’m recalling it now it actually exists now too and I need to acknowledge it and heal from it.

Made some connections in my head today about life stuff. Sometimes it’s like everything I learn and uncover makes a ton of sense but at the same time I can’t believe that it’s what happened. It makes me doubt if it truly did make the profound impact it did.

I guess I’m still dissociated from my past. My first reaction is to dismiss it as nothing and carry on. But when I do that I can feel the tension in my body, I can feel the physical sensation of trying to hold something back.

With regeneration I know the goal is healing. I also know the most damaging way to go about healing is to try to do it some “right” or more efficient way. So do I want a smooth experience that’s level and calm? Absolutely. Will I always get that? Probably not. My body will express itself as it does in whatever way it wants to process these things.

I guess the interesting thing I’m experiencing is the more I change the more I feel like myself. And it’s made me aware that there’s a lot of stuff other people wanted me to be vs me understanding myself.

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Ive long suspected I have ADHD. But between that and trauma it stops being something easy to distinguish. And more importantly it just doesn’t matter, adhd or not I’m still staring in the face the same issues.

But it got me thinking about all the bs in this country lately and how it’s felt like my existence has been held under a microscope. And I’ve felt obligated to defend myself in such a way to sort of prove them wrong. But today I was like fuck that. I exist, I am, I don’t need to explain why I do the things I do to feel better. And I sure as hell don’t need approval from a bunch of volatile sheep that can’t think for themselves and need to be told who to hate.

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Still trying to build myself.

I found some info on regenerating fascia and releasing it. Bought a kit and going to try it out. There’s an unbelievable amount of tension in my face, scalp, neck, traps, etc. I’m stuck in a holding pattern and stretching hasn’t done much it feels deeper. It’s the type of locked tension that comes with trauma. And it’s a viscous cycle because this tension and chronic pain makes every day living difficult which results in feeling bad I’m not doing enough to push my life forward which leads to more tension as I try to fight through it all

I realized the other day, maybe I’m at my limit and I have to seek alternative means of providing my body relief. The info came to me and at first I was hesitant because I was like “oh great another miracle cure for all our body issues”. But then I was like oh well screw it I might as well try.

I think the thing that hurts the most sometimes is I don’t see a clear path forward. I work with a therapist, I use these subs, and sure I’ve grown but some days I feel like are pure hell for me to get through. Like this endless cycle of work → fatigue → eat → bed. I can’t fucking do this. I need something else other than just keeping myself alive just enough to go to work.

I’m glad I got out of IT. That was just turning into a miserable sinkhole of abuse. And after spending some time away from it I realized I do like some aspects of it, the challenges, the learning new things. It’s just companies ruin all that because they want more and more. And unfortunately I’m not some really intelligent person who works well with tech, I’ve humbled myself about that these past few months. There are some people out there that are just really good with it, the capacity to learn more, the retention, etc. I don’t know what it is for me. I don’t know if I just don’t have the desire, if I’m just so fed up with the exploitative nature of capitalism, if I’m just going through a bunch of other stuff and don’t have the mental capacity for any of this, I genuinely couldn’t say. But I’m just riding things out because fuck it I don’t know. And I’d rather go with that then throw myself back into what is familiar out of desperation for having a plan or path.

I’ve lost the plot.

I guess this was bound to happen on something like Regen.

How do I explain this …

My life has felt like pushing and pushing until something good happens or improves. Blind faith, hopefulness, persistence, whatever. But today I’ve hit my limit.

Today I got hit with a gut punch. I don’t know who I am, what I like, what I want to do, who I want to relate with. People will be like that’s not true, how is that possible? I don’t know either. This isn’t the first time though. I just thought that maybe I was past that and I guess I’m not.

My issue is even when I think I’m building myself sometimes I’m not. Sometimes its just a temporary bandaid solution while I power through life and hope something sticks. Sometimes its just an avatar to survive life.

I don’t know what to do anymore. Before I had some half assed plan, now I have nothing for my life. And it’s scary because I can’t afford to not have a plan. But at the same time being stuck in some half assed miserable plan is pretty awful too.

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