Pie Squabbles – A Story about Internal Conflict

January 26, 2012

Pie Squabbles – A Story about Internal Conflict

Recently, my magpie visitors set a new record high for the size of the group gathering at my balcony waiting for treats.

At one single point in time, I had 18 pies there surrounding me, all squawking and squawling and calling and cheeping and chirping and whistling and warbling and garbling and gawking and flapping and hopping, each hoping to be the next in line for the little bits of bologna I was handing out to them.  Eighteen pies!  That’s a lot of birds, and they were making a whopping lot of noise!

There had been a number of rainy days in a row, and while pies surely know how to survive in the roughest of weather, they were all looking very raggedy in their sopping wet feathers.  Oh, they were a sad sight, all droopy, and soggy, and drippy.  Some of the pies were trying to fluff up more than usual to keep the rain off them.  Others couldn’t even muster their feathers up anymore.  The days of rain must have worn them out.

I know I wouldn’t want to be living outside in a rainy rainy thunderstorm that lasted for days and days.  I don’t know where pies go to sleep and rest, but I can’t imagine it being fun at all.  It seems to me that bug-chasing in the rain would be difficult, and sludging through deep puddles of muddy water would be more suited for ducks than for pies.

Yes, my big group of pies were a sad sight.  A big soggy, soppy, sad sight.

And they were hungry.  Really hungry.

Most of the time, the pies will take turns nicely when it comes to treat time.  There are the more aggressive front runners, of course, but for the most part, everyone gets a share, and it’s easy enough to make sure that the treats are spread out rather evenly between everyone.

It’s a totally different story when they are hungry.

And it’s even more challenging when there are 18 hungry birds all at the same time.

The claws come out, literally.  The pies will fight each other to be first in line, or to get that specific bite of food that they had their eyes on.

Of course, if they could understand that there was enough food for everyone, and that they didn’t need to fight to get their turn, it could have all happened peacefully.  But these so-called wild birds didn’t understand that.  They were still fighting out of their natural instincts.

The pretty little gray timid pie stayed in the background.  She’s smaller and younger than the others, a newcomer to the group.  She’s noticeably different in coloring from all the others, and the rest of the pies dominate her for the most part.  She didn’t fight anyone for anything, and she would not have gotten a single bite of bologna had I not specifically made sure to directly give some to her.  Even then, I had to take time to convince her that it was ok for her to have it.  Then, after all that, I believe a more aggressive bird swooped in grabbing and snatching the pieces that fell to the ground, not even allowing little gray pie to finish her own serving.

Some of the more trusting-of-me pies would run up near to my feet, separating themselves from the crowd, willing to get as close to me as possible to ensure they would get hand-fed away from the others.  That was the easiest way to make sure of getting something to munch on.

Some of the pies would charge in fast, demanding first dibs, and then fly away to enjoy their mini-feast in the privacy of some hidden corner of grass somewhere else.

Sometimes two or three pies would squabble over the same bite.  These squabbles can become real fights where they are pulling each other’s feathers with their beaks, or digging their claws into the tummies of the other birds, pinning the unfortunate bird on its back.  (Yikes!  I sure don’t like that!)  Sometimes they will click and snap their beaks at each other, making a loud scary noise, clearly meant to intimidate the other pie with a definite “Get back or I’ll poke you!” message.  They will repeatedly screech and scream at each other, with their beaks open wide, making very loud protests and declarations of “Mine!  Mine!  Mine!”.

So much fighting!

It’s not like a tiding of wild birds will ever have to learn to get along with each other on a small balcony in one part of town.  As these babies grow up, they will have to spread out into their own areas to live, and I assume, some of the birds I am pampering now will have to scoot on down the road to other areas.  In nature, there is a very definite pecking order and lots and lots of space to move to.  Maggies will argue and fight to survive, and to fight to claim their territory just like all wild animals have done for thousands of years.  Survival of the fittest keeps the species alive and well.

And the tough times in life bring out the fighting responses.

But what about when the fighting occurs within a group that really does have to live together?

What happens when moving on down the road is not a legitimate option?

What about squabbles and fights within a dissociative system?  For people with dissociative identity disorder, living with groups of people, and internal fights, and intense conflict is a common state of mind.  There are ways to internally separate those that are fighting with each other, at least on a temporary basis, but really, everyone is always there.  Until the conflicts are resolved peacefully, the fighting can continue to happen day after day.

That kind of ongoing conflict would be very difficult to live with.  It would feel noisy, and stressful, and overwhelming.  It could be scary for the more timid parts, and intense for the ones with extreme emotions.  All too often, internal conflict leads to self-destructive behaviors.

Can you relate to that?

What do you do when your groups of insiders squabble?

How do you work out the conflicts and disagreements?

Do you know how to find ways to problem-solve by working the problem, instead of fighting each other?

Does your system take turns, sharing time and resources with each other?

Do your insiders help each other more than they hurt each other?

There are always going to be different opinions, and different perspectives, and opposing needs.  There are going to be parts inside that are more aggressive than others.  There will always be parts that are smaller, younger and quieter.  Within the dissociative system, there will very often be many insiders that are still feeling wounded, hurt, distraught – insiders who need extra care, nurturing, and attention.

How do you tend to all the varying needs and wants without squabbling in ways that make the problems worse, instead of better?
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Copyright © 2008-2012 Kathy Broady and Discussing Dissociation

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