Good evening guys

In my experience language has very little to do with thought, until that is, you wish to communicate your thoughts. If you are just having a thought, it may be in words, but usually it is in pictures, feelings, notions, dreamlike knowledge without words. When you are thinking how to explain something, or what you want to say to someone, or what needs to go in a report or email or whatever, then you think in words.. but it is secondary. In my experience culture is transmitted through experiences of contact that have a language element but are largely based in nonverbal actions, situations or communications. I think that the idea that language has the power to guide or limit thought is flawed. Thought is way broader than the process of communicating it. However sometimes having to find interesting ways to express myself when I don't know the precise words produces some new ideas, but that doesn't come from the second language, but the activity of communication with someone. Often it involves funny noises and body language haha.
That is my experience since being here, sometimes I talk to myself in Dutch, sometimes in English.. but if I am not feeling special enough to be talking out loud then the thoughts don't really belong in either language. I don't know if I would have realised this only using one language.
I think maybe if I become really fluent and familiar with the culture here to a very high degree, then at some point my thinking will also have changed. But I hardly think the language itself will be the cause of that effect, just one factor mixed in with so many other things. The words themselves only grow in significance as I attribute meanings to them wider than their English translations or the Dutch dictionary listings. And that is due to my experiences with people. We supply the meaning to the words or we don't get it. If we don't get it then the words don't really have any influence over us. Besides the power to be confused of course haha
This is one of my favourite subjects but I will stop typing and put a youtube link instead from a guy that does way better explaining of my kind of thinking than I can when I am sleepy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZDeYe93rFg&t=347s(One of the reasons I struggled to connect with ACT is that it is based on a theory of language that I don't agree with, but it works in practice so from another perspective who cares if the guy came to the right answer for anxiety through a faulty line of reasoning, if it works it works.)
I have actually thought about doing that job.. it seems awesome! I live on an island with not so many high rises though so it would mean a commute.. probably totally worth it haha

This week: Today I went to my art class and cooked for W and his mum because he has a tough week. Tomorrow I am making curtains for this place and not sure for the rest of the week. Seeing the support worker, W again if he is not too tired. I finally have a swimming costume that fits so I want to go swimming for the first time in more than a year if I can

It is a holiday week here so one of my friends is away and I have no Dutch class so the week is way less full than normal. But that's okay because I was getting really exhausted.
Hey contact is always good.. it doesn't matter how long the gaps are

Genuinely interested in whether or not the mantras really can help or not.
Thanks Em, you stay awesome too

I am doing my best to take care of myself. Not brilliant at that yet, but doing way better than I was a few months ago when I did virtually nothing for myself. I even have some nice clothes now.. I need more because they all get used before I have enough to make a washload.. but it is progress. One day I might be a regular girl haha.