MonteH: Spiritual Energy
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This is a very interesting Monte update, in which he makes two intriguing arguments. The first being that Sarno can only get you so far, and to truly recover one needs to build upon his ideas. The second argument Monte makes is that spiritual energy plays a significant role in PPD and recovering from it. I was wondering if anyone agrees with these statements, especially does someone need to take Sarno's ideas and build upon them in order to get better. Can Sarno only take us so far, and if so what are some ways other people have built upon/improved his ideas in order to recover? Monte ends this update with the story of Anna. I thought this story gave a great example of how PPD can affect the dynamics of a family. Has anyone else experienced a similar situation, and what did you do about it? |
Monte Hueftle Update – October 21
Hello Everyone;
I hope you have 5 minutes to review this update. I am going to discusssevereTMS, express a smallrantand I am providing a really nice healing story about disabling,chronic back painform Caroline Myss's new book,Defy Gravity.
How do I treat severe TMS?This topic has come up in multiple consultations in the past couple of weeks so I believe it is worth discussing. If you are experiencing mild, medium or severe symptoms, it is paramount that you understand that the cause is the same and for the most part the treatment is the same as well. TMS is a chronic, autonomic nervous symptom disorder that is caused by our daily chronic behavior, thought, belief and attitude patterns. These patterns are:
1.Generating inner tension
2. Repressing emotional energy(keeping us away from what we fear most)
In order to heal from our symptoms and reverse this disorder, we mustidentifyhow we are generating inner tension and thenchangeour chronic cause patterns so that they become more open, allowing, flexible and balanced on a more consistent basis.
What is required to change?Acceptanceof where you are in your life,courageto open up andfaceyour fears,willingnessto experience the unknown and unconditionalsurrenderto why this is happening. A person must go internal first to identify their fears. But they can not stop in this first step of emotional awareness. Too many of you remain in this stage because it gives theappearance of changebut in fact nothing has changed (still generating inner tension and repressing emotional energy). Genuine healing or a transformation of this disorder requires you to nowtake action and changein order to reverse the biochemistry between your mind, emotions and body. Each and everyone of us has the capacity to change and reverse this disorder! This is truth.
Small Rant:I see and hear a lot of frustration in people's attempts to reverse this disorder. For those of you who are stuck, understand that Sarno's masterpiece was telling us what TMS is. He doesn't have all the solutions on how to reverse this disorder.Our masterpiece is putting together our emotional awareness and summoning the courage within us to open up, be honest with our self, face our fears and change how we are being.Some of you have put yourself on this new age pedestal and you believe that you have found theholy grailin the mindbody connection. Realize there is at least one more piece that belongs in this energy relationship and it deserves your attention. It is spirit, soul or grace, whatever you choose to call it. There is physical energy, mental-emotional energy andspiritual energy. You can be abundant or depleted in any and all of these. For some of you that are in deep, dark depression, open up to the idea that it can be spiritual depression and not psychological depression. In this new awareness you will find that there are practices you can engage in that will help you call back or replenish your spiritual energy. One is calledsurrenderand one is calledforgiveness.
Excerpt from Defy Gravity byCaroline Myss-"Such was the case with Ann, who suffered disabling back pain. To relieve the pain, she had surgery on her spine, which unfortunately did not help. Her healing did not take place until she was able to transform her need to be thecontrollingforce in her family and work environment. And in the process, she discovered the "meaning of meaningful", as she put it.
Ann's first language wascontrol, and because she had style and charisma, her methods of control were especially difficult to challenge. She was always the one to take charge of organizing everything and everyone, and since most people prefer to be organized rather than to do the organizing, she was generally a welcome force. Although Ann worked as a personnel manager at a major department store, she viewed her real occupation as imposing her opinions on all the employees.
At home, Ann was even more controlling with her husband and children, insisting that the house be run her way, on her schedule. She was not at all physically or verbally abusive, but neither was she approachable when it came to negotiating the house rules. As her two sons grew into rebellious teens, Ann's family began to fall apart. It seemed as if all three males, her husband and two sons, simultaneously staged a strike. No matter what she said, no one was listening to her anymore, and she soon discovered that she was powerless.
Ann's back pain had begun when her sons were toddlers, but not until they reached their teenage years and began staying out all night did the pain hit the crisis level. Her marriage at that point had become little more than two people sharing a house and bills until the kids were old enough to leave home. Finally, Ann went for disc surgery, which left her practically helpless during her recovery at home. Still giving orders from her bed, Ann found herself seething with frustration at how slowly her sons responded to the order she was giving about how to take care of the house and prepare the meals. One evening, she exploded at her older son, saying, "I can't stand the way you are treating me! Can't you see how helpless I am?"
Without half a breath, he fired back, "And can't you see that Dad's going to leave you? That you broke up our home? Can't you see that we can't stand it here, either?"
Ann said that his remark went straight to herheart. She felt a shattering from within, like glass breaking apart inside of her. "Oh, my God, Stephen," she said. "What have I done?"
"In that instant," Ann said, "I saw my family as the most precious thing in my life. I realized that I was so afraid of losing them that I had tied them up in rules and regulations so that they wouldn't stray from me, and now they wanted to run away as fast as they could. I asked my son to sit down and talk to me, to tell me about his feelings. His brother walked in a few hours later, and then my husband. We ended up talking all night long. My husband and sons made me breakfast in bed and we all cried that morning, as if we had found each other for the first time. I felt as if I were being released from some dark place, as if I'd been under a spell that made me see only abandonment everywhere. I kept using all my energy, all my power, controlling everyone so I wouldn't ever be alone--and suddenly I was going to be completely alone. The irony of that realization broke me wide open. I told myself I would never again do that to my sons or husband, and I meant it. I broke out of some dark way of being that controlled me like a puppet. Now it was gone and I knew these three men were the most precious people in the world to me."
Ann's back pain began to improve with increasing speed in the following weeks. She resigned from her job with the intention of looking for another one, because she felt a fresh start was in order.
Ann's back is not fully recovered, but she realizes that it's much better than if she had not changed. "I'm no longer stiff, angry, tense, or constantly worried about getting my way," she concluded. "All that pressure is gone, and my back knows it. I also know that I would never have understood what you were talking about had you tried to reason with me about tension and back pain before, because I simply would not have wanted to get it. I wasn't ready.You have to be ready to live more deeply. It's not something you can just talk about. It tookexcruciating painto make me willing to examine the path my life was on."
Just as Ann and many other people discover, the search for a rich and meaningful life has always been a "quest" as opposed to a gift or given. We are in charge of how deeply we want to understand the events and relationships that fill our lives. Meaning and purpose are gleaned through the questions we pause to ask ourselves about why we do what we do."
As always, stay the course, Think Psychological - Think Clean - Practice Root Lock
Let me know if I can help.
Regards,
Monte Hueftle
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