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"This is like having the boogeyman in your head. And our primitive minds can’t tell the difference between a physical threat (“There’s a tiger behind that bush”) and a psychological threat (“What if I fail my midterm?”) So these fear thoughts throw us into a state of fight-or-flight."

For me this has been the most tremendous relief so far in my TMS journey. I'm beginning to see the boogeyman, or feel its approach more and more often without entering into its thought pattern. I see it come up and turn it away. sometimes I get mad at it, sometimes I just tell it no. Other times I am able to laugh at it, because it's so ridiculous.

And the greatest thing has happened. I find that if I do get entangled in one of these thought patterns, I can catch it and somehow mentally step back from it, or step away from it... sort of leaving the self that is involved with it to dissolve, while I inhabit a self that is free of it.

In terms of using free time more creatively... I think it's a matter not of pressuring yourself to do this, but of following the breadcrumbs of your own joy. It can be a very gentle or silly-sounding suggestion in your head. Something you want to try but feel embarrassed about, or something that you know will give you pleasure but that has no "productive" use. But if you follow those impulses they can lead you into great relaxation and satisfaction, and that's the goal.