Leslie, here are Claire Weekes' principles I go over everyday. I also practice mindfulness which is helping me through my TMS recovery. I hope this helps.
1. Face
When you have the strange physical symptoms that result from sustained stress or fear, don’t run from
them. Go with them, relax, even analyze them. Understand that these symptoms are just strange
physical feelings from over-sensitized, adrenalin-releasing nerves and that the feeling has no medical
significance and causes no real harm. Look at the sensations with interest rather than fear.
2. Accept
Accept these unpleasant feelings as something that will be with you for a little while until you recover.
Your nerves are sensitized and will take time to heal, just as a broken leg takes time. You will gradually
forget to notice the feelings. By this acceptance, you break the fear-adrenalin-fear cycle that keeps your
nerves in a sensitized state.
3. Float
Give up the struggle. Stop holding tensely onto yourself trying to control your fear or do something about
it, while subjecting yourself to constant self-analysis. Stop trying to navigate your way out of this illness
by meeting each obstacle as if it were a challenge that must be met before recovery is possible. Bypass
the struggle, go around the mountain, not over it. Loosen your attitude and relax your mind. Don’t strive
to relax, wait to relax. In your tense effort to control yourself, you release more adrenalin and so further
excite your organs to produce the unpleasant sensations.
4. Let time pass
Be patient. Give yourself time to recover, and never be discouraged by failure. Rest, rest, rest.
