In continuation of my previous comment, the second prong of this program is meant to help you feel safer in response to, or in the face of, your pain symptoms.
I love what
@bluesboy63 and
@Cricket313 have to say regarding the pain cycle. The pain may start as a result of fear of [fill in the blank], but the pain perpetuates as you become afraid of the pain itself. This fear increases your pain, which increases your fear, which increases your pain. Onwards and onwards we go! Isn't that fun?
So how do we stop that cycle? By cutting off the pain's reinforcement: fear. All of the techniques you've learned thus far are meant to help you learn to respond to your pain without fear.
Hopefully, you are all becoming more aware of the thoughts you're having around your pain. Do your thoughts drift towards fear of structural damage? Towards fear of never getting better? Towards pressure to get rid of the pain? Towards criticizing yourself for not doing the techniques "right"?
All of these messages serve to reinforce the pain, and keep the cycle going.
So, what message do we want to give ourselves instead? That the pain, even if it hurts, even if you don't like it, even if it's frustrating...is safe. It's not confusing. We know exactly what it is. It is our brain misinterpreting something as dangerous. But we know now that you are not actually in danger. The pain cannot harm you. It may hurt, but it cannot harm you. The sensation you are feeling is safe. You are okay. You are safe.
I can see through your comments today that some of you are craving a bit more structure. I will provide a sample breakdown that you could use to get yourself started, but there truly is no one right way to implement these techniques. As long as you are working to treat yourself kindly and respond to your pain without fear, you're getting the swing of things. The following is simply an example of what a day in recovery might look like:
Start your day off with a brief
mindfulness meditation. While we haven't specifically talked about mindfulness in this program, you don't need to know a single thing about it before clicking on this audio and giving it a try. It is simply a tool for watching the activity of your mind, which we learned about in the first few days of this program. This audio allows you to watch your thoughts (fear, pressure, and criticism thoughts) and let them go. This is a great way to start your morning, because it's setting a self-compassionate tone for the day.
Now, if that ten minutes of meditation is like drinking a tall glass of water, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be hydrating throughout the day. Continue to watch your thoughts and learn to catch the fearful ones, replacing them with more compassionate messages (See
Day 11 on Cognitive Soothing). Every so often throughout the day, I'd like for you to simply place a hand on your chest and tell yourself that you are safe. I do this dozens of times per day. You can do this quietly to yourself absolutely anywhere. As you're driving to work, in a PTA meeting, at the grocery store, while you're watching TV...simply come back time and time again throughout your day to this simple and kind message: "You are safe."
As your day progresses, your pain might, too. In the busyness of your day, you might stop paying attention to how you're responding to it. You might be growing fearful or you might be pressuring yourself to power through it or ignore it. You might need a reminder halfway through the day that you know what the pain is, and that you're not afraid of it. Make it a point on your lunch break and/or halfway through your day to stop and listen to
Alan's audio from today. It's an awesome way to practice responding to your pain without fear in real time.
The afternoon will turn to the evening, and you will notice your pain dozens more times. That's perfectly fine, it's okay to notice it. Every time you notice the pain, there is an opportunity to respond to it in a new way --without fear. These are opportunities to literally re-wire your neural pathways! You may want to continue using calming and soothing messages, or maybe you'll want to try standing up to the pain through empowerment (See
Day 13). Both calming and empowering messages neutralize fear, and you can experiment with which category feel best for you.
As your evening winds down, take another ten minutes to check in with your body and do some somatic tracking (See
Day 9). Go lay down somewhere quiet and spend a little bit of time attending to the physical sensations in your body. Close your eyes and follow whatever sensations you may be feeling - It there tightness if your chest? Is there tension in your shoulders? Is there pain in your back? Whatever it is, just take a few minutes at the end of your day to practice truly attending to the physical sensations of your body --without fear, without judgement.
Then, right before bed, tell yourself that you did your best for the day, and that your best was enough. No matter if your pain symptoms went up or went down, you did your part. Tomorrow will be another opportunity to tackle your fears and treat yourself kindly.
There you go, that's a sample day in the life of someone working to re-wire their brains and make themselves feel safer in the world! Those are no easy feats, but they are doable and you are capable. Practice makes progress and consistency creates change. Keep it up!
