Thanks for this clear guidance. This is my experience also. I guess it is not everyone's?
Absolutely, Andy. It's not everyone's, and also, I employ a number of different strategies as well, depending on the day, depending on where I'm at--I do think have a great variety of tools in one's TMS tool-box is very helpful.
The more I learn about how to heal TMS from a knowledge-standpoint, the better I am able to apply the concepts to a variety of TMS symptoms in different circumstances. It's getting to the point now that any time a symptom arises or a negative-thinking spiral starts, I have so many tools that I am able to arrest the negativity, redirect, sometimes stop symptoms, and more and more often stop my fear of symptoms.
When I'm feeing defeated, I remind myself how far I have come, how challenging it can be to change behaviour and conditioning, and how the most important aspect of change is to just keep going; again, I really like Claire Weeke's approach of "floating" and "waiting for time to pass" because often, us TMS'ers seem to want to solve the issue, to think, analyze, figure it out, and I have found that I can just acknowledge I'm having symptoms, feeling a little (or a lot) negative, and wait for time to pass, without trying to "figure it all out". At the beginning of my TMS journey, I definitely tried to figure it all out and would get frustrated if I wasn't doing it perfectly. This applies to life as well (as do all of the TMS learnings, of course); I'm learning to be less of a perfectionist, and to just allow things to be as they are--this is an on-going process, of course.
I also use SteveO's approach of just giving my symptoms a WHAT-FOR...getting pissed off at my symptoms and telling them to give me their best but it's not going to matter, I am going to live my life. It's been important for me to distinguish between obsessively getting angry at my symptoms, and getting angry at my inner bully for trying to lure me into obsessing about my symptoms. Subtle, yet critical difference for me.
And then again, at other times, I use the self-soothing approach of loving my inner child and telling her she is safe and loved and okay and doing so well.
Another fave is to imagine Dr. Sarno has God-like vision on my entire body and systems and is telling me unequivocally that there is absolutely nothing wrong with my body from a physical standpoint.
I've recently been having successing coming back to my breath--feeling the inhale and exhale and doing a yogic breath of fire where I make the inhale and exhale audible. It gives me something to focus on and again, brings me into the precious present moment.
And, I use cannabis on a decently regular basis. I know this is controversial, but there it is. I've had a lot of success with it.
Oh, and I've recently taken to Adult Colouring books! So soothing and relaxing as you really have to focus. Once the kids have been put to bed, I have a toke, listen to the CBC (I'm Canadian
, and get colouring. Some may find this weird, but I absolutely love this time!
So, as you can see, I also use several different approaches.
