Fear

OK so since finding TMS I fully believe this is caused by the brain. By my emotions. I am totally convinced.
I'm using my body normally abd not avoiding certain movements etc and took away all my special props. All this is improvement
HOWEVER I am stuck with fear. Fear of my brain. Fear of the fact my brain causes it and fear I can not control it. All of this is doubt in my ability to heal myself.
Someone please help me lose my fear and doubt.

 

Watch this video and actually do what Dan Buglio tells you to do in it and keep doing it over and over again:



Do the same with this Dan Buglio video:



And then stick 'Fear' in the search link on Dan's YouTube channel. A load of videos will come up regarding fear. Watch at least one of them every single day. Think about what Dan advises; do what Dan advises.

Stick 'Doubt' in the search link on Dan's channel. A load of videos will come up regarding doubt. Watch at least one of them every single day. Think about what Dan advises; do what Dan advises.

 

I do already watch Dan's videos. Thank you though these are good ones.

I feel like not a lot of people fear their brains and I cant get out of the loop

 

Sorry, but that's utter rubbish! Dan's whole channel is about people fearing their TMSing brains and how they can get out of it. He wouldn't have all the subscribers that he has if people weren't in a loop of fear and seeking help to get out of it. (And he wouldn't have all the success stories he has on his channel if his suggestions for eliminating fear and doubt weren't the reason for the vast majority of his 'customers' losing their TMS symptoms; his videos would concentrate on something else, rather than doubt and fear, if that were the case.)

There's a difference between watching Dan's videos and actually doing what he advises. You need to do what he advises over and over and over again... rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat...

You are not a special case; you're like majority of people with TMS, living in fear of their TMSing brains and in fear of other things in their lives. Sure there are some people who say to themselves "whoopy do - I'm over the moon that I have TMS and I don't have something physically wrong with me!" but from all of my years of reading posts and answering posts on this forum, they are in the minority. I repeat - you are not a special case!

 

Haha thank you. I think I may have worded that slightly poorly lol. It's more a case of I'm scared I don't have control of my brain that it controls me. A lot of people doubt the diagnoses. Where as I think I hear TMS and think oh crap does that mean I'm crazy

 

I realised that in this thread you weren't saying that you doubted the diagnosis, i.e. the 'diagnosis' that your brain is TMSing and causing you symptoms.

Do what Dan advises, over and over and over again, to combat and stop what your brain is doing. You are not powerless!

A brain that TMSes is NOT a crazy brain; it's just an overprotective brain. You can stop it from being overprotective by doggedly and persistently doing what Dan advises.

 

You can read all the books and watch all the videos but until you start to actually apply what they are telling you and stay consistent with it you won’t make any progress.

This work is hard. It’s not meant to be easy.

 

Sometime back I posted a video from Tanner Murtaugh a TMS therapist who spoke directly to this increased anxiety, which is what I had, towards the perceived responsibility of dealing with TMS. I am here to say you can get over this. Part of being in the loop is your choice (yes, it is a choice) to stay stuck where you are. I used the STOP method to get out of this. I start to think I can’t do this, or I don’t understand something and say “stop overthinking” and refocus on something else. My mind would go immediately back to the thought and I’d say “no” and refocus. Finding highly engaging activities: audio books, hobbies, other responsibilities I found challenging eg. Cleaning, cooking etc refocused my mind. Eventually I could laugh at these thoughts and then they went away.
Many others replaced them, it’s a symptom imperative because after all this thought pattern is only another TMS symptom to distract you from doing the TMS work… so I’d use this process again until I could use Claire Weekes floating method for it all. Claire describes all these methods in her books - the StOP method (which is what someone calls it now) is the same as the method she uses for insomnia or morning anxiety. Her books are gold.
I had no idea how much of a stumbling block this mindset was until hearing Tanner discuss it.
Fear is only anxiety, you need to stop pushing away the physical sensations of dread and allow them. When anxiety arises, say hello. Then fear and dread come over you, say hello.. exactly as you do all other symptoms of TMS. It’s only the THOUGHTS about it you tell yourself to stop. The sensations you allow.

 

I relate with your question. For me it was pretty quick understanding my symptoms were TMS. Nonetheless, I would be afraid of not healing just because I'm too addicted to my anxiety, and it was were this journey really began for me. Then after much reading, youtube etc. I started understanding better how this fear was itself a symptom. And then the idea of you not being your thoughts started to gain more shape.

There's a fantastic post here by tgirl, about how the ego is responsible for the catastrophic reactions we have to symptoms:
https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/a-friend-sent-me-this-in-the-past-and-i-thought-it-could-help-others.28945/ (A friend sent me this in the past and I thought it could help others)

If you're into meditation, start searching videos for shoonya meditation. It's a kind of meditation that focus on the tiny void between thoughts or sensations. For me it works better than mindfulness (I recommend both actually), but unfortunately I never saw it out there in TMS books/vids.

 

Thank you for sharing this thread - as you said, great post by her

 

I love that line, "I am here to say you can get over this." There's real power there, peer-to-peer.
That's also exactly the message I got from Dr. Sarno when I first read his books. I focused on that a lot--here is somebody I now believe and trust clearly telling me that, yes, I can succeed.

Here is the thread where @Cactusflower posted a video from Tanner Murtaugh:
(@BloodMoon also posted one of Tanner Murtaugh's videos in another thread.)

https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/brain-retraining-practice-a-talk-about-mindset-and-a-practice.27987/ (Brain Retraining Practice: a talk about mindset, and a practice)