HANDY TIPS FOR NOT-SO-GOOD DAYS

This thread isn’t about guidance, answers, cures or dot point ToDo’s, but more about “Oh boy, this is a bad day, surely there is something I can do just now to feel better”. A flare, or a drop in your mood, wrong side of the bed, a harsh word, the myriad of downers – the Bad Day syndrome.

This is following on from “What Else is There – Seriously”, the fact that there are now way over 9000 views to this thread, makes me think there are TMSers who are looking for guidance, chasing that elusive crumb to take the pain away, long term. But what about today. Just today.

I’m not pain free (although I’m certainly feeling better through small positive changes), so I could be talking bunkum. I believe that once you have the knowledge, you persevere with whatever advice resonates to settle and soothe yourself and the answer will surround you. Like religion I guess, you can’t make yourself believe, the belief finds you. No more, no less.

I was hoping people might make suggestions about what gives them a lift. No big words, nothing deep and meaningful, no judgments, just simple little suggestions.

I have a couple of favourites – I sing or hum “Everything is beautiful in its own way”. Or maybe even Jungle Book’s “Bare Necessities”. What about “The Sunny Side of the Street” for us oldies. I think feeling good for a few minutes, is a great start. From little things ……………….

Also @BloodMoon suggestion of repeating a positive word to help your brain feel/become more positive. She describes it well in the above post. This too works for me.

And if I’m honest, wine, but I have to wait until 6pm. Cheers, marls

 

Any tips on exercise. I'm thin and young, but not very athletic and don't have much stamina. Except for walking and doing some studying standing up, I'm not sure what else I can do. I had a 2 day bout with numbness and symptoms after I last got back to yoga. My sleep schedule is off and I feel too tired to do anything else but the bare minimum. I've become stiffer and a tiny bit more hypermobile (my knees hyperextend slightly). My legs have atrophied a bit too. Not sure what to do but I haven't made regular exercise a priority and I still fear it worsening pain. Any ideas on how to cut inflammation/burnout while getting moving, since I'm already worked up a lot? Basically exercise tips for burnout?

 

I sing this song all the time! I work alone a lot doing construction projects, so I have a full playlist of songs I sing to keep myself entertained and happy. I also like to revisit really funny jokes or stand-up stuff (chappelle, bill hicks, jeselnik, etc).
I think it's biologically impossible to LMAO and have symptoms.

Acting like a sane adult is waaaay over rated.

 

A song I'm humming to myself of late is "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" by Johnny Mercer...

"You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
And don't mess with Mister In Between..."

And this is an excerpt from Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Waldman book 'Words Can Change Your Brain' from where I got the idea of repeating a positive word to oneself each day in order to help the brain feel/become more positive (which Marls mentioned about in her opening post in this thread) :

"A single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress. By holding a positive and optimistic word [such as peace, love, gratitude] in your mind, you stimulate frontal lobe activity. This area includes specific language centers that connect directly to the motor cortex responsible for moving you into action. And as our research has shown, the longer you concentrate on positive words, the more you begin to affect other areas of the brain.

Functions in the parietal lobe start to change, which changes your perception of yourself and the people you interact with. A positive view of yourself will bias you toward seeing the good in others, whereas a negative self-image will include you toward suspicion and doubt. Over time the structure of your thalamus will also change in response to your conscious words, thoughts, and feelings, and we believe that the thalamic changes affect the way in which you perceive reality."

 

Do you have the time to incorporate more walking into your schedule? Walking/hiking is gentle and a good way to get back into the habit of moving.

 

Basically exercise tips for burnout?

Sorry Balsa, this is way out of my league to offer any kind of specific advice, although this chap seems quite interesting re how/why walking can calm the brain
"Your Behaviour Won't Be The Same" Dr. Andrew Huberman (Stanford Neuroscientist). Whatever your plan, the ideas, the advice .... start slowly, or even very slowly, but with a gentle yet firm conviction, that whatever you are starting with is doing you good. marls

 

I'm with Marls on this one - it's rather out of my league to offer much advice. What springs to mind though it that you could consider trying Tai Chi or Qigong or just some gentle swaying and movement to music in the privacy of your own home. When my symptoms are at their worst and I can't do very much at all, I just stand up and move around (some gentle walking on the spot, raising my arms up and down, side to side - that kind of thing) in front of the TV while I'm watching it. Exercising at home, of course, has the advantage of being able to stop when you like, start when you like and to pace yourself. (A friend of mine does the latter whilst wearing wrist and ankle weights in order to try maintain and, hopefully, improve muscle mass - she started with very light weights and built up to one's that are a little heavier.) A tip re walking outside for exercise is to do a circular route or to walk up and down a street/area not to far away from your home, so that if tiredness suddenly strikes you, you have more chance of return home before tiredness becomes exhaustion. And as things improve, you can extend your walking route. Good luck.

 

"Accept this moment as if you had chosen it" ~ Eckhart Tolle

Just thought I'd share this as it's a 'trick' that's helping me cope with some situations that I would rather not be in and handle things that I would rather not be having to deal with. I didn't think it would work as my view was that all you're doing is trying to fool yourself, but I've discovered that my brain/mind (at least) is somewhat easily fooled! Here's a link to a video in which Tolle mentions about it (I've posted this elsewhere on the forum, but thought it would be particularly appropriate on this thread) www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDC06-uw6mw