How Much Information is truly necessary to heal?

I think this topic is of particular interest for many. I attended a recent seminar on how Neurofeedback affects arousal cycles. They touched upon success stories of PTSD, people in physical pain and how stress affects people who are depressed, anxious or both.

Im not here to tell people how wonderful Neurofeedback is, though it has been for me, but I am here to outline the many many ways to heal. And most of all what is the big picture.

At the end of the seminar, after many days of looking at brainwaves, amplitude, learning about brain plasticity, on and on. I felt like my head could no longer absorb information. I heard the words " The quality of your life is determined by the focus of your attention." I stood up, I wrote it down. There it was, everything I needed to know. Only, I already know it.

I realize that sometimes we miss that so many people are telling us the same thing. This happened with me so many times. In the past I read and re-read people's success stories. I read and read books on TMS. I guess I was looking too hard. Perhaps, we somehow don't understand so we read something else and then, someone says it just differently and a light goes on.

It sounds too simple, but there is a difference between simple and easy. It is simple. It's literal and metaphoric. It is what Sarno meant when he stated that people should resume their life. Alan Gordon stated it many times through his Pain Recovery Program. Claire Weekes' program is basically accept and continue your life. It is what Michael Singer states in his books, it is literally the core of many many pain recovery, brain training, CBT, ACT, Somatic, etc etc. All of it works, all of it is training our brain, all of it has many complexities if you dive deep into it and realize that something called the executive network and the default mode network function between when were stuck to when we are not. But that isn't important, it's all happening whether we know it or not. All we really have to know is that it works.

So, how much do you really have to know to recover? For me, it was obvious, I had to get my hands on every piece of literature regarding the nervous system and the brain.

I hope this can help people who are struggling.

 

You literally do not need to know any of the hard science of the brain in order to heal from TMS. I'll go one step further and say that it's better to avoid that type of scientific info., research and theories. All of that material is problematic for the layperson because it can you to get too bogged down with technical concepts that are easy misunderstood. Another huge problem is that the reader (this happened to me) can form mental images of things that have no bearing in reality. I would paint absurd pictures in my head of activated glial cells for example. It was cartoonish and caused me more anxiety. Combing through scientific articles can be triggering, confusing and just muddies up the waters. Yet another issue is that even scientists and medical experts still do not know everything. The unknown is vast. The focus must be on your EMOTIONS...the psychology and the practical business of living your LIFE. Not only is all that technical/scientific info., unnecessary, but it's potentially distracting and anxiety- provoking. I would compare it to reading other people's personal stories and theories or obsessing over herniations and abnormalities. It's counter productive.

If a person want to heal, they could do so just by reading one of Dr. Sarno's books and living their life. I'm not exaggerating when I say this. I usually recommend that people read 2 or 3 books maximum. More than that is repetitive and just feed the TMS traits of striving and perfectionism.

 

. I seem to recall, Steve O. did not want readers to read his book more than once either. The goal is to live and not stay in the searching, gathering data phase.

 

Agreed. And I hope that someone out there who is doing what I did can take a step back an stop. The funny thing was all I ever needed to know was said to me multiple times, in many ways, very simply and it just passed me every time.

Maybe there is a forum post somewhere that helps people stop googling, stop reading books, just hitting the brakes.

 

I think sometimes people fall into the trap they they need to "do" "more", that more is somehow better. Especially TMS personality types. If I journal more, meditate more, read more etc etc etc...it's the ticket to speeding up recovery. I would say the exact opposite is true. It's a case of diminishing returns. Step 1 is getting the knowledge and step 2 is putting it into practice. All the rest is a hamster wheel imo. There is no secret recipe, magic formula or mystical journey. It's a banal, gradual, annoying process lol. It's not rocket science and it's not magic. It's like learning to play a song on the piano. Even if one has zero talent, you play the notes enough times...it just becomes automatic after awhile.

 

You need to learn enough to put your mind at ease about any and all situations. Settle down the mind activity and then KNOW that the pain is merely a mental distraction.


Once you feel this way you are there. Doesn’t mean you won’t ever relapse, but this was true for me.

I made that sound so easy. It’s a journey of in becoming more mentally fit. Takes however long it takes. Could be years. I’m jealous of those it happened in a day.