How to remember things from the past?

[Day-Cee]

Hi all,

I'm trying to build a list of past traumatic events and I'm having little trouble... I do have maybe 10 items but I don't feel that they are major... It's more little things like: heard my parents fight and talk about divorce once...

It's weird cause I remember very little about my past... How did you guys build-up your list? By journaling about little things that you thought not important at the beginning?

Thanks

 

[Tennis Tom]

What purpose are you trying to serve by doing this?

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Day-Cee, you may not yet have discovered the "biggie" from your past that is causing TMS pain.
Or it may not be from that at all. Dr. Sarno says TMS pain can be caused by our personality...
many of us are perfectionists and "goodists" who want everyone to like us.

Keep up the journaling, but also look into your personality.

 

[Tennis Tom]

You may also want to read Nicole Sach's great short TMS book which outlines "JOURNAL SPEAK" and has a great "spread sheet" chart that can be used to track TMS thought processes. She was "cured" by Dr. Sarno and then hand-picked by him to be a group discussion leader. Or you can contact her or SteveO for TMS sessions to put you on the right track.

 

[Mala]

It's Ok if you can't come up with too much. Sometimes it will be like that at the beginning & then sometimes some past memory will jog you into expanding on certain issues. Some ppl are more resistant to journalling & it doesn't come naturally but u will get better if u do it every day. Try not to put too much pressure on yrself, allow yrself to write whatever flows. Don't just focus on a list - maybe instead of just making a list u could expand on one memory & see where that takes you. You could also reread what u write perhaps not on the same day but in the next day or two & see what you can add to that. It doesn't matter if u seem all over the place . Perspective comes later & u can always go back to a certain event.

Hope this helps

Mala