inner critic

[blackdog]

I realized today that what I think of as myself is largely compromised of the inner critic. I've been living through him for so long that he seems like the real deal. I see through this more lately and am able to see my Self, but moment to moment is generally comprised of him and his influences I think. At least I see this, always the first step to change. Thanks,

Andrew

 

[Walt Oleksy (RIP 2021)]

Hi, Andrew. Tell your inner critic to take a vacation from you. A permanent one.
Our inner critic or Inner Bully as TMSers call him, can be a helpmate, however.
It can get us thinking about ourselves and that leads to TMS knowledge.

What are your pain symptoms? Has a doctor ruled out they are structural? If so, they are psychological and you are a candidate for TMS.
I healed from severe pack pain after learning it wasn't structural. A friend told me to read Dr. John Sarno's book, Healing Back Pain,
and after following his advice, I healed. I learned that my pain came from repressed emotions going back to my childhood. They were anger
at my parents and older brother. I did some journaling and that led me to understand that they had their own TMS repressed emotions.
That led me to forgiving them and myself.

Your inner critic or bully will calm once you work on your repressed emotions. But you have to believe in that 100 percent.

If you haven't yet, I recommend starting the Structured Education Program which is free in one of the forums. It will show you steps to take
to heal your symptoms.

Here is a very helpful video explaining TMS, from another member of our community, Herbie:

http://tmswiki.org/forum/threads/what-to-know-to-heal-from-pain-pt-1.5482/

 

[blackdog]

Thanks Walt, I can tell that you like to help the new members on here. I suppose that would be a natural response to awakening and freeing yourself from pain for most people. I have been working on my inner critic, but do still have work to do. I have had a litany of pain issues from head to toe during the last few decades and am almost always in pain somewhere. I have seen a TMS doc and been given the diagnosis. Doctors could never find anything of import, aside from a bulging disk in my neck that is very minor, but from where I have a good deal of pain. I know that my well of sadness and fear of loneliness are immense, as well as the rage in me. I know that I fit into the TMS model perfectly both personality and symptom wise. I know that my past makes me an ideal candidate. What I don't know is how to believe that my pain is not structural (even without any diagnosis from doctors). There are a few PT exercises that do help with the pain, I think that is one problem. Stretch laying also provides a fair amount of short term relief for my back. And I have apparently created a new pain for myself within the last week by trying to push past what I thought of as a limit in a certain exercise (I pushed past some pain, but now have some weird new pain issues I never had before). I thought that was what you were supposed to do, but now my fear is in high gear and I am concerned that even if it is not a real issue it will become one because of the fear and then I will have a hard time not seeing it as further evidence that things are structural. With so many different pain issues it just seems so difficult to find courage to do more exercising or to not believe it is structural (i.e. that it all flows out from some issue like SI joint dysfunction - that is my main fear really, but one that apparently the medical community is terrible at diagnosing, so maybe they just missed it). I want to beat this and I want to grow and I want to become confident in myself and inhabit my life more fully. I am pretty frustrated right now. I have done reading and a fair amount of work and am I am on Day 4 of the SEP currently. I want to have faith and belief in this so I can heal. Thanks again,

Andrew