Day 9 Need clarification about how to respond to symptoms

I'm making progress in my journaling in getting to the core issues underlying some of my emotions. Strange to be reminded of minor incidents in my life that I wouldn't have ever thought of and how they're connected to these issues.

In the link for today's reading, the author seems to suggest that we try to feel our emotions physically. I read a few of her other posts, and she says not to think about WHY you feel the emotion. Is this the way to respond if we feel symptoms? I thought the point was to get to the underlying issues and acknowledge them, but maybe that's only during journaling and not when you encounter symptoms? I would appreciate clarification on this, since I'm not sure whether to rebuke my symptoms, ignore them, or try to focus on my emotions.

 

Hi Kukafei,
I've been following the TMS SEP for a bit over a month so I'm reasonably new too, however, I've had some totally pain free days so I must be doing something right! I find that I do a little bit of each thing you mentioned. I try to ignore my symptoms. They don't stop me doing amything now. They're just the TMS trying to distract you. When I am aware of them I redirect my thoughts to current or past stressors and the related emotions or if I'm putting pressure on myself (fighting too hard maybe). If they're really getting to me I have a quiet, or loud, word with my brain to stop trying to trick and distract me, I want to deal with the emotions.
I hope this helps and wish you luck. If you're like me you'll have great days and feel totally empowered and crappy days and feel like it's almost insurmountable.
Zoe

 

Hi, Kukafei. Recent events definitely can trigger long-repressed emotions. I did some journaling in the SEProgram and realized I had been repressing years of emotional anguish from my parents divorcing when I was seven. The divorce left me with feelings of insecurity. They resurfaced when my closest friends divorced two years ago and I began having severe back pain at that time. Their divorce apparently triggered my repressed emotions about my parents' divorce. Then I went a step further in journaling about my parents and realized they had their own TMS, Mom had migraines, and Dad had bad back pain, all caused by financial problems which were the main reasons they divorced. Understanding my parents better led me to forgiving them
and that led to my back healing.