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success with affirmations...finally

blake

blake

Well known member
Several times since starting tms healing I have tried to use positive affirmations. The idea sounded pretty good to me: say positive things to yourself, change your negative outlook and feel better. But every time I tried, I met with so much inner resistance. It was like part of me was saying, "are you kidding me with this stuff." It was a very angry part of me that felt like I was trying to repress it with my positive thoughts and sugar-coat bed feelings. This anger wanted to be heard. And so I journaled, wrote angry letters, cried a whole bunch, then cried some more and punched a few pillows along the way.

Then finally one day, not long ago, it felt like something had changed. I just didn't feel as angry anymore. I could actually stay in the present for a little while without ruminating. I started looking around me a bit more instead of always being in my head. So I decided to give affirmations another try. And it worked! Felt really wonderful to repeat these positive thought to myself. Affirmations feel like getting the love and encouragement I never received as a child. I cannot tell you how happy (and surprised) I am. So glad I gave it another try.

I think counts as a success, right?
 
It is, Blake! Well, there still can be bumpy roads ahead time to time, because TMS is such a wicked witch that keeps trying to poke you when you are mindless.
I remember you and I shared many feelings and ideas during the TMS healing process, so this success story means a lot to me.

I'm still dealing with the inner resistance, and my symptoms are recently moving around and changing their phases everyday. This really annoys me but also confirms me that they are all TMS. The randomness, sharpness, and restlessness of my TMS symptoms of course puts me into psychological volatility many times, but I gradually learn to avoid or just accept them as ordinary daily happenings.

I often use short prayers as my affirmation, and I love the positive wishes and feelings I feel when I recite them. I hope I can soon have a good outcome as you did!

Thank you very much for your insights :)
 
Thanks for your kind thoughts and words, seraphina. Sounds like you're getting a handle on your wicked witch, even though she seems to be giving you a run for your money right now!
Yes, that's so true about TMS poking us when we're mindless. I used to want to just heal, get it over with and go on with my life without having to think about any of it anymore. Over the last few months, I realized that it does not work like that. To remain pain free, I need to process my emotions on an ongoing basis. Sounds pretty basic, I know, but I really did not do that before. I wanted to feel the way I thought I should feel in any given situation. And as we know, that is the perfect recipe for tms.

Warm thoughts,
Blake
 
Blake,

Congrats you are well on your way to recovery. The light is starting to shine through and let it come. Its a great feeling, i know what your experiencing. Keep it up, I love how you surrendered and let go, is when your healing took place. It took me a while to get out of my head and live life. To live for a higher purpose. Us tmsers try to fix everything and worry why its not working. As Carl Jung said what you resists will persists. Every emotion and pain is a part of you. All the emotions, good and bad are in every human being. Accept them and they will flow through. Best of luck with your continued success. We are what we believe.

Ryan
 
Thanks for sharing such a great story. There has been some real wisdom in people's posts. It makes me so happy to see that people are getting it!

Sometimes you have to mix techniques to get to where you want to get. Some times you have to get things out of your system before you can focus on positivity, but it's important to get back to positivity and affirmations after! It's great that you seem to understand that the key is listening to what you mind and body are telling you.

Affirmations have been used very effectively by many. We have a terrific page about them for anyone who'd like to learn about them:
http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Affirmations
 
Thank you, Ryan and Forest!
It does feel like I'm starting to get it. Something has shifted recently and I'm feeling pretty optimistic.

Warm regards,
Blake
 
Walt, I say that one a lot. I also say, "All is well and all is well, all manner of thing shall be well," St. Julien of Norwich.

Blake, your encouraging post really resonated with me as I too feel like I've been having a bit of a breakthrough. It occurred to me as I was heading to bed…I just paused and realized I was, well, just GRATEFUL. Not for anything in particular...just in a state of gratitude. And it just felt different. Can't even explain it much.

We're healing….yay!
 
blake said:
Several times since starting tms healing I have tried to use positive affirmations. The idea sounded pretty good to me: say positive things to yourself, change your negative outlook and feel better. But every time I tried, I met with so much inner resistance. It was like part of me was saying, "are you kidding me with this stuff." It was a very angry part of me that felt like I was trying to repress it with my positive thoughts and sugar-coat bed feelings. This anger wanted to be heard. And so I journaled, wrote angry letters, cried a whole bunch, then cried some more and punched a few pillows along the way.

Then finally one day, not long ago, it felt like something had changed. I just didn't feel as angry anymore. I could actually stay in the present for a little while without ruminating. I started looking around me a bit more instead of always being in my head. So I decided to give affirmations another try. And it worked! Felt really wonderful to repeat these positive thought to myself. Affirmations feel like getting the love and encouragement I never received as a child. I cannot tell you how happy (and surprised) I am. So glad I gave it another try.

I think counts as a success, right?
Click to expand...

Fantastic.
Any possibility you could share a few examples?

Joseph Murphys power of the subconscious mind is a really interesting read.
Currently I am doing the meditations daily and then playing the 12 daily reminders straight after. Murphy says that if u get relaxed enough its easier to imprint onto the subconscious mind. Everything you tell it becomes truth as it is completely beholden to conscious thoughts/desires.
This explains the placebo but especially the nocebo. If you believe, like I did at 18, that you have the spine of an old man then guess what>?
the body makes it reality.
 
Hi, IrishSeptic. You're absolutely right about how we think of our body and pain.
I was 82 when I developed severe back pain, then learned about TMS and read Dr. Sarno's book
Healing Back Pain and began the journey to TMS knowledge. Journaling led me self-discovery
and forgiving those who gave me TMS symptoms. That healed by aching back.

Two years have passed in which I have been pain-free and become a happier, healthier person.

I laugh at how you put it about the spine, because it is so true. I was 82 and thought I had
the spine of an old man. I'm almost 85 now and still think my spine is only 30.

In this busy modern world we take the calendar and the clock so seriously.
I think of American Indians who lived long ago. They lived in the present moment,
taking each day as it came, and not weighing their spirit down by thinking of themselves
aging every day and year. There was never a clock or calender in their tepee.
 
Hi Irish sceptic,

I've tried many different affirmations for different areas of my life. For tms management, I use a very basic one. When I feel the pain coming on and my mind starts in with the panic thoughts (oh no, not again! How long will this last? Why is this happening?), I stop what I'm doing, take a few deep breaths and repeat : everything is going to be ok. It's just tms, you know what to do. It calms the panicky part down. It's like a parent talking to a child.

Then, once I'm calm, I use my tms healing technique, which for me is parts therapy, aka internal family systems. So I definitely agree with you that a calm mind is more receptive to new ideas.
 
Blake, thanks for sharing that. Your affirmations are great and can help everyone.

I remember when I was a boy how healing it was when my mother told me, "Everything is going to be okay."
That was nearly 80 years ago. It helped then and it helps now.

She didn't know about TMS but I do and I add that to my affirmation, as you do.

She also said "Everything will come out in the wash."
Like dirt stains will come out in the laundry.

Maybe she meant everything will work itself out. That is often true, too. But TMS knowledge helps a lot.
 
Doesn't it sound too simple to even work? Yet amazingly it does. It's interesting that you mention your childhood memory, Walt, because I use this technique with my 11-year old and it works wonder. When spoken with authority and confidence those simple words really are helpful.
 
blake said:
Affirmations feel like getting the love and encouragement I never received as a child.
Click to expand...
What a great way of looking at - and a good reason for using - affirmations! I have often felt helpless to make up for the love and encouragement I never received when I was a kid. I once heard my mother telling a family friend that she never praised me because she "didn't want me to become a big head"; what a huge mistake for any parent to make!
 
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