Three Strategies for Thinking Clean

[Forest]

I'm not too sure how familiar everyone is with the work of Monte Hueftle, but I thought I would go ahead and post one of his updates. He gave us permission to repost all of his updates, and most of them are on the wiki at http://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Archive_of_Monte_Hueftle's_Runningpain.com_updates

Hello Everyone;

Your Body Is An Extension of Your Thoughts. This is Truth.
What you think and feel and what you get back are always a match. And so, if you want to get something different, you somehow have to generate different feelings. And you do that with different thoughts.

Most people do not realize the power of their own thoughts. They have no idea that as they complain, judge, control, perfect, strive, worry, pleaseand be overly self-conscious, that they are pinching off their physical well-being. These behaviors and their associated thoughts are closed-off and non-allowing. What you receive in return is a body that is pinched-off, closed, tight and not allowing free movement.

Simply reading these words, even when they are truth doesn't bring you understanding. But the combination of this truth within your daily life experiences, as you put this truth into a real life practice, does bring you the understanding that transforms or reverses this pain disorder.

With this understanding you now want a practice orstrategy that will help you guide your thoughts to be more open and allowing. We know that when we are focusing on pain, on treatments, or on the struggle of ending this pain strategy we are keeping it very alive and active in our life.

Think Clean Strategies that help you redirect into better feeling thoughts.

1. Wouldn't it be nice if...
When you find yourself in worry or you are in a complaining mode --catch yourself and begin to redirect out of these patterns with - Wouldn't it be nice if I had this all figured out or Wouldn't it be nice if my body was open and free. This is a powerful strategy because it begins to lessen resistance and let in the things or feelings that you want.

2. What if right now I did feel...
When you are looking for a positive direction to move into or something to make you feel better and you need a way to pivot intothis new pattern try--What if right now I did feel healthy and vital then what would I be doing, what would I be thinking...Look for things that you want to see and look for things that make you feel better.

3. I want you to know how I feel right now--I feel...
If you find yourself holding in certain feelings and are having challenges with expressing your feelings you must challenge your repressing pattern of holding stuff inside. If you are alone you can always journal - I want you to know how I feel right now, I feel...and now let it out. Even more powerful and transformational is using this strategy inside your relationships. If you commonly decide not to disrupt things andkeep your feelings inside, state the followingto the person you are with-- I want you to know how what you just said or what you just did is making me feel, I feel...and now express how you feel.

These strategies are simple to understand and to apply....do not let this simplicity allow you to underestimate their transformational power. When you consistently practice these strategies in your real life situations you will experience the leverage of having your thoughts and feelings aligned in more open and allowing patterns. Try not to make this about getting the perfect result. Make this a practice of recognizing how you feel and then deliberately redirecting into improved thoughts and feelings. Let that be your success.

Stay the course,

Monte Hueftle

I have always liked how Monte connects the mind to the body. I tend to get caught up in what I am doing and can get very stressed out about things. Then sure enough I will notice a little twinge of pain or some other symptom. I have always liked this post because it gives us a technique to prevent these symptoms from occuring. With that said, I am a little curious if other people do this. What do other people do when they notice that they are stressed out, being perfectionistic, or anxious?

 

[veronica73]

Good stuff. When I'm feeling really anxious about pain or just anxiety itself, I'll sometimes think OK what would I do if I felt relaxed and balanced. Can I still do that even feeling the way I do (usually, yes). And then I just try to move forward and the anxiety usually fades out. Pain usually does too.

 

[Beach-Girl]

Veronica:

You're doing so well! I had a chance to "practice" the other day. Had a phone call out-of-the-blue from someone who was really angry with me. (long story) He took pot shots at me personally as well as professionally. It really shook me up. As I was starting to go into the same old bad self talk, I found myself shifting! I quickly determined that I had done nothing wrong. His comments and the content of his phone call were way out of line - and had nothing to do with me.

It was a great feeling to catch myself. I checked in with my emotions, and thought I was angry. I mean really angry for the way this "friend" of 30 years spoke to me. (he works for me btw, not some stranger who started yelling at me) Anyway, in a matter of minutes I realized I was hurt. Not angry. I sat for a few moments feeling hurt. I went with it, spoke to a friend about it quickly and was able to let the entire episode go within an hour.

Not bad for a TMS'er who has been "stuck". I have been reading Monte's book and it seems to be helping.

BG

 

[Forest]

It was a great feeling to catch myself. I checked in with my emotions, and thought I was angry. I mean really angry for the way this "friend" of 30 years spoke to me. (he works for me btw, not some stranger who started yelling at me) Anyway, in a matter of minutes I realized I was hurt. Not angry. I sat for a few moments feeling hurt. I went with it, spoke to a friend about it quickly and was able to let the entire episode go within an hour.

I'm so glad to hear this. The most important thing I think you wrote was, "I checked in with my emotions." I think we can all benefit from additional awareness of our emotions.

Not bad for a TMS'er who has been "stuck". I have been reading Monte's book and it seems to be helping.

It seems like I always hear that from people who are/were stuck. "I read Monte Hueftle's book and it helped." I don't claim to know what the truth is, but when I hear someone saying that something helped them, that seems important. I know that I set myself up for some flack by posting these updates - one time a TMS Therapist called me up out of concern because Monte doesn't have a formal degree and his writing is informal. But, the bottom line is that people write that his books and updates help them get over their challenges. If it helps people get over pain, that is what really matters.

I had a chance to "practice" the other day.

I'm glad you referred to it this way, BG. I think that recovering from TMS/PPD is similar to learning to meditate in that sometimes the harder you try, the harder it becomes. The key is to think about it as "just practice" (this works with dating, too! ) and just enjoy the ride, keeping your mind steady. That's why "calendar watching" is so important to avoid - it gets us focused on how we are doing rather than focusing outwardly on enjoying our life, content in the unshakeable knowledge that our bodies are fine and this is just TMS.

 

[yb44]

After reading one of Dr Sarno's books a while ago, I was surfing the net and came across Monte's runningpain.com website. I found his videos useful in reinforcing to what I had already read.

BG, one of the useful strategies I learned in therapy was to recognise when something has triggered an unpleasant emotion. Occasionally I would have encounters like the one you described but I used to just dismiss them. However slowly but surely the negative emotion would eat away at me and I would end up exploding at some later date at someone totally innocent, usually a family member and/or I would end up in pain. Now when something happens or someone says something I ask myself "Is this going to bother me?" If the answer is yes, then I know I have to deal with it, rather than bury it. It does take practice and I'm still working on this myself.

 

[Beach-Girl]

BG, one of the useful strategies I learned in therapy was to recognise when something has triggered an unpleasant emotion. Occasionally I would have encounters like the one you described but I used to just dismiss them. However slowly but surely the negative emotion would eat away at me and I would end up exploding at some later date at someone totally innocent, usually a family member and/or I would end up in pain. Now when something happens or someone says something I ask myself "Is this going to bother me?" If the answer is yes, then I know I have to deal with it, rather than bury it. It does take practice and I'm still working on this myself.

Exactly! This is hitting the nail on the head! I could do the same very easily because of my personality. So I'll try and be more mindful of this. Still makes me angry that he yelled at me, but I've really thought about it and this is more about him - than me. He suffers a lot of pain (hmmm) and has become the Town Grump in the past few years. I bet he's a TMS'er too!

Anyway - it's a fine line. And I'm glad you brought that up yb since it really hit me. I think I tend to do the same thing. And who cares if Monte isn't a "professional" - he has the right concept that makes sense!


BG