Fear is most prevalent emotion

When looking at how stressful my life is I have realized the vast majority of my anxiety and pain is to distract me from fear. Fear of returning to a normal life, fear of the massive amount of change, and fear of failure and rejection. Fear of rejection from failure has driven me to push myself beyond my own limits to get through professional school, and I am trying to learn to accept and live in the present, not in fear of the future (harder than it sounds)

 

Yes, fear is a common problem for most of us. We can easily let it worry us so we think the worst.
The more we can live in the present, the less we will fear. I know that's easy to say but we have to
keep trying, keep believing we will get through whatever is troubling us. I believe God will help us,
if we ask His help.

 

rxstevens here is a post by a friend of mine and all at tmswiki, it's by balto. This should be of great benefit to you.

Many people suffered from tms/anxiety for years and years because they couldn't accept Dr. Sarno and Dr. Weekes' teaching. Many, even after they found Sarno and Weekes, they still couldn't heal themselves.
Dr. Weekes very clearly stated that Fear of your symptoms is what keep us sick with MBS. If you analyze Dr. Sarno's teaching, he pretty much say the same thing. He theorize that we unconsciously created symptoms to distract our mind from the pain that come from some strong, negative, and unconscious emotions. If you think about it, the symptoms can only distract you if it can hold your attention and your symptoms can only hold your attention if you fear it or worry about it. We human have a very high tolerance to pain. Most of the tms pain or discomfort don't bother us much, it is the fear of what could happen, the fear of the unknown, or the fear of some thing terrible will happen that can hold our attention. If somehow we can get rid of our fear of the symptoms, the symptoms loose it's power to hold our attention then it loose it's purpose, it will just cease to exist. If you can keep up the good work you have done: "NO FEAR", in time, all of you symptoms will disappear.
Dr. Weekes' thinking is a little different than Dr. Sarno. She didn't think anything happened years ago in our past can trigger symptoms in our body. She think stress, chronic stress or traumatic events is what trigger the symptoms, then our fear of the symptoms took over and keep the symptoms alive. I believe her and I cured myself of all MBS I ever had, and I had ton of them. If you love your body, if you confidence of your body and your mind, if your thoughts are more positive than negative... you can not get MBS.
we all don't like pain, but you have to realize the different between tms pain and normal physical injury pain. Broken leg, nasty cut, hit your head falling down the stair, dog bite, tooth cavity... real physical pain hurt but the different between them tms pain is they don't produce FEAR. They hurt, they bother us, the pain may be too intense to sleep, too painful to move... yet we don't fear them, because we know exactly what they are, what caused them, and they WILL heal.
TMS pain caused fear. We don't exactly know what caused them, we have lots of doubt, we afraid the pain is a sign of something very wrong, we afraid it will turn into something worst, something permanent, something incurable... that fear of what is going to happen is what keep them alive.
Keep analyze the teaching of all these tms teachers and you will find the confidence to stop your fear. They pretty much preaching the same thing: "no fear", don't worry about our health, don't focus too much on ourselves, go out and get a life...
- "Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood." Marie Curie.
- "Fear cannot take what you do not give it." Christopher Coan.
- "Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself." Samuel Butler. (maybe he had tinnitus?)
- "Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is." German Proverb.
- "If a man harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all thinking, damages his personality and makes him a landlord to a ghost." Lloyd Douglas.
- "He who fears something gives it power over him." Moorish Proverb.
- "He who fears to suffer, suffers from fear." French Proverb.
Exposure therapy is also very important. Keep doing what you fear. Do it longer and longer each day. Mentally prepare yourself before doing it. Tell your mind that you will feel pain or discomfort but that is OK, it shall past. Going through tunnels and high bridges trigger panic attack in me. I kept driving through them. I ask a trusted friend to go with me at first "just in case"... slowly and slowly the panic just leave me and now I actually enjoy going over high bridges and tunnels. Be persistent and PATIENCE. Never allow time to scare you back into sickness. It take a long time to think yourself sick, it will take sometime to think yourself well. We all heal at a difference pace.
The 10% you've talked about could all be "conditioning". The bridge and the tunnels are my "conditioning" trigger. Going to party, meeting someone I dislike, dark sky, coffee.... and many many more are my triggers. You have to figure out what is your trigger and deal with it. Deal with them compassionately, deal with them patiently, deal with them confidently,... no fear, no discourage, no hurry... and they will all pass.

 

I love this Reply, It has truth all in it. Thanks Walt.