Feeling the tension

I just got hit with a bout of lower back pain after being TMS free for a long time and what I have been doing is listening to Sarno's books on a regular basis. I came across this passage from The Mindbody Prescription and it jumped out at me and thought it might help someone else. What stands out for me is how feeling tense which he says is the appropriate response to being tense is too unpleasant to bear and is not as socially acceptable as having something physically wrong. What I've been doing, along with confronting my brain about the physical pain, is to allow myself to feel tense rather than fighting it. As a result, I seem to be feeling a lot less tense and possibly less pain. Here is the passage:
". . . the purpose of a physical manifestation of tension is to deceive. Our brains have decided that feeling tense, which is the appropriate response to being tense, is too unpleasant to bear and is not as socially acceptable as having something physically wrong. And so the brain makes a few adjustments in circuitry and instead of looking and acting like a nervous wreck, presto - a bellyache or a backache."

 

Thanks for this. So clear, so understandable, so "matter of fact."

There is tension, and it will find its way to reality, one way or another...

"I'd rather be in pain than show the world I am a nervous wreck." The primitive, survival action. There is a tenderness in this realization, a compassion for our human condition. It also shows the superego attachment to self image, and who we think we have to be to be loved and safe.

 

Thanks for your reply. They are words I can use.