How long do you read TMS books on a typical day?

To each his own. That's the first lesson in doing this work. There are a ton of resources out there, but the journey is unique to each individual. I can say definitively that recovery has nothing to do with the amount of time you spend - it's what you do with the knowledge you receive.

Some people just keep devouring content (written or audio or video) but don't actually ever make a commitment to doing the emotional work. They will have some success, but we see an enormous number of people who come back here to report that their success did not last. The folks who finally do the deeper emotional work are the ones who establish the long-term tools that work for them to maintain their mental and physical health.

Back in 2011, I read Dr. Sarno's 2008 book (The Divided Mind), found this forum and almost immediately started doing the Structured Educational Program. At the same time I read Hope & Help For Your Nerves by Claire Weekes, which I call the second book that saved my life. Those two books and the SEP were the foundation of my long-term recovery and they helped me to develop the skills I still use today to get back on track in the fact of the inevitable setbacks. I did not stop learning - my profile page lists many resources that I found extremely valuable as I fine-tuned and increased my personal knowledge base and outlook about the lifelong journey that is the mindbody connection. I also consider my twelve years of participation here on the forum as another resource for learning new things, and refining how to communicate the knowledge and skills.

The bottom line is this: at some point you have to buckle down and do the work. The SEP is kind of old and admittedly has some dead links, but it's still a really good starting point, as it's free, there's no registration, and it's easily accessible from our main tmswiki.org web site.

 

In 2011 I was 60 years old, and I'd had stress-related physical symptoms, off and on, my entire life. I believe that I was born with anxiety (which is another story). Many smart doctors over the decades assured me that I was perfectly healthy, but that I seemed to be very anxious and perhaps I should do something about that (I didn't, but each time they told me that, the current symptoms would magically disappear). Marriage and career kept me distracted most of the time, and I coped with symptoms when they came along. Until 2010/2011, when I became single again, and I no longer had the stress of maintaining a relationship to keep me distracted. And I turned 60, which I believe was a big trigger - we know that aging is a known inducer of repressed rage. Anyway, I spent a year or so with symptoms that kept piling on, consulting a number of alternative practitioners without much change, until by the summer of 2011 I was well on the road to becoming housebound with dizziness, shaky legs, multiple pain symptoms, lots of GI problems, panic attacks, and even depression for the first time in my life. When I stumbled on a recommendation to read The Divided Mind I experienced a HUGE amount of almost instant relief (and I think any of Dr Sarno's earlier books would have done the trick). In fact, what later learned is that I experienced the miracle of "the book cure". But I knew I needed more, which is why I did the SEP. My life changed, and even at 72, even after four years of worsening world dysfunction, and a decade of cultural, political, and technological world stress, along with some serious and unexpected personal losses in 2012 and 2014 of people who were very important to me - I'm still so much better off than I was 13 years ago. And not housebound, not by any stretch of the imagination.