Mind over matter, literally

I started thinking the other day of all the times my mind overcame my body. With some TMS symptoms—and even in normal health scenarios—I was successfully able to forbid them to ever happen. Here are some examples.

1. In high school, while on a swim team, I never wanted to miss practice. Sometimes if I were coming down with a cold, I’d come home from school, lie down on my bed, and forbid the cold. I would just say,”I refuse to get this cold. I need it to go away now.” I would take a nap, and I’d get up without the cold and go to my nightly swim practice. Sounds crazy, I know. But I did that many times.

2. All my life, I have always said, “I will never get cancer. I refuse it.” And so far I haven’t.

3. When I was menopause age, I said, “I refuse menopause symptoms. I just refuse to have them.” And I’m serious. I never did. Not one symptom. Not one hot flash. Nothing.

4. In 2001, when all my most recent symptoms came on, I got vertigo one day. I thought maybe it was from my ears being clogged up, so I laid on the couch for two days with a heating pad on my ear. I felt horrible. Then I read something that said vertigo and dizziness can be TMS, so I tried the forbid thing again. I said, “I refuse to have this.” And I was mad! I meant business. Guess what? It went away. Gone. Never has it returned.

5. Several times I’ve had a split second of tinnitus. “No!” I tell my brain. “No way. Make this stop now!” And it stopped.

6. Also in 2001, I was scrubbing the bathroom and I got tingling in my left hand. I still have it. For the longest time, it would start to also tingle in my right hand, and I told it,”No way!” It would recede. Then finally, after about 2 years of that, it took over my right hand too. But for awhile, I held it off!

7. In 2017, when I discovered Sarno’s Divided Mind, I learned that seasonal allergies are TMS. I had gotten to the point I stayed inside every spring because my allergies were so bad. I was sick and tired of the cage I was living in. I loved taking walks outside, and I was missing so much. I got the Sarno info and I just said one day, “I refuse to have this allergy anymore.” And from that day, it was gone. I sit outside for hours in the highest pollen count and I don’t even get a sniffle. It’s weird! I’m still amazed.

I love this quote from Alan Gordon, in Lesson 10 of the Pain Recovery Program:

“Neural pathway pain arises in those with a strong mindbody connection. Not everyone can generate such powerful physical sensations with their brain. My favorite analogy for this comes from Star Wars: “The Force” is stronger in some than others. And fear is the path to the dark side.”

We TMSers have strong brains! The Force is with us. We just need to coach them, I guess. And BELIEVE! When I believe and mean business, I have succeeded. I wish, oh how I wish, I could do that for my current symptoms. Maybe I need to try harder!

Obviously, healing from TMS is a journey, and requires usually always time, and a lot of work. I’ve been working pretty hard for relief on my latest multiple symptoms, with not a lot of headway yet. It can be pretty discouraging! To cheer myself up, I thought of these strange anomalies in my TMS/health history. And I realized, yes, my brain DOES listen to the conscious mind sometimes.

I know right now that anxiety has run rampant for the last 4 years and I’m in the process of teaching my brain that I am SAFE. I need to keep at it! Maybe soon, the Force will kick in.