Sitting still with Discomfort

To be clear, I don't view what I do as 'building up tolerance' to sitting in respect of the pain and discomfort that I experience with that activity (as you say, the pain and discomfort are just alarms). I view what I do as gradually showing/proving to my lizard brain that sitting on hard chairs is not dangerous/unsafe. Once my lizard brain gives up on viewing this activity as being dangerous/unsafe, it will stop giving me symptoms/alarms.

And, also to be clear, when I sit on my hard chair I am actually getting on with normal life... watching TV, eating at a dining table, sitting at a desk typing on my computer etc.

I don't advocate "sitting as much as possible through the pain". That's not what I do, so I don't advocate it. I have recovered, for example, from being bedridden and unable to stand up and I didn't need to 'stand as much as possible through the pain' to eventually be able to go from being bedridden to standing without pain.

And these days I don't say to my brain 'I don't care, it's just pain' or advocate saying that either; when I talk to my brain I tell it that it's being ridiculous because there is no need for the symptoms/alarms that it produces.

As you already sit a lot to include on hard chairs, then imo you don't need to make a point of increasing the amount you sit (whereas I do need to gradually do so because I don't in my everyday life normally sit on uncomfortable chairs and seats like people do who have to go out to work, commute etc.). So, all you needed to do was to ignore the introductory part of my posting where I am explaining about my particular circumstances because you knew it didn't apply to you...

However, you were telling us how sitting makes you irritated and agitated and seemingly asking for advice about this, so the bulk of my detailed reply to you was essentially describing to you how I deal with that kind of issue (in my bullet points 1 to 4) when I sit.

Saying "please don't take it that way" doesn't mean that it isn't a criticism (saying "please don't take it that way" is a deflection, making me appear to be 'the bad guy' if I react to your criticism of me with criticism of you).

I believe your criticism to be very unfair, as is the implication that I have been impatient with you.

There are people on these forums who do not entertain your or anyone else's 'solutionalising' and often show impatience about it; I am not one of them.

I have spent a lot of time and trouble replying to you in great detail with considered suggestions and ideas of how you could proceed etc., discussing about things that you have wanted to discuss with forum members about your difficulties, concerns, the theories you have, etc.

In another thread you started the other day, for instance, I was one of the very few willing to discuss with you about 'TMS vs CS'. Some of those who replied to you on that thread gave you extremely short shrift, but I noticed you replied to their postings in a pleasant manner without criticising any of them, but with me it's a different matter. I guess that's because I ask challenging questions that your lizard brain is not liable to like.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck for a good outcome on the rest of your journey.

 

Wow Diana, I might end up ordering it as well if it’s that good! Would you mind sharing which techniques you have taken with you from the book?