Worry, catastrophizing, hyper focus, anxiety, pressure, anger are not personality traits. These are just characteristics of thought patterns. You will need to learn that our thoughts are not truth.
You may have many worries, but are those worries all true things happening in this moment, or are they *might* happen in the future? The future is not certain, it’s not even a real time frame: only a mere possibility as is the actually worry. There is a very large percentage that the worry will not become reality. Our brains are programmed to search for these negativities as a primitive strategy to keep us safe - to look for the tiger in the room. When we sense these tigers our nervous system goes on high alert.
TMS skills help us learn to respond in a kinder and more gentle way to the things that trigger this stress response including thoughts. Anger is a reaction to a thought, it’s also an emotion that if we allow our bodies to feel, without judging the sensation it brings and the thoughts it generates eg. Hot face, clenched hands, burning fire in chest, the desire to lash out physically or verbally in self defense when someone says something we don’t like when we just feel those things in our bodies they wash through us within a minute or two and dissipate. We let it go. No tiger.
None of this is personality.
Sarno is explicit in his descriptions of personality types so if you have not read one of his books, please do. If you did, try reading these passages again and perhaps you will gain more understanding.
Eventually you will gain insight into what parts of your personality serve you and what ones have become defense mechanisms that no longer serve you. This is honestly, pretty much a lifelong process and don’t sweat it.
Hyperfocus is a TMS trait - it’s keeping you “safe” by keeping your from feeling emotions. You’ll learn to let go of this over time. It’s anxiety.
So how do we learn to “let go” and deal with all these anxieties and anxious thoughts? By reading Claire Weekes.
She guides you through useful ways, step by step on how to deal with anxiety. Just read one of her small books.
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