Day 10 Doing the work

Today, make a brief forum post about how you are doing with the treatment. If you still have any doubts about the TMS approach, include those in your post. If you have had an aha! moment or have found a certain technique helpful, post about that. Also, if you have any questions or concerns, ask them and someone will answer your question.

I am doing okay with the SEP. Sometimes I skip days, and I'm okay with that. I feel I've reached a plateau with the back pain, but I am still optimistic. I did a lot of driving yesterday and today which made my back pain a bit worse. Today I reminded myself that my mind was telling my back it was in more pain, and that it had nothing to do with any physical reason.

The journal writing is kind of a chore, but I really like it when I discover how angry I really am sometimes. Today I wrote about someone I work with, and it felt good to really feel the anger without holding back. I held back the anger before as a coping mechanism to have a functional working relationship with this person. But writing in my journal in the safety of my own home I can be as angry as I want!

I also had an aha! moment today. It's okay if I slip up with my emotions sometimes. I felt bad for not being in better control while dealing with my Internet Service Provider (I was really angry but it's not like I was screaming at them or anything), but then later today I realized that I'm only human!

 

Skipping a day is ok. Rememeber, the goal is to be kind to yourself.

Why exactly do you think thatn journal writing is a chore. Does it not bring the buried emotions out?

 

Journal writing is a chore to me because I usually don't really feel like doing it. Just like doing dishes.

 

Hi, Ceturner. I guess you'll just have to bite the bullet and force yourself to do the journaling.
It's very important in TMS healing.
You may be afraid you're going to discover some repressed emotions. Don't be afraid, welcome them, because they will lead you to healing.

As for not liking to do the dishes. Maybe think beyond that, something pleasant you will do after you do the dishes.
And be glad and grateful you have a kitchen to do the dishes in. Some people in the West have lost their homes to fires,
and others around the country have lost their homes in tornadoes. Lucky you... you can wash your dishes.

Enjoy your day.

I had three days of Internet and telephone problems... couldn't use the phone or Internet. Three repairmen and three days it took to solve the problem.
It was a bad modem. I felt like screaming, but instead I laughed at how technology can be a pile of doo-doo.

 

Thanks for all your responses everyone, but the journal writing is not a big deal. It's not like I can't stand doing it (or the dishes for that matter). I just made a small comment about it being "kind of a chore" in my original post, putting emphasis that I like what I get out of it. I know it's importance and I do it when I can. I didn't intend to sound like I was complaining about it.

 

Oh, it's okay! I am amazed at the amount of work you and Walt put in each day, responding to posts with meaningful comments. The support you two offer (as well as from other members) is amazing.

 

Hi, Ceturner. Jan and I are just two of the many who care and want to help others heal from TMS, but I appreciate your "amazement."
I only spend about an hour a day replying to posts. I don't think it's good for anyone to spend more than an hour a day working on their TMS symptoms and "issues." It's very important to spend between half an hour and an hour on them, but anything more just keeps our mind too much on our pain or the emotions causing it. I agree with Jan about that.

Try to enjoy yourself the rest of the day.

 

Thich Nhat Hanh sums this up so well ...

While washing the dishes one should only be washing the dishes, which means that while washing the dishes, one should be completely aware of the fact that one is washing the dishes. At first glance, that might seem a little silly: why put so much stress on a simple thing? But that’s precisely the point. The fact that I am standing there and washing these bowls is a wondrous reality. I’m being completely myself, following my breath, conscious of my presence, and conscious of my thoughts and actions. There’s no way I can be tossed around mindlessly like a bottle slapped here and there on the waves.

While washing dishes, you might be thinking about the tea you’re going to drink afterwards, and so try to get them out of the way as quickly as possible in order to sit and drink tea. But that means that you are incapable of living during the time you are washing the dishes. When you are washing the dishes, washing the dishes must be the most important thing in your life. Just as when you’re drinking tea, drinking tea must be the most important thing in your life.

 

Yes, CE, I'm with Jan on this. Sometimes "doing the dishes" is just a simple analogy, without any deeply repressed emotions to excavate. But one thing you can count on is that when you want support, you'll get it on this forum. One thing (among many) the SEP did for me was to help me realize that my pain was pointing out what I needed or needed to do - i.e., NOT do the dishes! Rather, to get more respect at home, more time for me, etc. So, fortunately, I rarely do the dishes as I have now taught others in my household to be self-reliant and taught myself to take time for myself. Enough about the dishes . . . time to move on to dessert, or a movie, an evening stroll, or a nice bubble bath