Apr 30, 2021
On this episode of our How To Series, I discuss how to cope with other people’s questions, opinions, aggression, and even invasions as we try to keep doubt at bay and recover from our pain and other symptoms. Since the mind body experience is not well understood by nearly everyone, we can often have a hard time explaining to others the very things we are just learning to settle for ourselves. Since reducing doubt is so critical for getting better, the negative influence of other people who don’t understand is something we must keep in mind. Having your own story about each aspect of the work is incredibly important, so that you keep others from swaying you to unhelpful and inaccurate ways of thinking.
I cover strategies to deal with people and what they say so that you can keep on the most direct pathway to recovery and not let anyone sidetrack you. Sometimes, you may have to not talk about it with certain people and we explore what their (usually not so conscious) motivations may be that can get in the way. Either way, you must remember that your recovery is for YOU and not THEM. Whatever it is you need to get better can be integrated into your growing, individual system, radiating out from my three column system.
Other important ideas covered here include: Going back to black and white thinking, at times, to not get knocked into doubt by others; seeing through what other people grapple with about their own fears in relation to pain; remembering that, once you have discovered the idea behind mind body processes, you are way ahead of nearly everyone you know; and, most importantly, learning to not trust ‘experts’ who know nothing about mind body experience, because they are, essentially, leaving out such a major part of the process as to become irrelevant in their thoughts.
Protecting yourself from others — purposeful or inadvertent in their bad influence — is a very helpful aspect of recovery.