What does it take to change your mind?

T-Bone · April 22, 2006

...I refused to go AGAIN to the hospital for the same round of treatments that were not working. On the phone line she sat with me....quietly listening to my gasps for breath life.
Then she said, "...quit fighting it. Can you quit fighting it?"

I thought, "But then I am giving in....that's not right. How can I give in?"

She continued, "...can you embrace the attack? I know that sounds strange...but just try to embrace it. I will be right here if you need me...Excerpt from the chapter "The Goodness of God: From Suffering to Glory":

The goal of avoiding heartache is both impossible and undesirable. It is impossible because we live in a fallen world and are fundamentally flawed beings--as Genesis 3, one of the foundational passages of the Bible, teaches. Perfection is reserved for heaven; while we live, we will be both the vehicles and the recipients of unrighteous emotions. This is not a warrant to justify our internal ugliness, but it clears the air of any overly optimistic assessment of human ability.

The goal to avoid anguish is undesirable because our dark emotions have a redemptive side (although this fact does not make them any less painful). Though tainted in our expression of them, they nonetheless reflect the character of God. They have the power to vocalize our deepest cry--and when that cry is uttered before God, our hearts are exposed and transformed as we glimpse His heart for us."

=

Wow, Bagpipes - that's very different than the way many of us dealt with things while in TWI, thinking how I used to ignore feelings, denial of reality, don't think about certain things, not being reflective, trying to be perfect, etc....Amazing post - thanks for sharing that stuff!

Edited April 22, 2006 by T-Bone

Bramble · April 23, 2006

I love Bagpipes I'm glad you had the break through and are alive with us today...

I have a lung disease along with asthma which can cause severe asthma symptoms, to the point that h2o levels become low...then you pass out. My pulmonary doc would never say to just give into it. I can't imagine having a doctor (was it a pulmonary doc?)that would do that. Sounds dangerous, even deadly.

Glad it all worked out for you, but if I should have a severe attack that I can't handle with home equiptment, I'm off to the hospital. Breathing treatments, oxygen, some steroids...I can live with those.

I'm not at all sure I would survive hours and hours of a severe attack and don't plan to find out. One hour with home medicine(nebulizer etc) is all I'm willing to give. I really hope someone out there with severe asthma doesn't try to ignore medical advice.

I Love Bagpipes · April 23, 2006

(((((((((((Bramble))))))))))) :cryhug_1_:

I don't want to derail the thread...so will be very brief. Please understand that what I shared is not medical advice...it was my particular situation. And know too that there is MUCH MORE to the brief paragraph that follows....but I do not want to derail the thread.

I deeply empathize with you. Please note in my posts that NOTHING was working for me...not drugs, not steroids, not intravenous drugs or steroids, not natural stuff. I had many "experts" in the field of allergies, immune disorders, and pulmonary docs that worked with me through the years. I had over 3000 doses of steroids, not including intravenous steroids. Plus I received many other treatments, including experimental treatments from Great Britain and Switzerland. The lady that helped me at this point was my homeopath, who was working with me at the same time I was working with my medical docs. My medical docs knew this and had no problem with it.....what they were doing wasn't working so they couldn't fault me. So, it was not foolish in the way it was handled. At that point I had been through so many years of illness trauma...with little relief...that I was ready to give up. Again I DEEPLY empathize with you and totally understand your viewpoint.

Thanks for you care and concern. And note...this is not medical advice....it is just one woman's experience in a given situation.

Much love....

I Love Bagpipes · April 23, 2006

Bramble...still thinking about what you wrote. To clarify, the reason I shared all this was to share the following insight (or whatever it is :blink: ):

So what does this have to do with "How do you change your mind"?
It has taken me years, (and I am still on this journey), but I learned/am learning to embrace the dark emotions in my soul....to not view my "dark side" as an enemy. I still cannot put into words exactly what it is that I have learned/am learning in this area. And to some it may sound VERY strange...and even "devilish" or unrenewed. But it has opened my heart and life to much healing...physically and emotionally. The aforementioned incident left a deep impact upon my soul.

Another thing I forgot to share about this particular incident/time in my life. There was a pharmaceutical recall on the alubterol I had been using in my nebulizer. It was contaminated with pseudomonos. Thus the bouts of pneumonia without response to meds. Over 300 people died...class action law suit against the pharmaceutical company.

Okay..that's all....now back to the topic... :wave:

Belle · April 23, 2006

Bapipes, how very cool that she took the time to talk to you, stayed calm and helped you calm down, too.

"Embracing" the feeling and acknowledging it is something I've been reading and listening about for a while now and it's beginning to make more sense to me and has helped me tremendously to overcome TWI's teaching on emotions being evil, unproductive and distractions from the word.

Jenny Craig even teaches this in their program - they call it "Mind, Body, Food". One of the techniques they teach is when an overwhelming craving comes over you to sit down and with a pen and paper have a conversation with yourself. With your dominant hand you write "What do you want?" and then switch to your weaker hand and write your answer.... I'm not able to explain it in a short paragraph, but they teach lots of things on how to get to and acknowledge what you're actually feeling - cause so many times it's not food.

That's just one example. Another is the "inner child" and recognizing that that inner child needs to feel validated, protected and cared for. We do that by embracing those temper tantrums and talking and reasoning ourselves through them instead of just going into the temper tantrum. When I first got divorced and left TWI I would have horribly vicious, physical attacks, bloody battles with the folks in TWI in my dreams. I would be on the ground and they would be kicking the crap out of me, spitting on me, yelling horrible things at me with vampire-ish teeth and the most evil looking faces I've ever seen.

I heard about this "inner child" stuff and started talking to my inner child every morning - reminding her that I love her and that I'm going to take care of us. That I can take care of us and that we're going to be alright. When I would get panic attacks I would close my eyes and ask my inner child what's wrong. Why are you so upset like this? Sometimes I would go to the bathroom and just have a good cry....other times I would promise that we would talk about it when we got home, but that we have to get our work done... I know it sounds weird, but it worked for me. I don't talk to that eight year old much anymore, but I don't need to.

There's more and different techniques, but I don't want to write too much in case it's a derail. :)

Is this on topic? :blink: I dunno. I think so, it's helped me with getting rid of a lot of guilt and waybrain thinking. It's also helped me to lose weight and change the way I think about food.