Tag Archives: Sarno

The Difference A Mind Makes

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Okay.  Here we go.  Hold onto your logical, little scientific brain like you’re about to lose it.  Because you just might.  I promise you; I have not.  Although I have decided even healthy minds need some remodeling to keep up with the different times of life.  Life changes, so must my mind.

Anyhow, I was talking about Dr.  John Sarno’s Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS) (here and here).  I decided to try his techniques mostly, but not exclusively, to manage headaches related to food sensitivities I have to common, healthy foods I’d like to add back into my diet.  I’m pleased with my success.

Dr. Sarno feels many, many symptoms and described medical syndromes are related to our subconscious beliefs.  His books are just averagely long, and the treatment description takes up, oh I don’t know, maybe a mere, simple five pages of the book.

Sarno, Terri-style

I’m going to show how I interpreted and used his recommendations.  This is MY interpretation of his treatment plan.  You’d better read the book to get your own take.

1.   Mandatory:  I must accept that TMS is causing my symptoms as a diversion from unconscious beliefs/thoughts.  I don’t really know about this requirement.  TMS?  I get a headache from eggs as a diversion from deep repression?  But if I don’t eat eggs, I’m okay?  I just don’t know about this… HOWEVER,  I can totally accept that my brain is capable of shutting down the headaches that cause me problems AND that repressed emotions will create a chemical interference that blocks optimal, ideal physiology.  So I tell myself that “TMS” is just a name for my brain not doing what it’s capable of doing for me.  Or overdoing what it is capable of.  In this way, I agree I have TMS.  Check.  I’ll go with it.

2.  Talk to my brain and tell it I don’t need the physically distracting diversion(s) anymore.  (Herein lies the chuckle for you.)  Tell it I’m onto its strategy.  For example, when I’ve been getting a headache, I’ve literally been talking aloud to my brain like this, often in the shower while distracted by shaving or while doing dishes.  (Apparently low-grade distraction times are good times to talk to your deep brain.)

“Oh, brain.  Why are you doing this?  This headache and fog are simply diversions for something deep in there that’s bothering you.  I don’t need this diversion.  It’s worse than dealing with whatever is deep in that limbic system and amygdala emotionally!  I’m old enough, mature enough, and I’ve got a great support network to help me through anything troubling.  STOP THIS.”

And if it doesn’t stop, seriously, I get a little louder and firmer in my talking aloud.

“This is RIDICULOUS.  I’m strong.  I’m healthy.  My body is sound.  STOP this nonsense and show me the problem.  Even if you won’t stop,  you MUST STOP this pain.  There’s nothing wrong with me.  It’s not the eggs.  It’s not the nuts.  It’s YOU.  And I’M TIRED OF IT.  You can heal up the problem and you’d better get on it ASAP.  Yeah.  Parts of life sucked.  I’m mad.  I’m angry about that.  Sure I am.  There’s deep, dark secrets in there.  Sure there are.  Being a mom is stressful.  Absolutely.  But none of this needs to cause these symptoms.  We’ll work on it together.”

Right.  That’s what I do.  (You still with me?)  And you know what?  Usually over the last two months, that’s been enough to talk down a headache.  Weird.  Next step.

3.  Journal all “stressors” from throughout all of your life, past and present.  Both internal and external. (Internal stressors refer to personality traits you have that seem to cause conflict in your life.)  I know.  You want to see mine.  We all want to know others have deeper trash piles than we do.  Well, I’ll share some.  Not all.

  • Homeschooling right now is not going the way I want it to go.
  • The house is messier than I like it.
  • It feels like I always have work to do which I can’t escape because I live in it.
  • I’m a perfectionist in just about all areas of my life.  And sorry, when perfection is the expectation, failure is your reality.
  • I like everybody to be happy and comfortable yet I’m very truthful.
  • Writing publicly exposes me more than I feel comfortable with and I’m afraid.
  • My toddler demands nearly 100% attention, making cleaning, doing school, sleeping, talking/being with my husband, cooking, running errands, and even thinking exceptionally difficult.
  • I like time adequate alone to collect my thoughts and recharge.  In a family of six, this is a near impossibility.
  • I am ALWAYS interrupted.  I hate being interrupted.
  • My parents and in-laws are aging and requiring significant health interventions.
  • I hate to ask for help yet am finding I need help more and more.
  • Friends have hurt me.  Family members have hurt me.  Life has given me some bad eggs to deal with along the way.  I’ve hurt friends.  I’ve hurt family.  I’ve given out some bad eggs for people to deal with along the way.

I guess that’s enough stuff to keep the adrenaline and serotonin and acetylcholine in constant flux daily, not allowing the brain to function to control other symptoms.  (I dare you to make your list.)

4.  After you write your present, past, internal, and external stressors, you continue to elaborate and expand on them and walk through them in your journal daily.  He suggests somewhere in there about doing this for around a month.  Just journal all you can about them.  I’m to the point when I flare, I just write any stressors going on around the time.  If one stressor seems to get lots of lines in the tablet, then I know that’s where my money is.

5.  Start to recognize the repeated thoughts, phrases, and physical actions that cover for uncomfortable emotions that you don’t handle well.

  • Chuckling, laughing, or smiling kind of inappropriately.  Like when you laugh about something your husband does that drives you crazy.  Really you’re mad, but you “laugh it off.”
  • “Well, that’s just the way it is.”
  • “I don’t like it, but it’s okay.”
  • “I might be a little mad at ________ for doing that.”
  • “Someday I’ll get to do it.”
  • “Overall, things are fine.”
  • “I just can’t do this.”
  • “I think I’m going crazy.”
  • “If only…”
  • “This person is irritating me.”
  •  Running to the bathroom to get away from your kids.

Do you say or do any of these?  These are clues to what we are repressing or clues to limiting beliefs we have.  (After Sarno, I have kept reading more on how to recognize these thoughts, intercept them, and retrain them.  Sarno is great, but I want “TMS” gone.  Once I realized how badly I was pushing down lots of thoughts, I decided I needed more knowledge in this area.  I needed/need my mind working FOR me.)

6.  Read Sarno’s books daily.  Pay attention to passages that describe you.  Remind yourself his techniques helped many, many people, and you’re not crazy.  My brain likes to tell me I’m crazy.  I know I have a fear of being crazy.  So the fact that thousands and thousands of patients have really, truly, honestly also gotten relief helps me feel validation.  I’ve moved beyond Sarno’s writings to discover more on what he introduced psychology-wise.  Invaluable.

7.  Start giving up the limitations that helped you control your physical ailments.  For me, that means bringing back in foods.  So far, I have been able to do this.  Yes, several times I’ve gotten headaches.  But they always have backed down either immediately or within an hour or two of doing all this stuff above, instead of lasting a few days like before.

8.  When the symptoms flare, try to do all these things.  Even though it feels hard.  Even though you don’t have time.  And if your symptoms move around, call it TMS (after you make sure to get medically cleared!!!!!!) and get down and dirty again to see if something is hanging in that deep mind that’s doing you no good.

Where does God fit into this?

When you move into discussing the subconscious, it makes people uncomfortable.  Especially Christians.  I fit under the label of Christian.  For me to have given up white flour, gained a truly healthier grip on food, and write questionable stuff on the internet,  I know God is in charge here.  For me to explore my anger, fear, sadness, and shame and how they relate to my physical body and brain which serve Him, well God is in that too.  I know He delights in my drawing nearer to Him as I peel off the layers that separate us.  So do I.  I move forward confidently in this realm; my beliefs are only illuminated by what I am learning.  But on Sarno step number 2, when I’m supposed to talk to my brain, sometimes I feel like throwing in a full gospel “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus Christ.”—- and a bonk on my head with my palm to make it more Christian-like.  Right.

Conclusion

Well, that’s my introduction to mind-body medicine.  I’ve added a few more books to my mind-body reading list thanks to the live studio audience.  Thank you!  This series was a little scary for me.  But, so is writing on constipation (which Sarno didn’t help, although he mentions that a patient of his did cure his constipation–and I am trying some other mind-body stuff for my slow GI but still on magnesium).  It’s one thing to tell your husband and best friends and family; it’s another to share it with the world.  My hope is it maybe benefitted someone.  If not, writing keeps me motivated, and that’s the important thing to me.  Health matters.  Go get it.  And don’t be afraid to ask your mind for some help.

Sorry for the length.  Hope you were on a laptop.  If not, that’s impressive that you’re still reading!  Questions and comments always welcomed.

Terri

Connecting the Physical to the Subconscious Mental

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I’ve eaten my fair share of Big Macs and taken my physical health completely for granted, but I’ve always been a bulldog for my mental health.  Throughout my life, I’ve learned that everybody has mental health skeletons in the closet, either somewhere in his own past or her family’s past.  Well, my skeletons jiggled and moaned so loudly in my younger days that I was afraid and made it a point to listen to them:  [insert moaning and groaning like in Scooby Doo.  “Don’t go there.  Don’t ever go there.”]

For years, this meant getting plenty of sleep and exercise, communicating my emotions well, embracing who I was and where I came from, alleviating unnecessary stressors in my life, and keeping in close touch with God.  Three years ago I also learned that eating whole, real food and eliminating certain foods also impacted my mental health, so this was added to the “important” list.

I added things here and there, like some yoga and some meditation, to help give me new techniques to add when life was just stressful and there wasn’t really anything I could do about it.  All this kept a genuine smile on my face, and I thought I had a really good grip on my psychology!

Thankfully, life gets you and shows you where you’re wrong!  I think that the nagging physical problems I am encountering are telling me that there’s more to my mind than meets the eye.  I am going to continue on in writing about my introduction to mind-body health.

I’ve Got a Body.  I’ve Got a Brain.  Let’s Do this ‘Mindbody’ Thing.

Enter Dr. John Sarno’s work.  John Sarno, MD (because you know the fact that he is an MD is important to me…) was a professor of rehabilitation medicine at New York University School (NYU) of Medicine and an attending physician at the Howard A. Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at the NYU Medical Center.  He treated many common conditions, from carpal tunnel syndrome to herniated disks to migraines, as mind-body ailments, rather than pure physical ailments.  He is retired now and older than anybody reading this blog!  He’s 93.

I dug around the internet on Sarno, trying to dig up the negatives on him and his approach.  You know, searched “Quackwatch.com” for him.  Interestingly enough, I didn’t find too much crushing criticism, like you will on so many other physicians fighting conventional beliefs!  I figure he must have maintained himself very well to have escaped the usual scorn you find in these matters.  He has written three books on alleviating certain health complaints using mind awareness and introspection:

  • Mind Over Back Pain;
  • Healing Back Pain:  The Mind Body Connection;
  • and The Divided Mind:  The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders. 

I read all three of his books in one week, and I thought, “I’ve got a body!  I’ve got a mind!  Hey.  Let’s do this ‘mindbody’ thing.”  I like safe.  I like cheap.  And I love improving my psychology.

There Are Parts of Our Brain Not at Our Beck and Call

Dr. Sarno gave a fancy name to a syndrome he dubbed Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS), which connects the physical to the subconscious mental.  He declares the idea that the understanding of TMS is a work-in-progress, and he embraces further study, insight, and modification of his ideas by science.  So what is TMS in “Terri terms?”

Tension Myositis Syndrome:  Certain symptoms are allowed, even perpetrated by the brain as a diversion to repressed, unknown, deep, uncomfortable, unwanted, undesirable, and conflicting emotions.  It can manifest in many ways:  back pain, neck pain, carpal tunnel, allergic rhinitis, headaches, dizziness, joint pain, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and acid reflux, to only begin listing a few manifestations.  Often, it has a migrating pattern.

Hello!  That’s quite the idea! Yes, it is.  But it’s a fact:  There are parts of our brain that aren’t at our beck and call.  You know them.  They’re the ones that generate feelings that just seem to tug at us yet we can’t get a handle on–the fear, the guilt, the shame, the embarrassment, the desire, and the anger, for example.

These basic, primitive emotions, when subconsciously present, bring about physical reactions and shut down others!  (Think of sweating, blushing, tingles, and not noticing pain when hurt till things calm down.)  These basic feelings have served to keep us alive as a population.  Although we are able to keep tabs on lots of these intrinsic emotions with our conscious thoughts and choices, not all of them are within our control or recognition!

Perhaps Conventional Medicine Has Radically Underestimated How Much the Mind Can Do

Think of someone you know who avoids conflict at all cost, sacrificing his or her own needs and comfort.  Let’s say it’s your mom and you’re visiting her.  Well, even if she’s walking around wrapped in blankets in her house in the dead of winter, she lets you turn the thermostat colder if you’re hot–even in her own house.  She lets you borrow the car on your visit so you can visit your old high school friends even though she had doctor’s appointments.  She says it’s okay and she just reschedules the doctors’ appointments.  Nobody else volunteered to do the church cookbook, so even though you’re visiting she stays up late typing it up, even though she’s leaving for vacation in five days herself.  Not to mention the painting hobby she gave up when you were 16.

This is all very honorable!  However, deep in there somewhere, no matter what her active, conscious thoughts are, deep in there somewhere is a piece of the human organism which recognizes that her own needs are not being met. It will probably greet this knowledge with basic emotions of fear or anger.  These emotions are perfectly capable of altering physical physiology.  Perhaps conventional medicine has radically underestimated how much.

Sarno suggests that these usually unrecognizable, basic emotions (fear, shame, guilt, anger, rage) somehow cause the brain to bring about physical symptoms, and he describes people with perfectionistic and goodist tendencies, like your mom up there, as prime candidates .  He calls the physical symptoms a diversion from the unrecognized subconscious (unconscious) feelings.  A human being does not mean for this to happen at all!  Yet, somehow, it does.

I Don’t Beat Dead Horses

Not much has turned up for me for help with my food sensitivities and constipation.  I’ve gotten as far as I can go with diet, lifestyle changes, and select supplements.  These are great changes I have made!  I will not abandon them.

But to further perfect these areas would be beating a dead horse.  I’m going to leave the dead horse behind and go by foot.  I don’t beat dead horses.

Next post is going to be specifics on how Dr. Sarno proposes reversing TMS–a connection of the subconscious mental to the physical.  Thanks for reading.  Thoughts are always appreciated as this is a live production.  Skepticism is allowed.  Converts welcome.  People who’ve been there and done that–feel free to share.

Smile a real smile from your subconscious.

Terri

Are You a Head Case?

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Once, my high school softball coach called me a  “head case,”  which kind of hurt my feelings.  Hard stop.  Pull up short.  Take a quick 15 second life review.  In no way, shape, or form did any decision of my utterly responsible, conscientious, sixteen year-old life seem to deserve this condemnation.  Coach, I’m a head case?  How could you declare this?

Sure!  I wear my heart on my sleeve probably unlike anyone else you know–on happy days as well as sad days.  (As well as mad days.  I’ve always proclaimed that this openness keeps me from becoming a head case.)

Sure!  I was the starting pitcher and some days I pitched strikes–and other days I didn’t. (Okay.  Some batters I pitched strikes to and others I didn’t.)

Sure.  Okay.  Maybe sometimes my head did get in the way of my already horrible pitching.  But, dang, coach.  I wasn’t a good pitcher, and I didn’t want to be the pitcher if I wasn’t a good pitcher.

The pitcher’s circle.  Who put me there?  I didn’t ask to be there.  And what a place to be.  All eyes on you.  Throw strikes consistently from inside a circle drawn in the sand.  Everybody else standing or sitting and watching…

And judging you to be a head case.

Strike three!  Success.  Ball four.  Take first base.  Failure.

Head Case and Health

I’ve been thinking about this head case stuff as it plays a role in health.  Back when I played softball, I could never tell if it was going to be a good pitching day or a bad pitching day.  (Poor Coach.  Poor team.  Poor Terri.)  Just couldn’t tell.  Despite being perfectly capable of pitching strikes, something unconsciously interfered with my ability to do so many times over.  Trust me.  I didn’t like standing in that circle walking batter after batter after batter.  I wanted to pitch strikes!  So, I’ve been thinking about Coach’s words from so long ago and chewing on the idea of “head case” (and also “psychosomatic” and “in your head”).

I’ve come up with a temporary, evolving idea for “head case” (and “psychosomatic” and “in your head”) which I think will apply to health matters too:

Head Case, Psychosomatic, and In Your Head:  The conscious brain cannot undo the activities of the unconscious brain no matter how hard it tries.

No matter how hard I tried consciously, I just couldn’t throw strikes.  Now the thought has been (and was) ever-present that overall, I was simply a bad pitcher.  Period.

But then why, some days and innings, could I be a “good” bad pitcher?  And other days and innings a “bad” bad pitcher?  Why can a headache calm down when you lie down?  Why does rheumatoid arthritis sometimes have good days and bad days?  Why does a Morton’s neuroma sometimes hurt and sometimes not?  Why can’t the brain always modulate success?

Am I a Head Case?

Fast forward.  No matter how hard I try, I haven’t been able to budge my food sensitivities and gut issues and strange stuff keeps popping up like joint effusions.  (I’ve been evaluated by doctors and tests, and so should you be.)  I don’t like suffering body and brain aches and pains.  I don’t like to run kids around with a headache.  I don’t like restrictive diets. I don’t like the taste of my magnesium supplement I have to take.  I don’t like wondering if today will be a good day or a bad day for my head because I ate eggs and nuts yesterday.  I’m stuck.  Despite eating right.  Despite trying certain supplements.  Despite gratitude journals.  Despite yoga.  Despite prayer.

Am I a head case again?  Do we all have a case of head case?  Do we all have symptoms where our awesome, magnificent, all-powerful, all-knowing cerebral cortex (the conscious brain) cannot override unconscious activities that lie deeper in the brain no matter how hard it tries, short circuiting health and normal function?

I’m not sure.  I’ve been super impressed with the significance of food in health.  Definitely my family’s experimentation with real food tweaked for food intolerances has been highly successful.  But what about using the untapped power of the murky brain (unconscious or subconscious) that lies under the brain that I call me (the conscious) to control health?  The part that controls my heart rate.  My sweating.  My gut motility.  My blushing.  My sleep.  The part that responds to and generates fear and anger.  The part that has deep, primal memory that I’m not consciously privy to–that honestly, maybe I don’t really even want any part of.

Can a person gain health by exploring their mind?  By trying to recognize “thoughts” that you don’t really think?  By appreciating how many times a day you squash yourself down when you didn’t even realize it?  By trying to intercept subconscious thoughts and remodel them and nurture them for good, thus allowing the biochemistry and circuitry of the brain to actually change?

“La, la, la, la, la–I’m not liiisssst-uh-ning…”

I know what you’re thinking, “No.  My pain is real!  My symptoms are real!  These are not in my head.  I’ve got tests and X-rays and MRIs.  I’ve tracked everything.  It’s all objective.  I see you’re headed for whack-o.  This is your final leap.  I’m going to stop reading now, thank you very much, Terri.  Appreciated the brewer’s yeast, iodine, and butyrate posts you wrote–but I’m not going where you’re going anymore.”

Well, I’m impressed you made it this far.  I hear you!  I have many, many memories of working-up patients with headaches and stomach pains and joint pains and finding nothing!  Nothing!  The patients would feel so disappointed because they KNEW something was wrong!  Something HAD to be wrong!  This couldn’t just be an “in my head” issue.  But everything was saying, “There’s nothing wrong.”

Because I saw this particular, discouraging clinical situation often enough, I had a standard spiel for it.  It went like this:

“Hey.  Look at me.  It’ll be okay.  You’re okay!  We know there’s nothing BAD there that’s going to kill you.  That’s important!  That’s good!  It’s not cancer!  I know you have pain!  It’s real!  This doesn’t mean something won’t turn up eventually, so you have to watch out for us!  Anything new or different, you get right back in here because that may be the clue we need to figure this thing out.”

Honestly, not much ever turned up.  So I have never been surprised when my own tests come back inconclusive.  Colonoscopy for severe, unrelenting constipation–negative.  Specific antibodies for celiac and rheumatoid arthritis–negative.  Blood tests for premature menopause–negative.  Lymes–negative.

Following a strict food plan with some basic supplements has kept me decently controlled from whatever it is.  It’s a tight diet though, and I want to share, if I can, good, healthy foods with my daughters, husband, mom, sisters, and friends.  Perhaps I should just let food go, and I will if I have to, but if I can move forward from this place, I’d like to.

So mind-body digging it is.  I’ve got some posts (about four) typed up about what I am learning and what I think about this mind-body disco.  They’re not scientific posts.  But if I have success, I’m going to be thrilled to dig up the research like I did for food and some supplements and eventually get them posted here.

Stay in the circle, pitch after pitch after pitch.  It’ll be okay.

Terri

 

What’s Eating Up My Blogging Time?

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Photo kindly from Molly Green Magazine, as part of a membership.

I wanted to tell here, at The Homeschooling Doctor, my story.  What is my story?  Well, it’s about a woman leaving behind an ordinary medical doctor career to stay home and homeschool her children.  It’s a story about her leaving behind expected medical doctor ideas to unearth new ideas (new to her anyhow) for health and healing.  And it’s a story of a struggle to align expectations with a gracious acceptance of reality.

I haven’t written for at least a couple of weeks for two reasons.  One, I’ve been following a new, interesting experiment to help put an end to my search for “complete health.”  You see, I’m pretty darn healthy.  But over the years, I’ve had intermittent headaches, foggy brain, vertigo, strange joint pains and swelling, abdominal distention/bloating, and chronic constipation.  I’m diligent, and I’ve visited the appropriate doctors.  The work-ups are really, overall, quite unremarkable.  So, I’ve chalked it up to stress or food or wear-and-tear and I’ve simply moved on, trying not to ruminate for too long on any of it–although I keep reading and reading because I love to learn and think about how this stuff may help myself or others.

By self-experimenting, I’ve found that if I eat a certain way, which coincidentally aligns fairly well with a vegetable-rich autoimmune Paleo diet, I can control about all my symptoms.  But to eat this way for life as a mother of four young kids who loves to travel, well, it’s pretty discouraging.  So, although I haven’t had time to write on it, over the last couple of years, I’ve been trying to budge off of “my diet.”  I mean, eliminating grains, nuts/seeds, dairy, eggs, legumes, chicken, and coconut is, in my own words, about stupid.  I’m not saying I’m stupid.  Or you’re stupid.  I guess I’m just saying that to eat that way long-term is almost, not quite, impossible.  Which means for people who have to follow this way of eating, makes feeling good day-in and day-out about impossible.  I’ve tried many of the leaky gut protocols.  I’ve considered Lymes and heavy metals.  I’ve fasted.  I’ve done broths.  Meditation and yoga.  I’ve sent love and acceptance to my gut and body.  Probably my first mistake was to pray about it–I think God thought it would be good for this run-of-the-mill, proud medical doctor to get shaken up a little.  Anyhow, I think the autoimmune diet protocols are awesome at controlling symptoms quickly, but somehow I can’t keep wondering if some of us who follow these protocols can’t move on.

(Please remember, this is all my story.  My opinions.  My thoughts.  I haven’t even organized my thoughts well in my own head.  So anything you read here, you need to read about more and ask your doctor about anything that you may want to try.)

Well, my blog posting and reading has been replaced since my last post here with reading a medical doctor’s work by the last name of Sarno on a syndrome he calls tension myositis syndrome and trying his techniques.  He suggests that lots of symptoms and syndromes in medicine are able to be overcome by some pretty simple processes involving reading his books, daily journaling, and daily introspective thinking.  He writes a lot about back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders (carpal tunnel, tendonitises, herniated disks, etc.), but I’ve decided to apply his techniques to my food sensitivities, which commonly cause me headaches, fogginess in my head, and bloating.  I cannot yet give a definitive answer to how it’s going, but I am broadening my diet.  I do not suggest that you try Sarno until you’ve hit the wall and tried “everything” or unless you’re a very open-minded person.  (And of course after you checked with your doctor about whether or not it’s safe to eat these foods or do these activities you avoid!  I’m not talking anaphylactic allergies here!!!!)  I’m open-minded, but I would not have even considered this man’s work at all when I started this journey in 2012.  His explanations seem bizarre to us doctors trained to look at X-rays, MRIs, and use known science to explain pain.  I’m early on in trying his techniques, but I think that the brain can override most processes in the body:  vascular, gastrointestinal, immunological, pain sensation, and so on.  Perhaps his methods are one way to achieve this end.  Bottom-line–I just wanted to let you know that the extra reading and journaling that are required daily have eaten up my blogging time lately.

The second thing that has cut into researching and writing for my blog is the time-constraints placed on a mom by, hmm, how should I say this–being a mom.  Ha!  I had completely forgotten how time and mom-consuming toddlers are!  I keep playing with our schedule and routine to find a way to write more, but success keeps eluding me.  I enjoy reading, summarizing this health stuff, and encouraging others so much, though, that I plan to persist on finding a way to keep in the game.  This week, we’re going to try having my daughters each pick meals to cook to see if I can’t decrease my kitchen responsibilities.  Maybe this will open up some more writing time.

That’s what’s been happenin’ here lately.  I didn’t link to Sarno’s work.  I figure if you’re at the point to try him, you’ll open a new tab and type his name in.  And I want to make it clear I don’t agree with all I read in his book, but so far with his methods, I’ve been able to abort most headaches, fogginess, and inappropriate tiredness as I move off of my autoimmune-style diet.  The methods stir up a lot of emotions and past family trash–so fair warning.

Happy Monday.  The day where we leave our rest and go find some good work to do.

And thank you, Molly Green Magazine Membership, for the lovely photo and quote to use at the beginning of this post.

Terri