Treating Physical Symptoms (Someone With Joint Pain)

Seth Early Sessions, Vol 9, Session 502

Treating Physical Symptoms (Someone With Joint Pain)

…  Now when anything is wrong with your body, it is trying to tell you something.  And when you understand what it is trying to say, and if you make an effort to do what is needed, the symptoms are no longer needed as a method of communication.

…  You do have full freedom to move, both physically and in the economic world.  You allowed negative patterns of thought to take an upper hand, and fears to predominate.  These fears were then symbolically acted out by the body.  You do have freedom in your joints, for example.  I will try to put this simply.

You do not want to accept the basic fear of immobility and lack of motion.  You are too afraid of the fear itself.  You recognize it but you do not know what to do about it, and this frightens you further.  You act this out subconsciously then, hampering the free motion of the joints, which then become stiffened through the inactivity.  The stiffness then convinces you that the joints are indeed at fault; this adds to the problem, which then gives more fuel to the basic fear.

If you allowed this to continue and did not check it, then gradually the inactive joints would be accepted as a basic problem.  You would think: “If I could move freely, then I could solve all problems”, when the true point is: when you feel free to solve the problems, there will be no physical symptoms to worry about.

Now.  The cortisone can be of some intermediate value, but over an extended period of time it will only introduce another element into the system, to which the system will then have to adjust, and it can lead to an extension of the symptoms when the reasons for them are gone.

I do not suggest that this be kept up for any length of time, at a steady rate.  The cortisone itself to some extent becomes habitual.  Now not habit forming, but habitual.  You can prevent this if you cease taking it now and then for several days.  It can hold you over but at the same time the body is getting used to a more or less artificial element; element not in terms of chemical.  The cortisone is somewhat, say, like a crutch.  Do not become addicted to that.

Now you can reverse this process.  Negative habits of thought, and withheld feelings and emotions got you into this, and the same, backwards, can get you out.

Now I can tell you what to do, and I can assure you that this works.  It is up to you to follow through however.  Now in your mind you now have the image of yourself with hampered motion, stiff joints.  You have the fears that this image can evoke, and you must be very on guard against projecting this idea or image into the future.

Now.  In your spare moments, see yourself in your mind’s eye easily performing normal physical pursuits as you did before.  Remember the feelings that you had, but see this in your mind’s eye as present.  Do not compare your present state with your state before you were ill.  See yourself in your mind as clearly as possible square dancing, and enjoying yourself.

You must see mental images of mobility and action.  At the same time tell yourself often that you are free to move.  Do not command yourself to move, or demand it.  Simply remind yourself that you are the one who has been projecting these ideas onto your joints and you can remove the ideas.

Now I want you to mentally talk to the portions of your body that hurt you.  You do this whether you know it or not, but you have been saying the wrong things.  Tell your feet that you free them.  They can step forward.

Tell yourself that you are free to move ahead.  Do not tell yourself you are feeling fine when you hurt; I do not mean this.  You must however realize fully that your ideas are responsible.  You must face the fact fully that you are and have been frightened, and that fear is a natural reaction, and that there are ways of responding to it that are healthy and constructive.  You can face your problems and deal with them.  You are free to do so, and you should remind yourself of this frequently, for you doubted your ability to handle the problems.

You must either accept your situation as it is, or at least feel that you have the ability to change it.  You feared that you did not have the ability as things stand.  You thought that you would not advance.  You feared, and do, that changing your job would deny your family.

Now.  In the long run your present situation would deny them far more.  I am speaking of the physical situation – the illness itself.  You have every good chance of ridding yourself of the symptoms now, but you must immediately begin to use your imagination, so that it works for you and not against you.

Now there is something else.  You want comfort of a certain kind, and you will not ask it of your wife.  You feel, again, that you should not need comfort, and that she will interpret such a need either as weakness or that she will become frightened.  You have been denying yourself comfort of this kind, and it would help prevent the periods of depression, and the mood of depression that has gradually come over you and robbed you of your resistance.

She is quite able to give it to you.  It is to some extent her idea of her place and part, to offer comfort to her man when necessary.  You usually prevent her from this role.  You have been over depriving yourself on several points, and the stiffness deprives you even further, you see.

We have some further recommendations.  It is difficult in one evening to give you all the important data.  You have been denying your own feelings for some time, or only giving lip service to them, and we will have to set you straight and free.

Now, I want to give you some practical suggestions before the session is through, so I will speak of the most important ones.  Several things are necessary.

Do not force this, but again, for at least five minutes in the overall during the day, imagine as vividly as possible that you are moving normally and easily anyway you choose.  Do this almost as a game, not with a heavy hand.

Tell yourself several times a day that you can deal with whatever problems you have.  Do not keep thinking of the job situation so that you are hammering yourself over the head with it constantly.  Whenever you find yourself projecting failure in any sense into the future, even into tomorrow, stop yourself, remind yourself that your thoughts form reality.

I suggest however that you freely express both bitterness and discontent when you feel them, whenever possible.  Do not put it off in other words unless you must.  If you are in a position where this is difficult now then imagine the bitterness or discontent is a football, and you are kicking it with all your might.  This in itself will activate the legs and feet and prevent you from further stiffening those areas.

The illness has not been thrust upon you, and this is your freedom.  Since you have done this to your body, you can stop doing it.  Try to become more alert to your own stream of consciousness.  Notice when you are giving yourself negative suggestions.

If you catch yourself thinking when something hurts, “I am sore”, then ask yourself what you are sore about.  You do have freedom, several choices as far as your professional life is concerned.  You are overemphasizing the negative aspects of that situation, and the overemphasis makes you feel trapped and powerless.

Now you are also underestimating your own worth, and you have done so consistently for some time.  You would be the last to say that that is so, and the reasons are too deep-seated to go into this evening.  This underestimation of your own worth leads you to place an overemphasis upon your financial worth to your family.  It is in this personal area that a basic fear exists also.  This is a high simplification, but you feel that your value as a person and as a man in the family situation is determined not only by your ability to provide, but increases in proportion to your financial status.

There is obviously much more to be said here.