Here is a famous quote from Gabriel Garcia Marquez.¹

It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old.

They grow old because they stop pursuing their dreams.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This is a wonderful quote except I have a different take on it.

People grow old because their dreams are crushed by anxiety.

Stress

Stress is the sum total of the obstacles we face every minute to stay alive. When your body is in a flight or fight state, the sensation is called “anxiety.” This reaction is present in every living species, but humans have language and can name it. It is challenging to achieve your dreams and experience the life you wish while feeling stressed. Your creativity and choice are compromised while you are in a survival mode; the blood flow in your brain shifts from the neocortex (thinking centers) to the limbic system (flight or fight).

The Holmes scale², developed in the 1960s, quantifies levels of stress connected with life events, and you can calculate your own cumulative score. A score of 300 points or more correlates to an 80% chance of a health breakdown within 24 months. In spite of overwhelming data connecting chronic stress with illness, disease, and early mortality, we are generally taught that stress and anxiety are “psychological” issues. Nothing could be further from reality. Why does chronic stress cause mental and physical illnesses?

One of my close friends and colleagues were discussing the role of stress leading to health problems and we decided to assess ourselves with Holmes scale. He had been dealing with an unspeakable number of challenges for several years. His score was 435 and then he told me that he had been diagnosed with cancer a few months earlier. Fortunately, he did well with treatment.

Safety

We want to feel safe. In this state our body’s chemistry consists of anti-inflammatory molecules called cytokines. Fuel consumption is lowered (metabolism). There are about 80 billion neurons in your brain that communicate by molecules called neurotransmitters. When feeling safe, these molecules are calming. Hormones include dopamine (reward), serotonin (mood elevator), growth hormone, and oxytocin (social bonding). Emotions represent feelings generated by your physiological state (how the body functions) and safety creates a sense of connection, contentment, and joy. Another term describing this state is “rest and digest.” Your body must refuel, regenerate, and heal in order to sustain life and health.

Threats

What happens when you don’t feel safe? Your body goes into various levels of threat physiology (flight or fight) to optimize survival. It is designed to deal with acute threats effectively and quickly, but it doesn’t do well when your challenges are unrelenting. At the core of all chronic mental and physical disease is being in a sustained stressed state.³ Here is what is going on.

Activated inflammatory cytokines fire up your immune system. In addition to fighting off viruses, bacteria, and other foreign materials, your own tissues are attacked.⁴ Neurotransmitters switch from calming to excitatory and your nervous system is hyperactive. Fuel is consumed from every cell in your body, including your brain. Chronic disease states cause physical shrinkage of your brain.⁵ Fortunately, it regrows as you heal. Stress hormones include adrenaline, noradrenaline, histamines, and vasopressin, which shift your body from thinking to fleeing. This situation can be likened to driving your car down the freeway at 65 mph in second gear. It will break down more quickly than if you are cruising in 5^th gear.

The driving force behind chronic mental and physical disease is sustained exposure to stress physiology. The solution lies in using approaches to increase “cues of safety” and allow your body to rest and regenerate whenever you can.

Dynamic Healing

Sustained stress translates into threat physiology, which creates symptoms. In mainstream medicine, we are just treating symptoms instead of addressing the root cause being the interaction between your stresses and nervous system. We don’t have time to know you, understand the nature of your circumstances, or how we can help you calm down. Treating only symptoms is similar to putting out an oil well fire with a garden hose. It is no wonder that the burden of chronic disease and suffering continues to skyrocket.⁶ In fact, you often feel more stressed while interacting with the medical system. We introduce the concept of “dynamic healing.

Dynamic Healing is a framework that categorizes interventions that decrease exposure to threat and increase safety. The three portals are:

• Input – processing your stresses in a manner to have less impact on your nervous system
• The nervous system – there are ways to lower its reactivity
• The output – directly stimulating your body to go from stress to calming physiology.

This model organizes known research to both clinicians and patients. You can regain control of your care and create a partnership with your provider.

Why not become a “professional” at living life?

Consider the process as becoming a “professional at living life.” It is similar to acquiring any skill such as playing the piano. You must learn the basics, incorporate them into your daily life, and then continue to deepen your expertise with practice. Mastery is critical, and as they become habituated and automatic, life becomes easier to navigate.

Additionally, the power of neuroplasticity (changing your brain) is powerful and unlimited. You can program your brain in whichever direction you wish, away from unpleasant survival circuits.

Modern stresses

Times have changed since 1962 regarding the Holmes-Rahe scale. The industrial revolution occurred only about 200 years ago. In light of over four billion years of evolution, this not even a drop of water in the ocean. The level of daily sensory input dramatically increased. Now we are in the information revolution that began in 1980’s forcing us to process magnitudes more information. Smart phones came online in 2007, and along with the barrage of social media, we are on a massive sensory overload. The human brain has not evolved to keep up with it. So, we have ongoing stress levels that weren’t present even several hundred years ago. It is somewhat perverse that we have so many anxiety-related problems when we have access to more physical comforts than any generation in history. One fallout is that of teen suicide, “deaths of despair”, have risen dramatically correlating with the advent of the bi-directional smart phone.⁷

A healing sequence

The DOC (Direct your Own Care) Journey course teaches skills to optimize your capacity to enjoy life by effectively dealing with adversity and nurturing joy. These are two separate, but linked, skill sets. As you lower your time feeling stressed and increase your sense of safety and joy, your body will regenerate and heal – mentally and physically. Your brain physically changes (neuroplasticity), pleasurable circuits strengthen, and pain (mental and physical) regions atrophy. You can reprogram your brain away from almost anything with persistence and repetition. The exciting aspect of neuroplasticity is that at some tipping point, your healing continues to build on itself and there is no limit as to what life (brain) you wish to create.

What do want out of this life? Decrease your exposure to threat physiology, increase time in safety, enjoy your life, heal, and thrive.

Homework

1. Take the Holmes-Rahe stress assessment test.
2. Write down the details of each category affecting your life.
3. Consider what percent of your time you spend fighting off stresses compared to nurturing joy. Where is your brain developing?
4. The most stressful stresses are the ones you can’t solve. It is why you must learn techniques to minimize their impact, calm your nervous system, and spend less time exposed to threat physiology.
5. What is one aspect of your life that is the most important to you? Write it down. Are you willing to pursue it?
6. Your body is a complex powerful survival machine. It has evolved to seek safety, deal with threats, break loose, and thrive. Allow it to do its job.

 References

1. Gabriel García Márquez. Cien años de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude. 1967. Editorial Sudamericanos, S.A., Buenos Aires.
2. Holmes TH, Rahe RH. The Social Readjustment Rating Scale.J Psychosom Res (1967); 11:213–8. doi:1016/0022-3999(67)90010-4
3. Furman D, et al. Chronic Inflammation in the etiology of diseases across the life span. Nature Medicine (2019); 25:1822-1832.
4. Cole SW, et al. Social Regulation of gene expression in human leukocytes. Genome Biology (2007); 8:R189. doi: 10.1186/gb-2007-8-9-r189
5. Seminowicz DA, et al. “Effective treatment of chronic low back pain in humans reverses abnormal brain anatomy and function.” The Journal of Neuroscience (2011); 31: 7540-7550.
6. Bezruchka S. Increasing Mortality and Declining Health Status in the USA: Where is Public Health?Harvard Health Policy Review [internet]. 2018.
7. Miron O, et al. Suicide rates among adolescents and young adults in the United States, 2000-2017. JAMA (2019); 321: 2362. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.5054 – Connection with cell phones made by Dr. Rob Lustig lecture on 12.1.21 – https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/182pygqTnS2GPQ4LUmioO06zkRf4-jpIH

The post Stress Kills – Don’t Allow it first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Stress Kills – Don’t Allow it appeared first on Back in Control.

A story of healing

This is a letter that was submitted to the “Stories of Hope” section of my website.

I had back pain which became sciatica- it got worse and worse and I could only walk 50 yards. I read Isobel Whitcomb’s piece in Slate, where she discussed doing a Dr Hanscom workshop- I thought ok, let’s give it a try and within about 5 minutes my pain had gone from a 7 or 8 to a 2 or 3. 4 months later, I’ve got no pain at all- I’m running 2 or 3 times a week. My boss thinks I should advertise myself as a healer and throw chicken bones at people’s pain before giving them a “special pen” to write down all the pain. I am incredibly grateful to Dr Hanscom- he has changed my life.

Breaking down the healing journey

Expressive writing is the foundational tool of healing all chronic pain – mental or physical. It is rarely the definitive solution, although the shifts can happen quickly and be profound. The originator of the approach is Dr. James Pennebaker, who is an academic social psychologist in Austin, TX. He published the first paper in 1986 and over 2000 papers since then have documented its effectiveness.

The response from this person’s boss response is typical. It seems unlikely that such a simple approach can have such profound effects. But the data is deep and the benefits are consistent. Expressive writing was what began my journey out of pain after suffering from 17 different mental and physical symptoms for over 15 years. I discovered it accidentally and I did not understand what had happened until many years later. All my symptoms are gone and have not returned for almost 20 years. I layered on many other tools and eventually a healing sequence has evolved that has helped many people. However, expressive writing is always the one necessary starting point.

Interestingly for me, is that if I slack off on my expressive writing for two or three weeks, some of my symptoms will return. The most common one is burning in my feet, ringing in my ears, and skin rashes will come and go. Even 30 seconds of writing makes a significant difference. I now view the exercise as part of my regular mental hygiene.

Dr. Pennebaker has summarised the research in his book, Opening Up by Writing It Down, 3rd edition. Just a few of the effects include:

• Faster wound healing
• Decreased anxiety, anger, and depression
• Lower viral load in HIV
• Improved symptoms of asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and other autoimmune disorders
• Better athletic and academic performance

Why does this approach work?

We asked this question to Dr. Pennebaker and he is quite open in that none of us really know. His feeling is that it is a process that allows people to give substance to “secrets” that every human being has in some form. Just by the nature of consciousness we all have thoughts we are not particularly happy about or even ashamed of. Also, most of us have taken actions or been in situations we regret. Of course, we don’t want to share them with anyone, but we don’t have to. Just putting them down on paper gives them substance and separation. He pointed out to our study group that keeping secrets requires a lot of mental energy. Since 20-25% of our entire body’s fuel consumption goes towards running our brains, you’ll eventually wear out. And with time these secret circuits become much stronger. You cannot do battle with them. You can only separate from them and is the reason that expressive writing is a necessary step to begin the healing journey.

The core of the healing journey

There are two separate but linked skill sets to the healing journey. Both are equally as important. One is learning to process your survival circuits that humans call anxiety and anger. The other is moving your conscious brain into the life you want. But you can’t move forward while being enmeshed with your past. The expressive writing is the beginning exercise to break you loose. I have not seen anyone really heal without using a version of this tool. The main “risk” is that your life will change, but you get to choose the direction.

References

1. Pennebaker, JW and JM Smyth. Opening Up by Writing It Down: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain Third Edition. The Guilford Press, New York, NY, 2016.

The post No More Back Pain – A Story of Healing first appeared on Back in Control.

The post No More Back Pain – A Story of Healing appeared first on Back in Control.

• Connecting with your sense of play is one of the most powerful ways of shifting your physiology from threat to safety.
• Play circuits are also simply more pleasant.
• Everyone has some level of play in their life, although for some, it is quite limited.
• The interactions created while at play is one of the basic ways humans learn to cooperate with each other, including reading body language, interpreting tone of voice, and negotiating boundaries.
• When suffering from chronic anxiety and other symptoms, play circuits are used less and don’t evolve.
• Nurturing a sense of play and joy is a learned skill that requires thoughtful repetitions. These are not usually taught to us throughout our life experience,
• The benefits of reconnecting with play are healing and have a significant impact on your health and quality of life.

This is the real secret of life –

to be completely engaged with what you are doing

in the here and now.

And instead of calling it work,

realize it is play.

~Alan W. Watts

Play is a physiological state that reflects a sense of safety. You cannot play or feel playful if you are in a survival mode. The essence of escaping from the grip of crippling anxiety is feeling safe. In this state your body is full of relaxing chemicals such as oxytocin (love/bonding drug), serotonin (antidepressant), GABA hormones (anti-anxiety), dopamine (rewards), and small anti-inflammatory proteins called cytokines. Your metabolic rate (fuel consumption) also drops, which allows your energy reserves to be replenished. This scenario not only creates a deep sense of well-being, but it is also healing.

The data regarding the devastating effects of chronic stress on your mental and physical health is extensive and deep. Prolonged exposure to the body’s neurochemical survival response predictably causes illness and disease and shortens life.^1,2,3

Research also shows that cultivating optimism, having a sense of purpose, and feeling hopeful has the opposite effect. When people learned how to skillfully process their stress and nurture joy, they experienced an improvement in anxiety and many other symptoms.⁴ One paper had participants visualizing their best self for five minutes a day over a course of two weeks. They all noted significant improvements in anxiety.⁵

 Play

In our workshops, we discovered that shared play is a powerful force and most of the participants had a significant improvement in their anxiety and pain during the three or five – day events. It happened after people began to relax, share, let go, and laugh together. We initially didn’t understand reasons why people could shift so quickly after being so miserable for years. I now understand that anxiety reflects a sustained inflammatory state that also causes many other symptoms. Feeling connected to others in a relaxing environment stimulates the release of oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone that is critical for social bonding and is also powerfully anti-inflammatory. The participants felt safe in this setting and several people commented that they felt like they were in an “adult summer camp.”

Of course, when they returned home to their triggers, their anxiety and pain would reappear. But now they not only possessed new knowledge and tools, but they had reconnected to feeling playful, and relaxed. Many had not felt that way for years. Now they had a memory that they could return to and over time, and they became skilled at it. Years later, many have continued to thrive.

The basis of The DOC Journey is learning how to re-program your brain away from embedded anxiety circuits by stimulating neuroplastic changes in the brain. This requires repetition and eventually it becomes automatic. However, you can make this change happen even faster by shifting onto pre-existing play circuits.

All mammals have play as a part of their development. It is a multi-dimensional experience that processes many environmental cues and reactions are learned that are appropriate to the situation. Play is a core step in how we developed language and consciousness. Even if they feel deeply buried or almost non-existent, your play circuits are there, waiting to be accessed.⁶ Any skill that is not practiced will fade, but those neural circuits can be re-awakened.

As you use the playful part of your brain more and spend less time feeling anxious, your brain’s structure and neurological activity physically changes and grows . Conversely, when you experience chronic stress, your brain physically shrinks. Fortunately, as you heal and create more connections, it re-expands.⁷

I used to play trumpet in high school

An example of how this works is to consider a skill you had in middle or high school. Without practice, it has faded, but the memory is still there. I played trumpet in high school and a little bit in college as well. I could play reasonably well through medical school, but it all disappeared in the midst of the rigors of residencies and fellowships. I recently picked it back up, and although I have no lip strength or dexterity, I still remember the basic techniques and hope to re-connect with them quickly. It is doable, whereas if I were to try to learn a completely new instrument, it would take much longer.

My wife started playing the guitar again after a 30-year hiatus, and within a few weeks, was able to finger-pick like the old days. One day, it just all came back to her, and she  quickly progressed beyond where she left off.

The same is true for you – your play circuits are still there, waiting to be re-vitalized.

A deliberate decision

Many years ago, I was pondering my own journey out of The Abyss and considering some additional approaches. It hit me that the words “work” and “play” are somewhat arbitrary. I realized that my vacations were spent largely with trying to recover from the rigors of work. I didn’t have the energy to fully engage in enjoying my time off.

Much of the problem had to do with how I viewed work and my strong reactions in dealing with the challenges of being a spine surgeon. I decided that I would work on removing those labels from my life.

If I loved my work, and spent most of my waking hours doing it, why call it work? I decided to just embrace the whole experience. My entire team relaxed, and I enjoyed my patients, fellows, and colleagues a lot more. We had fun to the point where sometimes we would have to work on toning it down while we were in clinic.

At the same time, one of my mentors told me, “Challenges are an opportunity to practice your stress-coping skills and are part of any endeavor.” I began to embrace challenges head on and my reactions to stress dropped dramatically. By seeing problems as opportunities, I was both more effective and engaged with the difficult aspects of my job. This simple paradigm shift created a world of difference.

Play is a mindset

A word of caution – I am not referring to play as a way to distract yourself from your suffering. You can’t outrun your mind. Rather, it is mindset of curiosity, deep gratitude, listening, anticipation, awareness, and improving your skills to calm your nervous system. Nothing initially has to change in your life. My work environment was unchanged. It was my attitude that changed. I chose different words every day to reflect a sense of play. The result was a sense of contentment and peace.

Remember, nurturing joy is a learned skill along with processing  stress. You will eventually become an expert. At some tipping point, you’ll simply refuse to let people or situations ruin your day. You’ll also progress to being a source of peace and vitality. That is a long way from being trapped by anxiety and pain,

Recap – Moving forward

Play is one of the most effective ways to give your nervous system cues of safety. However, in the presence of relentless anxiety and pain, this probably seems impossible, and it is without effective tools and an approach that works well for you. You must simultaneously learn to de-energize anxiety and anger while nurturing safety.

Play to distract yourself from unpleasant feelings doesn’t work and is actually counterproductive. You cannot outrun your mind and your inflammatory markers go straight up. Conversely, living life with connection and purpose causes them to plummet.⁸

Choose play –  every day and watch your life transform.

Questions and considerations

1. Have you noticed that much of your vacation is spent trying to recuperate from work? By viewing work as play, you may have more energy to enjoy your time off.
2. You have heard the phrase, “don’t sweat the small stuff.” This is another way of letting go and simply enjoying your day.
3. There are many ways to connect with play. They include deep gratitude, a sense of curiosity, cultivating a sense of humor, and consistently choosing joy as opposed to complaining or feeling like a victim. When where you taught to nurture these traits?
4. As you continue to make these choices, your brain will begin to move in this direction automatically. Consider how much your brain is being programmed with negative self-talk and external messaging.
5. Notice how your mood affects those close to you. A good mood is contagious because it directly stimulates a similar area of the other person’s brain through “mirror neurons.” Conversely, a negative mindset is also having a ripple effect.

References

1. Tennant F. The physiologic effects of pain on the endocrine system. Pain Ther. 2013;2(2):75-86.
2. Torrance N, Elliott AM, Lee AJ, Smith BH. Severe chronic pain is associated with increased 10-year mortality: a cohort record linkage study. Eur J Pain. 2010;14(4):380-386.
3. Rahe R, et al. “Social stress and illness onset.” J Psychosomatic Research (1964); 8: 35.
4. Hausmann, LRM, et al. Reduction of bodily pain in response to an online positive activities intervention. Jrn of Pain (2014); 15: 560-567.
5. Meevissen,YMC, et al. Become more optimistic by imagining a best possible self: Effects of a two-week intervention. Jrn of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry (2011); 42: 371-378.
6. Brown, Stuart, and Christopher Vaughan. Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. Penguin Group, New York, NY, 2009.
7. Seminowicz, David A., et al. “Effective Treatment of Chronic Low Back Pain in Humans Reverses Abnormal Brain Anatomy and Function.” The Journal of Neuroscience (2011); 31: 7540-7550.
8. Cole SW, et al. Social Regulation of gene expression in human leukocytes. Genome Biology (200); 8:R189. doi: 10.1186/gb-2007-8-9-r189

The post Healing through Play – It is Safety Physiology first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Healing through Play – It is Safety Physiology appeared first on Back in Control.

Maybe not

In spite of my advice to proceed with surgery, some patients, even with significant pain from a distinct identifiable problem, wanted to wait and try the non-operative structured care first. Many would return for what I thought would be the visit to make a final surgical decision and their pain would be minimal or gone. We never did the operation because the pain had resolved. The idea that calming the nervous system could diminish pain arising from a structural problem was a major shift in my thinking. I now have over 100 patients with surgical problems cancel surgery because the pain disappeared. The DOC process has significantly impacted my surgical practice.

Then I ran across several papers that pointed out that if you perform surgery in face of untreated chronic pain, that you can induce pain at the new surgical site up to 50% of the time (pain lasting for up to a year) and 5-10% of the time it was permanent. (1) In other words, if you had a hernia repair while suffering from chronic neck pain, the hernia site could become chronically painful. It’s usually an almost painless procedure. The chronic pain areas of the brain are already on overdrive and you’re now plugging in different body parts. It explained many of the surgical failures I have witnessed over the years in spite of a technically well-performed procedure.

More predictable outcomes

It then became clear that the patients who actively engaged in learning about pain and using the tools of the DOC project had much less pain post op, ambulated more quickly, and predictably would have a better outcome. Around 2013 our team agreed that we would only perform surgery on a patient who was willing to calm down his or her nervous system for at least eight weeks before elective surgery. Some patients simply didn’t want to have any part of taking charge of their own care and went elsewhere. The patients who committed to themselves predictably did well.

Ron

I first met Ron a few years ago. He was in his late 50’s and just plain angry. At the first mention of doing some reading about pain he exploded. He wasn’t going to have anything to do with it. I hung in there and explained that he was certainly welcome to have someone else perform the two-level laminectomy and one-level fusion in his lower back. But it would not be me. I was certain he wouldn’t be returning.

He did return and over the next three months he underwent a remarkable transformation with much less LBP and improvement in his mood. As his leg pain persisted, he underwent the surgery – and went home on the second post-op day almost pain free. He is muscular, and it was a significant operation. The normal time in the hospital is four or five days.

“I got to know you”

I was talking to him at his discharge and reminiscing about the first couple of times I had met him. I said, “I think that your engagement in structured care concepts was really helpful and I am impressed at your enthusiasm at embracing them.” He agreed that it was the correct choice to wait. Suddenly he stopped the conversation, looked at me and said, “I got to know you.”

There’s a lot of pressure to “be productive” in medicine. There are endless conversations about how to maximize the surgical yield of the clinic. Often surgeons require updated scans to be done before they will even see the patient. If there is a problem that is amenable to surgery, then the decision to proceed is frequently made on the first visit.

With few exceptions I will no longer make a surgical decision on the initial visit. Why? It is critical to know the context in which the decision is being made. What kind of stress are you under? Is your pain severe enough to undergo any procedure? Do you really know the risks? We don’t even know each other, and we are about to become partners in a risky venture.

Impact of stress

Some of the insights that have surfaced on the second or third visit are:

• “My son just died two months ago in a car accident.”
• “My husband retired, and we are driving each other crazy.”
• “I lost my daughter to breast cancer last week.”
• “I have a drinking problem.”
• “I lost my job”

These severe stressors impact both the perception of pain and also the decision-making process.  Do you feel comfortable discussing these details with a doctor you have just met? It’s a bad idea to make major decisions when your life has been impacted to this degree.

Wait!!

Knowing my patients allows me to teach them strategies that enable them to both decrease pain and cope with stress. Spine surgery is a significant stress. I also enjoy them.

Don’t make a major decision about surgery on your first visit. Would you buy a house or used car without an inspection? Why would you allow someone (including me) you have heard “has a great reputation” decide your fate in under an hour? The risks of spine surgery are too high and the potential downside can be catastrophic.

Know your surgeon – well and well before surgery. More importantly, make sure he or she knows you.

Listen to the Back in Control Radio podcast “he Healing Power of the Doctor-Patient Relationship.”

1. Ballantyne J, et al. Chronic pain after surgery or injury. IASP (2011); 19: 1-5.

Video: “Get it Right the First Time”

Are You Kidding Me?

The post Know Your Surgeon – Well first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Know Your Surgeon – Well appeared first on Back in Control.

Or imagine yourself heading to the mountains to go fishing on a beautiful lake.  The view is spectacular and the fish are hitting hard. The problem is that your fishing boat has a significant leak, and every 5-10 minutes you have to bail out the boat in order to stay on the lake. Neither experience represents a relaxing situation. The drains represent anxiety fueled by anger. Unless the drain or hole is plugged, you cannot fill the tub or enjoy your fishing trip.

In most of the articles I read about stress management, the positive side is discussed in detail. Time with friends, relaxing, etc. If there was no water in the lake or the water to the tub was not running, you also could not enjoy your fishing trip or warm bath.  So they are important. However, you are not going to move forward with a quality of life at any meaningful level until you definitively learn to process anxiety and anger. Your energy is consumed bailing out the boat or trying makeshift ways to plug the drain. You will not get rid of anxiety or anger because they are a necessary part of the human experience. They just don’t have to run your life, and there are effective tools to plug the leaks.

Now envision yourself running the water with the drain closed. You can now relax, and there eventually becomes an abundance of energy that flows outward. It is no longer just about you. Your energies can be turned outward. You can relax and enjoy the fishing experience with your partner. People inherently want to reach out and are not self-centered by choice. When you are being crushed by anxiety, it becomes a necessity.

The post Plugging the Negative Drain first appeared on Back in Control.

The post Plugging the Negative Drain appeared first on Back in Control.