Hi!
Now that you have your diet and you are eating well and feeling better, I hope, and exercising, we will now talk about stress. When you do your exercising, your stress level should be reduced considerably. Stress adds to FMS just as it does to all other ailments and diseases, pain, etc. We cannot avoid having stress in our lives, but how we deal with that stress is within our control.

There are all kinds of stressors out there and within ourselves. We must be able to distinguish from where the stressor is presenting itself to us. Is it an environmental stressor or an internal stressor to the environment. Is it the other person, or is it our reaction to the other person. What can we control and what can we not control. It is important to identify those stressors which we can control. Those that we cannot control, we shall have to let go. However, the stressor we can can control, can be controlled by our mind.

How we perceive stress is more important than the stress itself. Sometimes, we are our own worst enemies caused by our perceptions. Not the first to say it, but how we face adversity is the measure of who we are. Can we rise above it? Can we turn away from it? Can we perceive stress as something else?

These are all questions we each must answer for ourselves. There are hundreds of books and articles written about stress and how to deal with it. On the surface, it appears to not be a simple concept. But if we look deeper at it, stress that we can control usually comes from our own perception.

Do we percieve what is happening as an affront to us, or a threat to us in some way? How can we perceive the stress another way? If we think of perceptions as solely coming from our mind, why can't we make our mind think of the stressors as soley from our perceptions.

You will have to contemplate this concept, try it on with one thing that gives you stress and try to look at it from a different perspective. Perhaps you will simply take yourself away from the stressor and that will be the end of it. You might try not putting yourself into that situation again. That is just one idea.

You might think your spouse is angry with you, but if you do not perceive that anger, and do not repond to that anger with anger, perhaps you might perceive that anger as some emotional pain which he is feeling and, you might be able to try to evaluate what that pain might be that would make him appear to you to be so angry. Perhaps, he does not know how to express that emotional pain and holds it in, only to express it in the only way he knows how to, which is anger.

It is all your own perception. We will talk about this some more next time.
Think about it. Hope you have some feedback for me.

So for now get a good night's sleep, eat well and be free of pain.
shirley

For instance,

fibromyalgia / princess and the pea

Hi Everyone!
Yesterday, I said you need to take one step at a time, and what the next step would be. Well, it isn't just the next step, it is literally the first step of the morning, that we will talk about today. The good sleep comes first, then when you wake up, you have to take your first step. It is called the first step, because you cannot put your feet down on the floor without excrutiating pain.

So even before you try to take that first step, you might experience your arms feeling weak and might even be unable to move them at first, and your fingers may feel like they are blown up to five times their size. You may need someone to help move your arms up and down to get the circulation going, then shake your hands several times. I guarantee you that they are not swollen, they only feel that way.

One of the important things to know about fibromyalgia is that it is, as far as we know, a condition which leaves your muscles without enough oxygen to function. So if this is true, it is necessary to move your muscles. Pumping your arms up and down and shaking your fingers will cause enough oxygen to flow through your blood into your muscles to allow normal functioning.

Once that is accomplished, you can now swing your feet onto the floor, but DO NOT try to place your feet directly on the floor and DO NOT try to put any weight on your feet. You will now knead your feet like a cat. You have all watched cats knead their front paws when they awake, toes first then slowly back and forth until your entire foot is flat with the floor. Then you can begin to slowly put your weight on your feet. Little by little, step by step, you will begin to walk until the pain is gone. So this is the literal first step, and we all know what it feels like.

Now you have to come to terms with what you are going to do next. If you go back to bed, you will end up having to repeat this whole process again. Every time you are in one position for too long, your muscles lose oxygen. So you must decide, "do I go on with the next step in living my life, or do I go back to bed and start again each time" with the literal first step, getting nowhere.

As soon as possible, I suggest that you make a list of what you want your life to look like. When you have an idea in your mind, set out in small steps so that you can move on. Do I go for a walk? Sounds easy and good.

Along with the good sleep and the oxygination of your muscles, comes your diet or should I say the foods you will eat. There is a fibromyalgia diet on the internet, but I can tell you that what helps me most is a way of eating, which does not include any gluten, (wheat flour), dairy, soy products of any kind, alcohol, chocolate except very dark chocolate and only in minimum amounts, caffiene, red meat, and for most people, peanuts. It's amazing how quickly you can feel better after only a few days of this way of eating. There are many other foods you can eat and what is so wonderful is that you never feel hungry and have no more cravings for candy or cake or anything that has gluten in it. Believe me when I tell you that almost everything has gluten in it. Even ice cream and most non-fat yogurts.

So if I tell you one thing, it is to READ EVERY LABEL OF INGREDIENTS. There are many foods, today, that are gluten, etc. free and can be found in good food stores. We will talk about them tomorrow.

As you begin to feel better, we can go on to talk about a way of life, a life change, your dreams and desires. Doing the things you have wanted to do for so long, and being in too much pain to do them. The irony of it all is that the more you do, the better you will feel, and the better you will sleep.

So, get some good sleep and will talk tomorrow.
shirley