Positive self-talk is supposed to be a great strategy for managing a challenge. Today it worked for me (well, that and keeping my eyes squeezed shut). I had an MRI done this morning. I took one look at that tiny tube the technician planned to slide my body into and I thought, "No way". Well, it had to be done and I hadn't thought to ask if they offered an open MRI. So there I was, ready to be treated like a pair of socks being shoved into a drawer. Enter self-talk. As soon as the technician tucked me in with a couple of snuggly blankets I closed my eyes and told myself I was just fine. I immediately pictured myself lounging at the beach. Whenever my mind wandered from that picture and I began to think about where I really was, I had a simple conversation with myself that brought me back to calm.
When I think about it (aside from people with a real phobia) being in that MRI wasn't actually a big deal. It's all the things that could have happened that got my blood pressure up and made my palms sweaty. A long time ago, I had a teacher who talked about piling negativity on top of negativity. He called it, "pulling the hole in on yourself". What he meant was that when things are bad, or when faced with a challenge, we can have a tendency to start to think about all the things that are going badly or about everything that could possibly go wrong. So it's not enough that one thing is challenging or off track, we add more, pulling the hole in on ourself. The only thing that's accomplished is that we just become more miserable than we already are.
When I was lying in that tube, nothing bad was happening because it was small. Lying on there wasn't even thinking about why I needed an MRI, it was all about the lack of space in that silly tube. My mind wanted to focus on what I didn't like about the test and what could go wrong. I am just not used to being in such a tight space and I couldn't sit up. I couldn't get out if I wanted to, someone else was in control and my body was talking to me, too! I did well because I stayed in each moment and kept saying to myself, "I am fully present in this moment, and in this moment I am fine". I silently sang along to the music being piped in through my headphones and one minute turned into the next and before I knew it I was finished. I didn't open my eyes until I was totally out of the machine, so I never really did see what it was like on the inside. I'll save that for another time. Today's MRI was a non-event. I managed my anxiety with simple stress-management strategies and I didn't pull the hole in on myself.
When I think about it (aside from people with a real phobia) being in that MRI wasn't actually a big deal. It's all the things that could have happened that got my blood pressure up and made my palms sweaty. A long time ago, I had a teacher who talked about piling negativity on top of negativity. He called it, "pulling the hole in on yourself". What he meant was that when things are bad, or when faced with a challenge, we can have a tendency to start to think about all the things that are going badly or about everything that could possibly go wrong. So it's not enough that one thing is challenging or off track, we add more, pulling the hole in on ourself. The only thing that's accomplished is that we just become more miserable than we already are.
When I was lying in that tube, nothing bad was happening because it was small. Lying on there wasn't even thinking about why I needed an MRI, it was all about the lack of space in that silly tube. My mind wanted to focus on what I didn't like about the test and what could go wrong. I am just not used to being in such a tight space and I couldn't sit up. I couldn't get out if I wanted to, someone else was in control and my body was talking to me, too! I did well because I stayed in each moment and kept saying to myself, "I am fully present in this moment, and in this moment I am fine". I silently sang along to the music being piped in through my headphones and one minute turned into the next and before I knew it I was finished. I didn't open my eyes until I was totally out of the machine, so I never really did see what it was like on the inside. I'll save that for another time. Today's MRI was a non-event. I managed my anxiety with simple stress-management strategies and I didn't pull the hole in on myself.
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