Thanks Kevin for that positive message. It is nice to get strengthened by praying to Cod. Yes, it is important to learn & get support from others who are positive and upbeat about T. There are struggling members, but there are also those who have recovered from the suffering. Try to get support from members who can help you. Learn their approach & insight. Don't let T be the master. It is just a sound. Our reaction to this sound determines its intrusiveness. It doesn't have to be life threatening be it very annoying at times. What is important is to change from threatening to annoying or to neutral. It takes time to do it. I hope you keep on improving and be well in time.
John, sorry that you are suffering much with your T. I know what you mean that our love ones can keep us soldiering on with T. Perhaps turn the thinking positively by using your perseverance with suffering from T to show the boys that in time of challenges we need to persevere with patience, with a positive attitude, never quitting and ever still loving. We can turn negativity into positivity by following the advice of Romans 5:3-5 where we are exhorted to 'Rejoice in our sufferings' and use that as a process to build stamina in our character.
I had to use this strategy a few years back when my T & H turned me into a mess and my family suffered. It dawned on me that T & H, besides ruining me, was beginning to ruin my family. So I said 'NO WAY'. I humanize T as my most hated bully, punching me and knocking me down and then charging towards my family, threatening to hurt them. I said I would fight you, the T bully, and I would shield it from my love ones. If T turned my life into a hell, I want to make sure my family would live like heaven in return to protect them. I decided to ignore all my sufferings and turn myself into a 'compost' of sort (which is dead & has no feeling towards any suffering sensation). This is like in nature where a mother plant will compost itself so it becomes the nutrients for the seedling plants generating around the mother plant. I decided to ignore or be dead to all my suffering sensations by focusing on their needs instead of my own pains.
Well by putting their needs, their security and happiness before my own, I decided to just give them my best. I massaged my weak wife daily and hugged and kissed the family generously, serving and treating them well. Whenever I felt down & depressed by T, I would imagine this T bully charging towards my family and I got up on my knees & move on by living for them and for others. No more personal moan & groan. I even volunteered for Food Bank (a charitable org here) to collect foods. I put on an ipod with masking sounds and just walked around to 100s of homes to distribute flyers and then went back to collect donated foods a few days later. I still have good legs and hands as well as good vision. So I could do this for my family and others. I went back to fishing for salmon (my hobby) which I stopped when T hit and I provide lots of great fresh seafood for them. I dared my T & H to go out and re-live my life again. The hell with T. This proves I am still quite useful and valuable despite the ultra high pitch dog whistle and the H. When the ringing got ultra loud, I just imagine myself as a driller/miner in the 3rd world having to work with this annoying sound for long shift daily for life w/o ear protection. Heck, many of them are glad to have this job to feed the family. I would take this imperfect analogy just so I could have my life back by not worrying about this mad ringing.
While T tried to destroy me (and so my family), I fought back with whatever I could, acceptance, patience, positivitiy, caring for others, mental imagery, even considering myself a compost (dead to negative feelings & discomforts) but contributing richly to the lives of my love ones and others. When I changed my old ways of feeling miserable for self, getting depressed, angry, negative, anxious etc. to the new ways of willing to peacefully co-exist with T by the means mentioned above, T just slowly becomes a paper tiger. It can still scream at the top of its lung, but I don't give a dime any more. Not just me, my body finally catches up and won't react to this T bully negatively like before. T's tyranny over me is over. Good life can still be back.
So have faith and hope for the future. Never give up. God is still loving and merciful. He doesn't guarantee us a good or perfect life in this temporary stay on this earth. His promise is eternal life in the life after. The devil can still inflict pains in people's life like illnesses. Christ had to cast out the devils often during his earthly ministry. Nevertheless, He provides us the teachings to help us soldier on in this life and you will find rich teachings in the scriptures (like Romans 5:3-5), and Christ sets the perfect example of caring for others while at the cross, praying for those who were crucifying Him. So, don't give up on ourselves, and please don't give up on the loving God.
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