DIMs & SIMs

"We will experience pain when our credible evidence of danger related to our body is greater than our credible evidence of safety related to our body. Equally we won’t have pain when our credible evidence of safety is greater than our credible evidence of danger (Moseley and Butler 2015)"
There is such power in this simple statement.
Lorimer said that “it is as simple… and complicated as that”.
There is a lot of danger ‘out there’ and it comes in so many forms.
An example might be in an X-Ray result or what someone says or what you believe or hear on the news.
 
That being said, there is a lot of safety out there too such as accurate and up to date knowledge, having goals, having the help from a good therapist or being aware that someone really cares.
 
We call the dangers out there DIMs – Danger In Me, and the safety out there SIMs – Safety In Me.
A DIM (Danger in me) is anything that is dangerous to YOU. That is anything that is dangerous to your body, your life, your lifestyle, your job, your happiness, your day to day functioning. It as anything that is a threat to you as a person.
 
A SIM (safety in me) is anything that is makes YOU stronger, better, healthier, more confident, more sure and certain - within and about yourself.
 
Each DIM or SIM creates a ‘neurotag’ in the brain (to use the language from Explain Pain).
DIMs and SIMs can be organised into seven categories:
1. Things you hear, see, smell, taste, touch
2. Things you do
3. Things you say
4. Things you think and believe
5. Places you go
6. People in your life
7. Things happening in your body
 
A few years ago I completed a list of my own DiMs & SiMs to help a client that I was working with at the time. It's tough reading them back now but they make me appreciate just how much I have changed and how far I have come. This was with regards to the psychological and emotional pain I was feeling (rather than a physical sensation...but the process is just the same!)
 
My (previous) DiMs:
 
1. Things you hear, see, smell, taste, touch
Photos of myself
Seeing a video of myself
Looking at an X-ray/ test results
Hearing that  NEED to lose weight
Hearing that I have gained weight
Seeing that I have gained weight/ not lost anything
Feeling my trousers tightening
Feeling my body being flabby
 
2. Things you do
Cancelling appointments
Cancelling meeting friends
Staying home all the time
Binge eating
 
3. Things you say
I'm fat
I can't
I'm fine (when really I'm not)
It's fine (when really it isn't)
 
4. Things you think and believe
I'm a fraud
I'm not good enough
Things are never going to change
 
5. Places you go
To the gym with mirrors everywhere
To the doctors
 
6. People in your life
People who criticise
People on facebook (comparing myself to)
Family members who think they know best
 
7. Things happening in your body
Depression
Anxiety
Injuries
Aches and pains
Headaches
Constant thinking
 
Just as with DIMs, SIMs can be:
1. Things you hear, see, smell, taste, touch
2. Things you do
3. Things you say
4. Things you think and believe
5. Places you go
6. People in your life
7. Things happening in your body
 
My (Previous) list of SiMs:
 
1. Things you hear, see, smell, taste, touch
Seeing that I have lost weight
Feeling my clothes being looser
 
2. Things you do
Eat well
Exercise
Drink water
Writing in my journal
Yoga
Reading
Watching films
 
3. Things you say
I need help
NO/ No thank you (Saying no to the things that I don't want to do)
 
4. Things you think and believe
I'm stronger than I realise
I'm enough 
I'm not perfect and that's ok
I can do this
Everything changes
I have control in MY life
 
5. Places you go
For a walk with friends
Home 
Sofa with a good book
 
6. People in your life
Family
Friends
 
7. Things happening in your body
Happy
Optimistic
 
DIMs and SIMs can hide in hard to find places (even the political climate, the weather, old memories).
 
When you do come across a DIM or SIM consider if there is the opposite in the same category.
 
It is usually easier for us to think of the DIMs initially but it's really important that you really try and think about your SIMs too.
 
Doing this will make you aware that so many factors combining together can affect what is going on in your life. It will help you see those issues that lead you to the way you feel and ultimately how you react to those feelings (such as numbing them with food or alcohol).
 
There will never be only one cause.
 
Quite often you can't change your DIMs, you can't get rid of them. So it's what we decide to do with how they make us feel that we need to work on. We can't change things but we can change how we react to them.
 
Just by identifying your DIMs can take the power out of them or even remove them completely from your list (not necessarily out of your life).
 
You can also strengthen and find more SIMs. Powerful SIMs such as realising and accepting what is going on and having a support can help you to confront your DIMs and change the way you react to them. 
 
Your DIMs are a bit like people getting into a bath. The more DIMs you have the more the water level will rise. It may take 1 big DIM or lots of small DIMs to make the water flow over. Our job is not to let them get in the bath in the first place.
 
DIMs and SIMs are what ‘drive’ us whether that is negatively or positively. Which is why we want to identify and eliminate as many DIMS as we can (IF we can) whilst identifying and incorporating as many SIMS as we can.
 
Pain. It's not always physical. It's not always simple.