 As a chronic pain patient, who/what can you best rely on to help with your chronic pain?
A. Yourself B. Doctors C. Drugs and supplements D. Family and friends Correct answer: Yourself. There most often isn't a cure for chronic pain. We must accept responsibility to self-manage our chronic pain and make the most of our lives, despite the pain. Take the entire quiz here.  An excerpt from a great article written by Donald Richard - Classic Essay: Fly Fishing, Mindfulness, and the Art of Letting Go "While it’s completely normal for us to get hooked on various thoughts and feelings, the process can be exhausting. The practice of catching and releasing our thoughts is not easy. Releasing them requires the same amount of skill, practice, and patience that we use to properly release a fish." Read the entire article here.  Let's face it, change isn't easy. Nor is chronic persistent pain.
If we keep doing what we we've done in the past to manage our pain but still hurt, why not try something different? Especially something is that is risk-free with zero side effects. Change how we think about pain. Pain is an experience affected by our minds and our bodies as well as the world around us. So why treat it with only medical solutions As Dr. Rachel Zoffness said it so well in a recent article, if we treat pain as only biomedical, we’re missing two-thirds of the pain problem. Learn more in my free e-book Chronic Pain Pain Won't Stop Me.  Our minds are powerful. They can do great good or do great harm. When in chronic persistent pain, it can become easy for negative thoughts to pop into our minds and affect how we feel and behave in reaction to the pain. Creating a cycle of pain. TIPS 1. Identify negative thoughts. Negative thoughts play off our emotions and can often re-occur for no real reason. They work against us instead of for us. 2. Challenge negative thoughts. Ask yourself: Are the thoughts you’re having realistic. Are they factual? Do they help or hurt you? Are you catastrophizing or jumping to conclusions? Be kind and non-judgmental. You aren’t a bad person for thinking them. 3. Replace negative thoughts. Replace these thoughts with positive and more realistic thoughts like, I can do this; the pain is what it is; I’m many things – pain doesn’t define me, and this won’t last forever. |
