 1. Create a gratitude jar
This January, start the year with an empty jar. Each week, add a a note with a good thing that happened. On New Year's Eve, empty the jar and read about the amazing year you had. 2. Trash the self-trash talk While chronic pain hurts, it’s the “struggle” with pain that causes the suffering. We can begin to change the way we think about and react to pain by removing the negative trash talk we say to ourselves each day. This type of thinking increases focus on the pain, reinforces it, and can make the pain feel worse. 3. Get off the chronic pain merry-go-round Stop searching for a cause and cure to your pain. Accept it as your new normal knowing hurt doesn't always mean harm. Learn more in my free e-book. The Chronic Pain Champions website provides links to not only pain information but also pain research and journal articles.
Pain research, especially scientific studies, can often be long and hard to read for non-professionals – loaded with all sorts of detailed information. Research generally follows this format: abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion. My suggestions
Other suggestions Public events you may want to explore/attend. Not affiliated, supported or endorsed by Chronic Pain Champions.
Two events are on the calendar for January. Check it out. Do you have chronic pain education events planned for 2021? Promote them for free via the new Chronic Pain Champion Event Calendar. Submit event information here. One of the most recommended ways to manage pain is to change how much attention you give to it. Paying attention to pain, amplifies the pain and increases the tendency for negative thinking. Just like a kid screaming for candy at the store. If you always buy the child candy (in this case, pain) when they scream, they’ll continue to scream each time you take them to the store until they get candy. Five ways to reduce your focus on chronic pain
Learn more - resources
 Look at the photo below. What do you see? Now change your focus. Do you see something different than before? Just like this exercise, we can change our thoughts about pain and our reactions to it by changing how we look at it - by changing our focus. Learn more
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