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Three Mind Tricks to Ease Your Pain

by Elana Zaiman

Liv Fun: Vol 4 – Issue 1

Our imagination all too often takes us to places we don’t want to go: “My daughter didn’t call when she said she was going to call. She must have been in a car accident.” “My friend’s headache won’t go away. She must have a brain tumor.” “My feet are in constant pain. The pain will never end.”

Why do we run the tape of all that can possibly go wrong instead of having a little faith and saying, “It’s probably just traffic, or a migraine, or the foot pain will heal.” Why do we enter the forest of worry, fear and anxiety when we could just as easily enter the ocean of calm, comfort and peace? How we choose to view a situation makes a difference in terms of our emotional, spiritual and physical well-being.

This is particularly true for those who are suffering from physical pain. I lived in pain for many months before I learned why, and after going through two hip arthroscopy surgeries I still wasn’t convinced that my hips were my only problem. I continued to believe that there might be something more serious going on. I was consumed with worry when I should have been focused on healing.

It’s true that we must adjust ourselves to the fact that, as we age, our bodies are not as able as they used to be, but before giving into our pain, before accepting pain as an unwelcome houseguest who refuses to move out, we have another option: We can change the tape we run in our minds about pain and what it means.

Not long ago my physical therapist recommended a helpful handbook by Adriaan Louw titled Why Do I Hurt? that successfully consolidates the neuroscience behind pain into terms a layperson can understand. (Louw, 2013) He speaks to the complexity of pain, noting that how we think and process pain is vital to the amount of pain we experience. Louw explains how the painful areas in our body have nerves that connect to the spinal cord, which, when faced with danger, send messages to the brain by way of electrical impulses.

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Liv Fun

by Leisure Care
Spring 2015
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Three Mind Tricks to Ease Your Pain
by Elana Zaiman

Our imagination all too often takes us to places we don’t want to go: “My daughter didn’t call when she said she was going to call. She must have been in a car accident.” “My friend’s headache won’t go away. She must have a brain tumor.” “My feet are in constant pain. The pain will never end.”

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Talking to The Animals
by Skye Moody

Mystery novelist Bill Fitzhugh keeps chickens in his Los Angeles backyard. Each hen has a name: Aunt Ray, Watermelon, Woody, etc. Occasionally, Fitzhugh posts a “Chicken Report” on Facebook, narrating his videotaped visits to the henhouse and lush grassy pecking yard.

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The Ego / Health Connection Exposed
by Thomas Orton

I was exhausted. I couldn’t help cutting corners. And where there were no corners, I cut whatever was there. This fatigue, a symptom of my Parkinson’s, had saddled me with a repertoire of some bad but necessary habits. By bed time every night, I was so tired I pulled off my jeans and shorts at the same time, not bothering to separate them before dropping them in a heap on the floor.

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