What’s Interesting About Pain? And, what you can do about it!
Posted in: Healthy Lifestyle by Pamela on December 5, 2011
Many of us are at the stage of life where we can still indulge in some denial about aging or its successor, old age.
What is undeniable, however, is the increasing number of annoyances from aches and pains in your body that detract from the quality of daily life. They can be transient – moving mysteriously from a bum knee to a sore shoulder, while chronic problems can worsen – arthritis becomes more debilitating, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) turns to Crohn’s disease or diverticulitis, elevated blood sugar becomes full blown diabetes. You get the picture.
You’re so used to your healthy, strong, resilient body, that, at first, you can’t believe it. But time, wear and tear, and years, take their toll. Even if you’ve been scrupulous about your diet, exercise, and managing stress, you’re going to age. However, depending upon your lifestyle and genetics, the level of deterioration can be mitigated.
The one thing over which you do have control, and need to cultivate daily (so it’s already in your nature if you later experience some dementia) is your attitude. A positive, up-lifted, gracious, and thankful attitude helps the pain go down.
Picture this:
You are babysitting your grandchild, she decides to experiment in exploring the stairwell. You jump up to prevent an accident, and inadvertently jam your foot into the edge of a table. At the same time, the baby falls down a few stairs. As you rush to catch and protect her, you have no thought of your throbbing toes, you’re so grateful she’s okay that you barely think about your injury. The distraction of feeling gratitude shifted the awareness in your brain from pain to the welfare of your little explorer; you were able to avoid, mentally and physically, BECOMING THE PAIN. You don’t want to be stuck in fear and pain, which only worsens suffering.
As you age, you learn how to live at another level, to give up some of what you once had, taking advantage of, and cultivating what works for you now. This readjustment keeps you alive and vital. Severe chronic pain can be debilitating, but living with a level of borderline pain keeps you aware and flexible; you become a health warrior, physically and mentally. Your strength comes from continuously learning, fighting, and adjusting, in order to strive for and achieve your own personal best.
Pain-focused awareness can be a catalyst to growth. As your body ages and deteriorates, you want to heighten your consciousness around your pain.
How to learn from your pain:
- Determine its origin.
- Do what you can to sort it out (exploring both Western and Eastern medicine, as well as energy work and natural alternatives).
- Be your own best advocate for your care, don’t give your power away to the medical profession and pharmaceuticals.
- Recognize where in our life cycle you are right now, and shift your focus to live the best life you can at this time.
- Listen to your body.
- Your pain is a feedback loop that helps you tune your dials to what you can do, what’s too much, how much sleep you need, and what kind of food feels most nurturing to your body.
- Listen to your body, it can guide you to learn what soothes or aggravates it.
It helps to have a sense of humor as the years march on. Maybe your nice curvy body shrinks into a skeletal shell, or magically blows up to into a nerf ball. You notice that your features start taking on a life of their own, and begin to melt into one another. You can’t remember the name of your favorite television show, or you find yourself defending that it’s not that you’re not listening – it’s that “you can’t hear s—t.” You need to learn to laugh until it hurts!
Never abandon hope, even at the ripe age of 80 and beyond. By caring for your body, nurturing your spirit, and cultivating closeness with friends and family, you’ll have the personal resilience to deal with all the amazing changes of aging. Then, you’ll be ready to navigate what David Sedaris called “the five rings of hell” in your last years, with a peaceful resolution and light (even if assisted) step!
Today is the best day to start really living the rest of your life, no matter what age you are.
To learn more about resilience and change check, out my book: Healthy Lifestyle Path of Wellness, http://bit.ly/j0i1iq.
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Wise advice as always, Pamela. Being aware of our thought patterns can affect not just HOW we experience pain, but also what we choose to do about it. Negative or defeatist thoughts (ex. This will never get better, I always get the short end of the stick, etc.) can really cloud our ability to clearly address whatever is going on. Love your book!!!