Pain feels dangerous, doesn't it? It certainly doesn't feel friendly or make you think of going out and having fun.
Well, maybe not, but dangerous? That may not be the best way to view pain.
One time a friend advised me to get close to my pain if I wanted better control of it. I thought that peculiar, because all I wanted to do was run away from constant body pain!
But later on I did as she suggested, and realized some important truths.
1) My pain wasn't so scary any more. It wasn't the 300-lb. gorilla that I thought it was.
2) It was just a feeling, just an interpretation of what my body wanted me to know. Because it was simply a feeling, I didn't have to add the emotion of "fear" into the equation and give my "pain" legs and arms of its own. I could decide myself how much credibility to give it.
and-
3) As I got close to the pain, I realized that I could control it much better this way than when I stood off afar and worried about it. Plus, by being close, the pain would subside. Sometimes a little; other times much more so.
I valued any relief and began to realize that I could be an important part of living with my pain because I had a new measure of control. Try this technique. You can benefit from it, too.
Cinda Crawford, host of the Health Matters Show
