Friends of Change,
Welcome back to our discussion on mindfulness and personal development. Today, I want to talk with you about a topic that is of great importance to many of us: promoting pain management through mindfulness practices. Pain is not just a physical experience but often a construct of negative experiences and mental chatter. Let's explore together how we can find new ways to deal with pain and find peace through mindfulness.
Pain as a Construct of Negative Experiences
Have you ever wondered how much of your pain is actually due to physical causes and how much is due to negative experiences and the mental chatter that accompanies them? Our minds warn us about pain, and these warnings can actually alter physical structures, create misalignments, and act as a constant "brake" in our lives. We try to release this brake by giving our full attention to pain. Long therapy sessions and exercise routines that often don't even benefit us and result in side effects like muscle soreness are the consequence. The result leads to even more stress.
However, can this truly lead to improved health? As a chronic pain patient since birth, I can now list a catalog of experiences that were not really helpful, and if they were, not long-term.
The Cause of Pain
How often do we try to directly combat pain, only to find that it often becomes stronger as a result? The change in pain cannot lie within the pain itself because it is only the expression of the underlying challenges of our daily lives. What resistances do we feel? What overwhelm or unloved tasks burden us? Finding peace with this often becomes an almost unsolvable challenge.
Mindfulness as a Path to Peace
Could mindfulness offer a way to meet this challenge? In our last blog, we discussed how moments of mindfulness – such as consciously enjoying a cup of coffee or freely yawning – can help to defuse stressful situations. What if we simply used these moments to respect the underlying causes of our pain and give them the attention they deserve? This is not a question of doing something different; it is just a small change in perspective. A small integration of enjoyment and peace instead of adding more fuel to the fire of stress and suffering.
Even conscious breathing offers support to the body in certain situations of physical exertion, saving energy when lifting heavy objects, for example. Simply by using the expansion of the body during inhalation, letting it open and grow, it costs you less effort. Breathing drives movement and makes it easier for you. Just pay attention next time when you lift a fully loaded shopping bag. Are you exhaling or inhaling? Could it be that you are not breathing at all? And now, consciously inhale while lifting the bag. Just observe without judgment.
Maybe this small mindfulness exercise can also help you consciously perceive your body and observe the thoughts that pass through your mind when carrying those heavy bags. Could this also help gain a new perspective on your pain?
Practical Examples
How often do you rush out of the house in the morning, stressed and in a hurry, focusing on the challenges ahead and feeling like you can't handle them? Does that sound familiar?
What would happen if you took a moment and imagined how you would feel when you return home in the evening after a successful day? You've completed all your tasks satisfactorily, perhaps even received praise, and you're satisfied with your day's work. Now, imagine entering your apartment and spending your evening with joy and something enjoyable that you love. You still have enough energy and desire to do something you've been putting off for a long time.
With what energy do you leave the house now? This energetic openness to the success of your tasks not only changes your feeling of possible overwhelm but also opens up paths of creativity. Suddenly, you think of things you couldn't even consider because the feeling of heaviness blocked those accesses.
Or you may also experience this: Suddenly, you crave a piece of cake. But along with the craving comes a feeling of guilt. Thoughts like "This isn't healthy, I shouldn't eat this, it's already evening, and I'll surely gain weight from it" take over instead of truly enjoying the moment.
Have you ever wondered why you can't simply enjoy the cake? Are there perhaps memories of your grandma behind it, whom you miss, and the craving for cake has nothing directly to do with the piece of cake but rather with a memory that you painfully miss?
Consciously recall that wonderful moment when you enjoyed that cake with your grandma, with lots of love. How did you feel then, and how did your stomach feel afterward? Let's consciously connect to this memory and allow ourselves to enjoy the moment without feelings of guilt. And if you still crave a piece of cake now, then enjoy it. Enjoy the moment, bon appétit! And don't worry, from now on, you'll be able to evoke this wonderful feeling again and again without having to eat cake every day. Feel free to share your experience with me; I'm curious!
Finding Peace
Ultimately, it's about finding peace with our pain. This means recognizing the underlying causes and not seeing them as enemies but as parts of our experiences that can teach us something about ourselves. Integrating mindfulness into our daily lives allows us to respect these causes and give them the attention they deserve without giving them control or even wanting to destroy them. They are valuable parts of us. We just need to decide if now is the right time to use them or not.
It's similar to a dog that barks when someone rings the doorbell. You decide whether the dog should greet the guest and play with them or if peace should be maintained and you send the dog to its mat. It's the small changes that make the biggest difference.
Dear friends, I hope this insight into the importance of mindfulness for pain management has inspired you and provoked thought. Let's continue to grow together and learn how to build a deeper connection to ourselves and our pain through mindfulness. I warmly invite you to join us in the next blog post in December and through the holiday season, where we will delve into the topic of gratitude and the challenges associated with it, which is a somewhat worn-out topic for me. I think some perspectives may also be interesting for you.
In connection and with warm regards,
Andrea
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