BLOG 163—Getting Through Your Pain

With my words, I hope to throw some oblique light upon your life.
I want to inspire you to see life in a different and/or better way.

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*** The freedom I am experiencing in my life is a marvelous thing!

*** I want to thank my wonderful wife Beth for her superb editing and adding to the blog each week.

*** Going where I want, when I want, and seeing wonderful places and people.

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BE TAKEN AWAY WITH ME

ON WONDERFUL ADVENTURES!

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INTRO TO THIS WEEK >>
Life has been much better in being with Beth and building a life together. As you know, for five years I was on the road living in my van and going to national parks and wilderness areas.

Like you, I have gone through painful times and experiences that changed my life.

From getting hit by a truck and going through a 37-day coma, to falling from a bike and breaking my shoulder, to getting hit by a second truck and having much of my body broken. I have had to develop strategies to go on and continue to find joy how I could. I hope these ideas help you, too >>

1 – Positive thinking.

When we have pain, we often become fixated on what we are “not” able to do, toward the negative. It’s a thinking change that you have to make. Retraining your focus on what you “can” do, instead of what you can’t, will give you a more accurate view of yourself and your world. Much pain might be brought on by your brain and thinking.

I suggest you keep a journal in which you list all the things you appreciate each day. This can help you to get into a better frame of mind. Also, I find that I often compare myself to others, which is really bad. Only compare yourself to you. We may have limitations we have or make, but that doesn’t mean we are not still a complete human being.

2 – Drugs (careful)

Drugs are very good at getting rid of pain, but they sometimes have bitter, and even dangerous, side effects. If you have arthritis, a backache, or other chronic pain that interferes with you in daily life, you may be looking for a way to relieve discomfort that doesn’t involve drugs. Some age-old techniques—including meditation and yoga—as well as newer variations, may help reduce your need for pain medication.

Doctors often go the easy route and just prescribe medication for any pain. To me, a brain change can often relinquish the pain you have. Change your mindset and you can often change your pain levels.

3 – Deep breathing.

It’s central to all the methods in life, deep breathing is the one first to try. Inhale deeply, hold for a few seconds, and exhale. Center your mind on good things. To help you focus, you can use a word or phrase to guide you. For example, you may want to breathe in “peacefulness” and breathe out “stress.” Relax your body and try different positions as you breathe.

Begin deep breathing, paying attention to each breath. Then listen to calming music or imagine being in a restful situation. If you find your mind wandering, say “refresh,” then relax and call the image back into focus.

4 – Learn meditation to help you relax.

Deep breathing and meditation are techniques that help your body relax, which may ease the pain. Tension and tightness seep from muscles as they receive a quiet message to relax. There are many places to learn techniques for this, the internet is just one.

5 – Find ways to distract yourself from pain.

All your life, you are the one who directs your thinking. When you focus on pain, it makes it worse rather than better. Instead, figure out something you enjoy—perhaps an activity that keeps you busy thinking about things besides your pain. You might not be able to avoid pain, but you can take control of your thinking and your life.

6 – Eat a healthy diet.

A well-balanced diet can be important for you in many ways—helping your digestive process, reducing any heart disease risk, keeping weight in check, and improving blood sugar levels. To eat a low-fat, low-sodium diet, choose from these: fresh fruits and vegetables; cooked dried beans and peas; whole-grain bread and cereals; low-fat cheese, milk, and yogurt; and lean meats. You know how to eat right, start doing it.

7 – Track your pain level and in activities every day.

Keeping a log or journal of notes and your daily “pain score” will help you track your pain. At the end of each day, note your pain level on the 1 to 10 (1 being comfortable.) Also, note the activities you did that day. Use this book to help you keep track of improvements in what you are trying.

8 – Join a support group.

Like you, others have pain, too. Meet with others who are also going through pain as you are. When you’re with people who have chronic pain and understand what you’re going through, you feel less alone. You also benefit from their wisdom in coping with their own pain.

Also, get help when you need. Anyone can develop depression if they are going through chronic pain. Getting guidance can help you learn to cope better and help you avoid negative thoughts that can make pain worse—so you have a more positive attitude. Remember, asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.

9 – Reduce stress in your life.

As you might know, stress intensifies chronic pain. Also, negative feelings like depression, anxiety, stress, and anger can increase the body’s sensitivity to pain. By learning to take power over your stress, you may find some relief from some of your chronic pain.

Several techniques can help reduce stress and promote relaxation. Listening to soothing and calming music can lift your mood, and this will make living with chronic pain more bearable. There are even specially designed relaxation tapes or CDs for this. Mental image1ry relaxation (also called guided imagery) is a form of mental escape that can help you feel peaceful. It involves creating calming, peaceful images in your mind. Progressive muscle relaxation is another technique that promotes relaxation.

10 – Meditate

Although, over time, there are many ways to meditate. Focusing on your breathing, ignoring bad thoughts, or repeating a word or phrase—a mantra—can cause your body to relax. While you can learn to meditate on your own, it can help to take a class.

Life is happening all the time – are you keeping up?

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WORDS TO INSPIRE YOU! >>

Inspirational quotes and motivational sayings have an amazing ability to change the way we feel about life and can change our thinking.

This is why I find them so interesting, challenging, and important on our path to joy and happiness and finding ways to inspire ourselves as well as others.

Inspirational quotes and ideas provide us with a quick and timely burst of wisdom to get our focus back, offering the inspiration needed for the day or occasion.

I hope to inspire you with my words.

Words have power.

At any age, you can (and should) make changes to make your life better.

You see, the way you think and feel about yourself, including your beliefs and expectations about what is possible for you, determines everything that happens in your life. It all derives from your quality of thinking.

When you improve the quality of your thinking,
you change the quality of your life—sometimes instantly!

Just as positive words can make someone smile, and/or, a well-timed amusing quote can make someone laugh, your own thoughts react to the world in real-time. You have this control!

In fact, you have complete control over only one thing in the universe — your thinking — and that’s where motivational quotes come in!

To keep your motivation, you have to use each day as an opportunity for improvement, to be better, to get a little bit closer to your goals. It might sound like a lot of work—and with your busy schedule—next to impossible. But you can do it!

Self-talk is so important—THINK RIGHT!

Motivational words, yes, they’re just words.

But they’re positive words; they will keep you on track.
Remember, you are only as young as the last time you changed your mind.

Keep your thoughts and self-talk fun and productive and always reaching for advancement.

Very little is needed to make a great life.
I hope these words I pick do help you.

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BE INSPIRED BY THESE WORDS >>

If possible, get up and move. This will help with any pain or depression that you may be going through.

It’s been proven that taking walks outdoors and doing exercise is more effective in treating mild to moderate depression than medicine. This will exercise your body and your mind, and if done in the right way, will help with any pain you might have, too. Keep your thoughts off of any pain you may be going through.

Moving your body releases endorphins – the body’s feel-good chemical. Exercise will also combat stagnation of your blood and keep your energy flow going smoothly. Plus, deep breaths of fresh air can actually cure headaches.

COMPOSE A NOBLE BOOK AND WRITE A BEST-SELLER.
YOU ARE AMAZING—PLAY YOUR PART!

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MY DAILY JOTTINGS >>

3/18—Because of a forecast of much rain, we made sure all the animals and things are in place to handle the deluge. Animals will be kept safe, as well as Kit and Bethy.

3/19—In the past, the wood for the fire was placed on the ground in a stack. I decided it needed a wood stack rack to put it on, so I did. You will see photos. As you can see from past words, I love projects, the more, the better.

3/20—The location of our wood is right next to the bunny hutch. It needed a new tarp over the top if it, so I did. I arranged the inside better, too. It looks good, I could tell by the smiles that the bunnies had on their mugs.

3/21—Nancy Baschnagel is our friend up the street. She has a large grove of bamboo growing tall. Bamboo is such an interesting material, I know there is much that can be done with it. Today I used some to make juggling/devil/flower sticks for our friend, Tomara.

Bamboo grows quickly and is a great plant for privacy. I will be digging up some small bamboo plants to start our bamboo forest. I will let you know how it turns out.

3/22—Our one-month anniversary of Beth and I being wed. We are both quite happy and see a great future.

3/23—The storm came and went, no damage and not much rain. We were prepared (after all, I was a boy scout), but not much occurred. Seems that most TV news forecasts the very worst that weather might be, but often is not.

3/25—Every year Beth goes to https://delahowe.sc.gov/, a school where the students grow plants and then, at the beginning of spring, they are available for purchase. So we bought some to start on our garden for the year.

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YOUR CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK >>

Are you going through any pain or depression? Many of us do. Write down and make a list of all ailments you may be dealing with.

From this list, go through each one and write down things you think will help you in dealing with the pain (with a smile on your face, of course.) Perhaps, even share this with your doctor to get other ideas.

Let me know how this helps and any progress.

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NEXT BLOG >>

Stay tuned, we found a place to view eagles in the wild. I will let you know next week.

THIS WEEK, MAKE YOUR LIFE SOMETHING
THAT YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT!