Is it possible to find happiness when my body is in constant pain?

There’s a lot of fluff out there about the idea of gratitude, savoring what is good, and embracing your life in the present. I’m not saying these components aren’t helpful and a huge contributor to satisfaction, but I think asking someone with constant pain to do that minimizes the journey they’ve had and will need to take to get there.

Today, I want to touch on the possibility that you CAN infuse your life with happiness, despite your ongoing struggle with chronic pain. When you start to find joy again, you will start to find freedom.

Not only can activities that bring joy serve as a short-term distraction, the creation of multiple opportunities for joy can contribute to retraining your brain's response to pain, reducing the sensitivity of your nervous system, and overcoming pain long term.

There are several ways to do this, and I’m sure that you have some ways already in your own life that you bring joy to your day. My main “tip” would be to start off very small, if that’s where you are, and if you’re wanting to re-engage in activities that brought you a feeling of “flow” before.

Here’s a story to reinforce that idea:

I once came in contact with a gentleman who had neck and arm pain. He LOVED playing guitar, it was a big part of his life before his chronic pain became so bad that it hurt to play. He couldn’t imagine a world where he’d ever be able to play again, it was too painful. He had a lot of fearful thoughts about how it would feel to play and how it would flare everything up. He was just trying to coast with his pain and chronic pain management without overdoing it. I asked him to start playing. How long do you think you could play before it hurt. “One minute”. How often? “Every other day”. And that’s where he started. Over time, he was able to build this up slowly to 30 minutes a day. Maybe one day he’ll practice for hours, who knows. But it wasn’t a pill, procedure, or a surgery that allowed him to do this. It was a reduction of threat and a new starting point. Is it hard to start with one minute when you’re used to practicing for hours a day? Totally. But with that one minute came joy, optimism, confidence, and a reduction in threat and pain’s impact on this activity for him.

Mindfulness and Imagery

One method is by using mindfulness. I know, I know. It's so annoying when people bring up mindfulness and meditation. It sounds too “woo woo” when we are in constant pain. Mindfulness has become a really loose term that has been applied to a variety of practices.

However, for thousands of years, Buddhist monks have asserted that the practice of mindfulness meditation can significantly alter the subjective experience of pain. In fact, studies have shown that mindfulness meditation reduces pain reports across a spectrum of chronic pain conditions. You can practice mindfulness by fully experiencing the pain, letting go of a negative stream of thoughts around pain, or focus entirely on gratitude. There are so many ways to use this! I always think it feels better to consider the physical effects of mindfulness. What I mean by that is the new neural pathways that you can create. Can you have less fearful thoughts WHILE experiencing your pain sensations? Can you let them go WHILE experiencing your pain sensations? It could be an interesting experiment.

Imagery and visualization, while different, are great too. They can promote relaxation and serve as a temporary distraction, sometimes with long-lasting positive physical effects on the body.

Movement

Exercise and movement have long been shown to be an effective intervention for chronic pain. Starting at (and never past) your baseline of comfort (maybe with some soreness) and intentionally, slowly, and progressively building has even been shown to change the brain's response to pain and reduce the sensitivity of your nervous system, maybe even create new, stronger neural pathways. Not sure how to design your very busy days in a way that does this? I am creating a digital course to address this exact problem and you can sign up here to get on the waitlist! I’ll be releasing it later this year.

Movement also creates positive chemical releases in the brain, notably natural endorphins (think: runner's high), which can help lower pain levels. For many, movement and exercise is also a distraction technique (especially if walking in nature or doing a mindful walk).

Sleep Hygiene

Sleep hygiene is your routine before bed each night and impacts how well your brain can associate your bed with sleep. When we aren't getting enough sleep, our sensitivity to pain levels go up (plus we're cranky!). Making small changes to your sleep habits can add up to big changes over time.

Social Medicine

Finally, are you using your support system? To laugh, for distraction, to get out of the house, to move, to engage in a hobby?

Speaking of hobbies, find what gets you in the flow or makes you laugh, and do that regularly and frequently in small doses. Identify the people in your life that make up the core of your support system. It's easy to avoid people, places, and activities when you're in pain, but it's not good for us. Go ahead, give that friend a call and grab a cup of coffee. Talk about things other than pain.

Remember, optimism can be so good for chronic pain - understanding that pain changes all of the time can be a relief. Because if it can get worse, it can change for the better too.

Education provides the power to take the next step in managing your pain. You want to do the things you enjoy (or even basic daily activities) without flaring up your pain. For a limited time, you can grab my free video tutorial to get you started:

3 Simple Steps to a Balanced Day... Without the Flare-Ups.

This free video tutorial is dedicated to helping women with pain begin to find confidence to return to the moments, activities, and people they love the most.

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