Are you looking at your pain as something that is wrong and needs to be fixed? Viewing it as something you want to get rid of will only set up a confrontation with yourself. Whilst engaging in this battle, compromises in other areas of your life often result. You might miss out on the things you used to enjoy because of the constant struggle with pain. As the Mind-Body Guide, I offer an alternative to fighting an ongoing war against pain.
First, it’s important to know why you have pain in the first place and understand what it’s trying to tell you. Think of pain as your personalised threat detection system. It’s hard wired into you. Feeling pain motivates you into taking action to keep safe. It’s how we’ve evolved.
Your brain and nervous system work closely together. Your brain is constantly being updated and uses that information to predict if things are safe. If your brain doesn’t feel safe, it sounds the alarm and you will feel pain.
But the brain doesn’t always get it right. All it can do is make a best guess, depending on things like past experience, what you have been told, and what you believe is true.
Always worrying about pain will trigger protective responses in the brain which cause the pain volume to be turned up. Known as Danger In Me Signals (or DIMS) they lead to thinking the worst, catastrophising and living in anticipation of when pain might show up. This anxiety only amplifies the body’s response.
Being able to change your beliefs by learning about pain and understanding what causes it can have a huge impact on your recovery. Put another way, it can help you turn down the volume on pain.
This is easier said than done as trying to not think about the pain will only make you think about it more. Perhaps you have tried this strategy before. And though it might have worked in the short term, it isn’t a long-term fix. I would suggest that, rather than trying to struggle against your pain, you look at it through a different lens.
Working together, we’ll create feelings of safety in yourself, which I call SIMS (Safety In Me Signals). Through activities that bring a sense of relaxed calm, your pain volume will be turned down.
You can start this process by having a think about what your beliefs around pain are. What is causing it and what do you want to do about it?
Consider what recurrent thoughts you have about pain. Next, look at the things you do each day and reflect on how these activities affect your pain.
If you are ready to take a different approach to your pain, to stop battling it and to start understanding it, book a free introductory call and let’s see how we could work together.
