I have a bestie over on LinkedIn, a lovely lady called Tracy (who has inspired me previously with her idea that Japanese Kintsugi pottery is a metaphor for living with pain). Well, she recently sent me a photo of a pretty pink floral painting she had made while she was suffering from a raging headache. She often writes about how art therapy has helped her cope with her many medical issues, and how she is teaching others to use art to help them too.
In this instance, by becoming absorbed in the task at hand (painting pink flowers) her mind was distracted from the pain, and in the time that it took to complete the painting, she had presumably centered herself enough that her body’s stress-pain-signals were no longer applicable… and… her headache disappeared.
For me, I’m no painter, but I do find that writing sometimes takes away my pain. Or needlepoint. Yes, I know, it’s very “Pride and Prejudice” of me (although, that said, I can’t see Elizabeth Bennet embroidering a handkerchief for Mr Darcy anytime soon).
It would be nice if reading worked for me in the same way, but the eyestrain tends to make things worse. Walking and mindful movement bring relief, but doing something creative seems an even better antidote. There is something about creativity, and the repeated activities required of art and craft projects, that allows your brain to move “into the zone” in a way which causes time to stand still. What a shock it is to look up and realize that half an hour, or more, has passed while you were enjoying your creative endeavor!
A while ago I posted a photo of a long-stitch I was making with the word “LOVE” on it. Well, I finished it a while ago, but I just keep forgetting to put the picture up. Tracey’s letter reminded me to do it, so here it is:
In the conclusion of the same past post, I also suggested that I might design my own long-stitch panel. I put up some pictures of some chronic-pain styled options and asked for people to vote (before I learnt how to use actual questionnaires). Several people used the comment section to suggest that “IFFY” seemed to be a (manageable) winner.
So, IFFY it was. Months later (I still have to pinch myself that I’ve been blogging/blabbing for so long now!), the panel is “complete”. Don’t’ laugh…
Turns out that the ones you buy in store were designed by professionals not have-a-goers. Also turns out that eyeballing the spacing of the circles and letters was not an ideal design approach (plus I didn’t sew the top of the first F properly, so it’s too short which means the gap between the two Fs is so F-ing wide and exaggerates that the Y is floating off in space – seriously WHY!?).
And then there’s the issue of only having colored thread that was left over from other projects (I swear the dusty-pinky-brown looked more like a lilac shade before I started sewing).
Oh, and in case you’re wondering what the overall design intention was (again, don’t laugh) – it was NOT meant to be a weird eyeball or fireworks… it WAS meant to be an abstract version of my healing mandala that I use everywhere to identify my anonymous self!
[I bet you instantly recognized the healing mandala, didn’t you?]
Win or lose, I don’t care. The main thing, these days, in my mind, is I gave it a go… but more importantly – creating things is the perfect distraction for pain.
I can’t pretend that long-stitch cured my migraine, but it did make the pain in my eye disappear for the duration… and that’s a good thing.
So yay me and my super-IFFY long-stitch!
Take care creating your most colourful life, Linda xox
The Mindful Migraine 
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