Category: Mindfulness
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Turns out I’m more than “a brain on a stick”
I started The Mindful Migraine Blog in January 2024 as a New Year’s Resolution. In my mind it was a stand-alone endeavor. Feel pain – write about it. Encounter a trick that helps reduce that pain – write about it. Keep writing, and keep waiting for people to “find you”…
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Welcome to 2025 (teeth and all)!
I’m baa-aaaack! Welcome to 2025 (can you believe we are already 1/24th of the way through the year!!) I hope that everyone’s year is going as great as can be so far – I missed you all! I finished last year with a reference to a bygone Christmas Day which…
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Sandcastles for pain relief
A while ago, I was down the coast and took the dogs for a walk on an isolated beach. This beach has signs up that tell you “no dogs off leash”, but, due to the beach’s remote location, it happened to be completely free of other people or dogs. I’m…
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“Mindfulness and it’s discontents”
The more I learn about mindfulness, the more I discover there is also push-back. If mindfulness is a ‘movement’, then there are those who are advocates and those who are not. The internet is full of the first camp, and you don’t have to look too hard to find someone…
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The migraine-pain-brain-train
The other day I had to catch the train into university to see my PhD supervisor. It takes about one hour, as long as everything goes right. If there is any sort of problem, then it can be even longer. Very occasionally, I’ve had to get off and change to…
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Sit in your discomfort longer
When my eldest daughter was about 10 years old, I remember her teacher saying, “the best advice I was ever given as a parent, is the same advice I give to all the parents of my students: let kids sit in their discomfort longer.” What she meant was; when a…
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When I was tied to the mast…
Much to the amusement (or perhaps bemusement) of the last mechanic who serviced my vehicle, my car has a CD player in it. On the good days (when noise doesn’t annoy me), I usually listen to music apps via my phone, but I also enjoy the continuity that comes from…
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Are you a human being or a human doer?
Last Sunday, when I was ironing school uniforms and office shirts for the week ahead, I was listening to one of my mindfulness/migraine-related-podcasts. It’s something I started doing when I DJ-mixed-up my life’s playlist: do a not-so-favorite chore at the same time as another activity that you’re keen on; old…
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Mindful eating (and pill-popping)
There are several exercises in mindfulness where you eat mindfully. In the simplest of ways, you make sure that when you eat, you just eat. It is an act of intentionality where you savor each mouthful, its taste and texture. [In other words, your toast isn’t hanging limply out of…
The Mindful Migraine 