Category: Resilience

  • Life in the ecotone

    Life in the ecotone

    I say this a lot, but I’ll say it again: I spend as much time (or more) in blog-land reading compared to writing. There is SO MUCH to learn about life, and I especially enjoy the material that falls outside typical migraine-me subjects. BUT I ALSO like it when I…

  • Darwinian migraine madness

    Darwinian migraine madness

    Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is often summarized down to a key concept: “survival of the fittest”. Given this fact, I have often wondered why – given how much migraine reduces functionality – why has migraine not been “bred out” of humanity…? Surely when our ancient ancestors needed to pack…

  • I am more than my body

    I am more than my body

    Across the centuries and all cultures, there has always been a sense of something ‘beyond’ us mere mortals.  Perhaps because we ‘travel’ in our dreams, humans have no problem believing in this other realm.  Moreover, there has also always been people who claim they can act as the intermediary between…

  • Keep doing today

    Keep doing today

    A while ago I wrote a post titled “Migraine Snakes and Ladders” about a rough migraine I experienced which involved a lot of projectile vomiting (sorry). It was a pretty grim post reading back through it. I confessed to feeling distressed by the setback in my health and feeling bitter…

  • When mindfulness feels risky

    When mindfulness feels risky

    It has become increasingly clear to me that there is no ONE SIZE FITS all approach to overcoming migraines. Migraine pain seems to come from an intensely personal, deep down, place within each of us, and as such, the causes, symptoms and treatment options will be equally individual. There are…

  • How do you respond to pain-ignorance?

    How do you respond to pain-ignorance?

    Living with chronic pain is painful… der… but I don’t mean just the pain-pain, I mean all the other stuff that goes with it. One of those “things” is the way that other people respond to your situation; the way they do (or don’t) accommodate our special needs, and the…

  • ‘Everyday’ trauma and your pain brain

    ‘Everyday’ trauma and your pain brain

    The other day I was waiting to pick up my daughter from a nighttime school event. It was running late, and I was getting a bit huffy and puffy about having to sit around and wait. It wasn’t that I had to be anywhere else, more that I just didn’t…

  • Bedroom basics for pain-isolation

    Bedroom basics for pain-isolation

    When I get migraines, I become extremely sensitive to light and noise.  ‘Normal’ sunlight suddenly seems way too bright, and people talking becomes amplified in my head, as if someone turned the volume up to 11 on the 1-10 dial.  My traditional treatment was to go to the quietest, darkest…

  • Purple reign

    Purple reign

    The first Friday in June is traditionally Migraine Awareness Day in Australia. That’s today! I can’t, however, bring myself to write “Happy Migraine Day” – instead, I thought I’d write a post about the color purple. Everywhere I looked on the fundraising sites, it was purple, purple, purple. The purple…