Category: Resilience
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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…
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Compassionate communication
As the mother of two teenage daughters, I feel like I am perpetually putting my foot in my mouth and messing things up. I love my children without measure and would never mean to hurt them… and yet… even I can say things that are less than all-loving. My eldest…
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Migraine jump-scares
OK – imagination time: pretend you’ve agreed to watch a horror movie with your friend. You’re not a huge fan of the horror genre, but your friend talked you into it because the movie is supposed to be ‘cerebral’ as well as ‘visceral’. So here you are, seated in the…
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The narrow road of healing
Many, many years ago I read “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”* (c. 1702) by the Japanese poet Basho. The way I remember it, it was a travel diary written in Haiku. It covered every part of his journey cross-country, from sore feet to squeaky bed frames, to the…
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Learning on the go
Yesterday was Mother’s Day in Australia, and I’m proud to say that amongst some other treats, I got a lovely beanie and scarf for the upcoming Winter season, (in my new favorite shade of mossy-green), as well as a heat pack… my girls know me so well! Although… I’m not…
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“Unlearn your pain”
I’m always on the lookout for information that will change the way I relate to and understand my chronic pain. In my search, I came across a book online called “Unlearn your pain” by Dr. Howard Schubiner. (The book is on his website here). The title alone made me optimistic……
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Therapy for chronic pain
In Australia we don’t usually say ‘therapy’, we say ‘counselling’ – but they mean the same thing: talking to a professional in the hope of feeling better. When it comes to living a life with chronic pain, I think it can help. I know I keep going back to the…
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“What the heck is water?”
In 2005, novelist David Foster Wallace gave the commencement address to Kenyon College. Titled “This is Water”, the speech was well received on the day but seemed to take on a life of its own for years afterwards, going on to be dubbed one of the best… even though it…
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Radical acceptance and pain
Many moons ago I wrote about the meditation teacher Tara Brach and her Compassion for Overwhelm in which she mentioned “radical compassion”. The ‘radical’ phrase reminded me of the notion of “radical acceptance”. It’s been floating around in my head for a while now, and I thought I should write…
The Mindful Migraine 