Category: Resilience
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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…
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A new take on “ASAP”
When I was younger, I remember someone saying “ay-sap” and I had no idea what they meant. For what it’s worth, it was about the same time I read “LOL” on the bottom of an email and thought for a brief second the sender was sending me Lots Of Love.…
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Migraines, moods and a sad trombone…
My two teenage daughters have a habit of making the occasional “womp-womp” sound. It’s supposed to sound like a sad trombone, a “oh-no-you-lose” sound-bit from TV shows. It’s mostly entertaining when they do it, but sometimes, let’s be honest, it’s rude. The sound doesn’t change, just the context in which…
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1,000 days of pain
Today’s post is a bit of a downer I’m afraid, so if you’re not up to it, I won’t take offence if you come back tomorrow. I’ve had migraines for decades. My first migraine occurred when I was 11 on a school excursion, and my worst ever migraine happened a…
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My bloomin’ orchids
I love reading other blogs, and while I was out and about a while ago, I came across a post: Waiting for trees to bud is good because it is hard – Incense and Crayons. Towards the end of the post the author writes: “This practice of watching trees grow…
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3 little piggies (and a migraine)
A while ago I wrote about the blogger Diana and her site The Oake Raven. She wrote back to thank me for the shoutout and mentioned that the rune I had pulled (here) was akin to being a “house that withstands the storm” – and now I can actually see…
The Mindful Migraine 