Conquering the Pain

A zuni bear bracelet and matching earrings

Pain is quite a formidable foe.  It demands our constant attention, saps us of our energy, destroys our quality of life, turns us into grumpy people that no one wants to be around, and robs us of our life.  People with fibromyalgia have a daunting task to cope with pain that expresses itself as pins and needles, burning pain, sharp, shooting and stabbing pain, throbbing pain, body aches, dull aching pain, cramping pain, muscle pain, focal or global headache pain, pressure pain . . . have I described this accurately?  If you have fibromyalgia I'm sure you have additions to this list.  To sum it up it's total misery and fibromyalgia pain can prevent us from participating in activities that we enjoyed prior to the onset of this illness.  But never underestimate the power of the human mind.

Bead embroidery: a work in progress

The human mind has the capacity to overcome many obstacles regardless of how impossible those obstacles may seem.  The joy of learning is a key component for overcoming moderately severe or even severe pain.  This may sound too simple to be true, but it is.  People with fibromyalgia tend to be Type A personalities and that can actually work in our favor.  Challenges and learning something new exercises the brain and improves cognition to lessen the confusion, brain fog, and disorientation.  Learning when cognitive impairment is present requires a great deal of patience and determination, but as the brain engages in learning, cognition does improve.  Another component to overcoming fibromyalgia pain is fortitude.

My friend, Lori's, bead embroidery

A good friend of mine that has fibromyalgia and other chronic illness reminded me of how to overcome the pain and misery of fibromyalgia by introducing me to the world of beading.  I have found that beading gives me a creative outlet, provides me with social time each week with beading friends, and lessens my pain by engaging my brain with a new found passion.  I just love to look at all the beautiful beads and dream about what I can make with my beads.  The biggest problem with having a passion is having the sense to know when I need some rest.  Balancing activity with rest is the most important and beneficial tool that we can have in our fibromyalgia toolbox and it's a fine line between the two.  If we get too much rest we go downhill physically; if we get too much activity we go downhill physically.  It's quite a dilema and requires an astute balancing act, but with practice it becomes easier to know where that line is drawn. Balancing activity and rest is different for everyone and changes from day to day so no wonder this is a difficult task.

A set that I just finished this morning

If you want to lessen your pain and increase your activity, find your passion and balance your passion with other responsibilities and intentional rest periods.  You will feel better both physically and emotionally, you will increase your energy, and there will be more joy in your life.  Please send me comments about your passion and how that has helped you overcome the pain and other symptomatology related to fibromyalgia.  You may sleep better too!  Take good care and blessings to you as you face each day with fortitude, determination, and lots of patience
while you are discovering your passion!

Enthusiasm goes viral!

People are automatically drawn to high energy people that are passionate about life. That energy and passion are so "hot" that they are out front and center. These are the people that love life so much that they wear it every day as if their own life depends on it. In a way, their life does depend on it, because where is the quality of life without enthusiasm?   When enthusiasm wanes so goes joy, passion, happiness, satisfaction and life purpose. When your life purpose is lost and enthusiasm becomes a distant memory, your brain will retreat into a sad and dark place.

Have you ever watched a child at play?   They love to explore everything in their world with a great passion. It is so fun to watch their life adventures as we personally yearn for the enthusiasm of those earlier years. Children are so enthusiastic that they run wherever they go and they are living life large at full steam ahead at all times. No wonder they sleep so well!   So what happens to that enthusiastic frenzy that characterizes the waking hours of a child?

Maintaining enthusiasm and passion for life requires energy and resilience. Each year serves up challenges that test our resolve. These challenges become more intense as energy wanes with age or from a chronic illness, like fibromyalgia. As the years go by we vigilantly compile a mental scrapbook of all our life experiences and challenges. Every day our brain revisits that mental scrapbook in our conscious and subconscious mind. That scrapbook review shapes your day and your response to all the day's events. Your life scrapbook that showcases all your life experiences is a truly powerful book indeed! Your life experiences scrapbook demonstrates who you are and those pages are shared selectively with others every day. As your scrapbook's pages fill up you may get weary of keeping it up to date and decide not to add more pages. That's an indication you have decided to lose your enthusiasm. So what have you put in your scrapbook, what is the title of your scrapbook and how have you displayed your important life events?   Have you decided to use bright, eye-catching colors for those difficult days or for the valuable lessons learned?   Does the title of your scrapbook portray a life of enthusiasm and passion, or a life of defeat? 


Sid

Sid is a remarkable man.   He is an excellent example of enthusiasm for life. The only way people know that Sid survived stage 4 malignant melanoma and several years of potent chemotherapy that would have been the average person's demise, is the radical neck dissection scars he wears every day.   Sid maintained a positive life outlook and enthusiasm for life despite the doctors that told him he was going to die. That didn't discourage Sid, and his determination and enthusiasm ultimately defeated