Category: Emotions
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The Politics of Emotion
Notes from a chronic pain recovery therapist I’m going to say something controversial. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. Not controversial, you say? Consider this: Have you noticed that publications about mental health are obsessed with showing us scientific proof of physical changes in the brain in order to validate the felt experience of emotional trauma? In my…
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Anger: The Missing Ingredient to Chronic Pain Recovery
Time and time again, when I experience a period of pain and anxiety flares, the trail of clues that I receive when I listen to my body leads me back to this one underlying theme: Feeling guilty about feeling angry. Do you relate? Anger can be an empowering, expansive emotion — an embodiment of our innate life force. Karla…
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What’s the Point of “Feeling Your Feelings?”
Tips from a chronic pain recovery therapist A question I get often is: “What’s the purpose of feeling my feelings, when bringing them to the surface just makes me feel worse?” Great question! We feel our feelings for two reasons: First, to release the pressure that gets built up when we suppress emotions. Second, to…
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This Is How Emotional Invalidation Can Lead to Chronic Pain — And How To Heal
When our emotional wounds aren’t acknowledged and tended to with care so that they can heal, our nervous system produces armor to protect us from further harm. Armor can look like… The armor is designed to protect us from harm. And in the short term, it can do just that. But armor doesn’t heal our…
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The 4 Stages of Emotional Release
Tips from a chronic pain recovery therapist If you’ve been on the path of mind-body healing for a while, you’ve undoubtedly heard over and over again that it’s important to process and release your emotions. But how? Emotions are so taboo in patriarchal culture that most of us don’t learn anything about emotional hygiene growing…
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Forgiveness Isn’t the Only Way to Heal
Tips from a chronic pain recovery therapist There’s a ton of talk in wellness communities about the healing powers of forgiveness, including from chronic pain recovery specialists. And I can understand why. Oxford Languages’ definition of forgiveness begins like this: “[To] stop feeling angry or resentful…” Forgiveness is one route — and only one of many routes —…
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Did You Know There’s a Connection Between Emotional Invalidation and Chronic Pain?
“All pain is real, and all pain is generated by the brain.” — Dr. Howard Schubiner, author of 𝘜𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘯“The brain processes emotion, memory, and pain in similar regions.” — @curablehealth We live in a culture that normalizes emotional invalidation. Emotional invalidation is like: If someone slammed your finger in a door and then…
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Is Your Fear of Anger Holding Back Your Healing?
Tips from a chronic pain recovery therapist A theme I’ve noticed with clients is that they want to start using expressive writing as part of their chronic pain recovery, but they feel so much resistance to the activity that they just can’t get themselves to write. When we peel back the layers of their resistance…
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How To Release Painful Memories
Tips from a chronic pain recovery therapist Do you struggle with rumination (incessant thoughts that never seem to bring resolution) about painful memories? Especially the ones you’re afraid to talk about — or the ones that have been minimized by others when you did tell someone? It’s very common to fixate on traumatic memories. Especially…
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How To Handle Difficult Emotions
Tips from a chronic pain recovery therapist We all experience difficult feelings from time to time. It’s a part of life that can’t be avoided, no matter how hard we might try to. But how we deal with our emotions can have a significant impact on our physical wellbeing. In fact, the way we interact…
From Chronic Pain to Passion 