Category: Journaling Exercises
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How to Decode Your Intuition When You Don’t Trust the Message
Tips from a chronic pain recovery therapist For folks who struggle with chronic pain and other symptoms of a stressed and vigilant nervous system, it can be difficult to distinguish between our gut feelings and our conditioned fear responses. Do you ever have an urge to do something — or to not do something — but you don’t know…
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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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Can Standing Up For Yourself Help With Chronic Pain?
It is naive to think that self-assertiveness is easy. To live self-assertively — which means to live authentically — is an act of high courage. That is why so many people spend the better part of their lives in hiding — from others and also from themselves. — Nathaniel Brandenauthor: The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem One…
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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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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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Chronic Pain Is Not Your Fault
Tips from a chronic pain recovery therapist You have the power to free yourself from suffering. And… that does NOT mean you are the cause of your own suffering!Most suffering (like chronic pain, anxiety or depression) starts with a wound. And wounds are an unavoidable part of life.Common types of wounds include:🔹injuries (both physical and…
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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…
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4 Steps to Releasing Emotions Through Writing
Tips from a chronic pain recovery therapist. Expressive writing can be one of the most powerful tools for releasing chronic pain and anxiety. It certainly has been for me. But sometimes, you may find that when you journal your emotions, they just get stirred up into a spiral that amplifies pain and anxiety levels instead…
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What’s Your Mind-Body Relationship Status?
If the answer is “complicated,” read on… Mind-body therapy is a lot like relationship therapy for your body and mind. Yes, your mind and your body do have a relationship with each other! And the issues that can come up between them are a lot like the issues that come up between family members, partners,…
From Chronic Pain to Passion 