- Practice deep breathing (emphasizing slow and steady breaths deep into your stomach and diaphragm)
- Seek out distraction (such as engaging in hobbies or spending time with friends)
- Allow time for emotional venting (either talking to a professional, loved one, spiritual leader, or even to yourself in a diary)
- Reduce your stress (studies show that greater psychological stress leads to greater pain; consider reducing your commitments, asking for help, or improving your time management)
- Find meaning in the pain (many patients find that understanding the “why” makes pain more tolerable – your meaning may involve spiritual growth, improved communication of your needs, a closer connection to others socially, etc.)
- Discover your happy place (this sounds like a bad therapy joke, but the use of imagery – a type of daydream or fantasy – can allow you to take a mental vacation from your pain momentarily)
- Plan for the pain (if you know the rhythms of your body or the activities/events that trigger your pain, you can use this knowledge to structure your life in a way that avoids unnecessary pain flare-ups; in some cases, you might start this by monitoring your pain and behavior patterns, as discussed in a prior post)
- Engage in mindfulness (this is an Eastern practice that involves increasing your awareness of all of your senses – so, yes, you notice the pain more, but you also notice the pleasant or distracting sounds, sights, smells, and sensations that you may have missed because the pain seemed so “loud”)
- Plan activities (many pain patients have nothing to look forward to but more pain, but if you can anticipate a trip to the mall, a dinner with friends, an upcoming trip, etc, you can look past the pain to the next thing on your schedule – many people without pain do this to get through the work week!)
- Argue with yourself (sounds odd, right? – but, instead of just saying “I can’t do this,” say also “yes, but you can do that”; don’t say “I am worthless,” but say “I may be limited physically and out of work, but I am still a mother, spouse, friend, whatever” – this is a means of avoiding only focusing on one [negative] side of things)
