Focused On Pain?

Pause right now and find one pleasant or neutral sensation in your body.

You probably already know it's important to give some attention to the goals you want to achieve. But what did you know that there's one crucial ingredient to help you achieve that goal with a sense of ease and grace? That key ingredient is to focus on what you want to feel. And if you live with chronic pain, honing in on your feel skill is crucial!

One of the easiest ways to achieve this is to take a pleasure (or neutral) pause. Focusing your attention on a pleasant or neutral sensation in your body is like shining a spotlight on what's important. In other words, you're telling your biology that "hey, this pleasant sensation is important!" instead of telling it, "hey, this uncomfortable sensation is important!"

When those pleasant or neutral sensations get prioritized, your pain brain can start to settle. If you make a practice of it, you'll begin to notice the subtle shifts in your body — organic sighs, more responsive breath, less tension, and decreased pain. You might even notice a little extra bump in your motivation.

Stay with it long enough, and you might even disrupt some of those deep-seated physiological pain habits. And the more you practice this, the easier and more automatic it becomes.

The good news is that your brain is very good at following instructions. The trick is that you must tune in to what instructions you are giving it. When you consistently teach your brain that pleasant, neutral sensations are important, the painful sensations dim and drift to the background. You literally start weakening those painful connections in your nervous system. 🧠