My brother was out for the past week with his girlfriend, it was a wonderful trip, as it always is when I get to see my bro (that’s him in the pic with me), but he said something to me that really got me thinking, something that kind of brought together a number of ideas for me, a culmination of →
This past weekend I attended the first annual San Diego Pain Summit and I can’t even begin to put into a cohesive string of words all that I am thinking, nor can I come close to formulating into a single blog post all that I learned during the course of three days of thought-provoking presentations from a stellar line-up of speakers. On top →
The last month in Colorado has been incredible, and incredibly healing for me. The mountains, the crisp air, the river, the trees, and the sky – oh the sky! – a sky that surrounds you and dwarfs you and makes you think differently about the world – the universe – and our place within it. It’s grand. It’s awesome. It’s inspiring. →
After my flare at the end of last year (which I talk about a bit here), and the months of getting through it, I started reading a book on pain called Pain: The Science of Suffering, by Patrick Wall, the guy who literally co-wrote the textbook on pain. I took my time, just recently finishing it, and figured I’d share some of →
Are you getting enough sleep? Do you feel rested in the morning? Energetic? Ready to tackle the day? This time of year things can get busy and good sleep can be one of the first things to suffer in the name of getting shit done or thinking about all the shit that needs to get done or attending holiday parties →
These past two months have been a bit of a whirlwind for me, with some pretty awesome successes but also some pretty spirit-crushing setbacks. It can sometimes be hard for me to figure out where the balance is between successes and setbacks and what direction is the best way forward when I feel like I’m taking two steps back for →
There are a number of things I’ve been wanting to write about but I always have trouble knowing where to start (I have a tendency to want to give you guys EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE). So I’m going to start chipping away at them in small doses, starting with some clarification on what pain is and what it isn’t. Today →
I’ve been talking about language a lot lately, mostly in regards to pain and wellness and such, but it’s important in all aspects of our lives. One such area that I’ve been thinking about and talking about a lot lately is body image. So I figured what the hell, why not write about it, too. ;) Body image is another →
Forgive me if this post is pretty similar to the last one (and a bit of a rant) but I’m all fired up right now after seeing another headline on social media that read “Pain: It’s all in your head”. ARGH!!! As someone living with pain, and who regularly hears from others living with pain, headlines like these really get →
We are the story we tell ourselves. I’m not sure where I heard that but it really rung true for me. We are the story we tell ourselves, we are the words we use to describe ourselves, our lives. So why is it that so many of us tell ourselves a negative story? Or a sad story? Or an angry story? Language →
Ok, folks. Confession time. Again. I’m still a big fat chicken when it comes to blogging. I’m still worried about pleasing everyone, still worried that the posts aren’t good enough, still worried that no one will be interested in what I’m writing about. Just worried, worried, worried. I’ve always been a worrier and a perfectionist. I’m working on it. Trying →
What’s your why? What motivates you? What drives you? What is your passion? Your bliss? Your happiness? Your fun? Your dream? Your goals? Your definition of success? Most of us have some sort of goal we are trying to reach, even if we haven’t fully formulated the goal in our mind. We want to try something new, break an old →
In the last post we talked about some of the benefits of getting outside in nature every day (missed it? click here.), getting in a dose of greenery, trees, plants, and dirt does wonders for our physiological and our mental health. Who doesn’t like nature? Today we’re going to talk about another benefit of getting outside every day: sun exposure. →
Movement is powerful, not simply as a means of locomoting from one place to another but rather as a means to keep our bodies and minds functioning at optimal levels. When we sit all day long, our bodies and minds become stagnant. You’ve seen stagnant ponds, right? Stagnant = no good. But when we break up our sitting bouts with →
This complete breath exercise is my second post on breathing , if you missed the first one head over there for a good place to start if your new to breathing exercises. Or if you want to dive right in – go right ahead Complete breath…. Oftentimes the breaths we take aren’t complete. We’re not fully inflating our lungs and →