How Healing Chronic Pain Happened

Changes in Life Outlook Heals Chronic Pain

Chronic pain afflicts millions. According to the National Headache Foundation, some 45 million people suffer from recurring headaches alone. Then there are the millions that suffer from knee-joint pain and a multitude of other types. Lots of people are interested in pain; or, rather interested in getting rid of it.

But, getting rid of chronic pain doesn’t seem to be easy, and the solutions are many and varied and with less than perfect results. Pain management is a common term and indicates not cure, but just trying to mitigate or control. What can someone do if the management program isn’t going well or if the pain is not responding to treatments?

Studies in pain – how it is created, what role our brain plays, etc. – have revolutionized medical theories about this malady.

Some of these new theories hint that chronic pain can be viewed as a symptom of out of kilter views of life instead of body parts that need attention. For example, Emma Sappala’s study results show that people who practice kindness and benevolence towards others on a regular basis have less chronic pain. Then there is a recent article (February 19, 2014) from American Psychological Association that indicates the role a change in view might play in ending or mitigating chronic pain.

Glimpses of the effect our thinking and a prayerful life might play in health are not new. More than 2000 years ago, one writer said: “to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Perhaps you have heard the phrase. It comes from The New Testament in the Bible. Did Paul mean both mental and physical peace? He was going around teaching people about Jesus’ life and works, which included a lot of people finding physical peace along with transformation of their lives. Could being more spiritually minded actually cure chronic pain today? If so, how might that work? Here’s one example.

I have a friend who suffered for two years with debilitating pain in the neck to lower head, which were part of the aftereffects of a car accident. It limited her ability to work, restricted her activities with her daughter. She was receiving good medical care, but felt that there were no solutions in sight. She was desperate and willing to try something new.

A friend encouraged her to take time early each day to read inspirational material that presented examples of lives made better, of problems solved, of progress and success – the Bible. And, while she had read the Bible before and loved parts of it, this reading along with a book new to her, Science and Health brought her a greater sense of the presence of lovingkindness and goodness in her life.

After a number of weeks of this morning study and contemplation, she began having a more tangible sense of God’s love for her as a dear child. She also felt the need to get rid of some resentment she felt toward several family members and replace it with kinder thoughts. She also began realizing that a peaceful nature, in contrast to a fretful one, was what described her best as the loved child of God. She saw that she could replace worry with a new sense of God’s presence in and control over her life.

The results of these insights and her willingness to express more love for others brought her a more peaceful and loving sense about her life and permanent release from the debilitating neck and head pain.

Perhaps you could say the worries, resentments, and fears that had been squeezing her life into something uncomfortable gave way to an outlook on life that recognized the loving government of the Divine. It’s an approach that actually cures chronic pain.