{"id":1859,"date":"2015-10-27T19:05:38","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T19:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1859"},"modified":"2015-10-25T19:16:41","modified_gmt":"2015-10-25T19:16:41","slug":"chronic-pain-recognizing-gentleness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/10\/chronic-pain-recognizing-gentleness.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Pain: Recognizing Gentleness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Second<\/a>A few years ago, someone asked me if I was in constant, chronic pain. I replied, “I am always aware of it.” I think my response was a bit confusing to the person who asked, and he did look puzzled. But it was a more accurate description of the place of chronic pain in my life.<\/p>\n

Yes, I experience ongoing chronic pain, so I am always aware of it. But my state of mind and spirit is not one hemmed in by chronic pain. And for good reason. If all I thought of was my pain, it would take over my attitudes toward all else, too. To be “in” pain would mean that it was all-encompassing, all around and in me, to the exclusion of anything else.<\/p>\n

But, even with the pain I have, which can be very severe, I recognize other qualities in my life and spirit, too, that help me balance the place that pain has. Carefulness is one of those qualities – being protective of the joints that hurt and doing what my docs suggest to help them heal, even a little. And another quality is gentleness. I find that the more I am gentle with pain, the more calm my spirit is, and the more balanced I feel.<\/p>\n

I once saw a world-class tennis player beat up on herself – truly. She had her legs taped nearly shoe-top t0 thigh, and could not move as agily as she needed to keep up with her opponent. Finally, utterly frustrated, she took her tennis raquet and began to whack her legs one, then the other. Needless to say, she lost the match. And I have to think that whatever injury she’d tried to protect with the tape was worsened by her self-infliction of more injury.<\/p>\n

But, when we dig deep and find that part of us that is gentle, we can turn from digging into our pain. And, when we turn to our gentle and loving God, we can bring even more soul-deep balm and therein find greater strength.<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1859"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1860,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1859\/revisions\/1860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}