Finding Happiness with Migraines: A Do-It-Yourself Guide

One of the most powerful ways to cultivate happiness in our lives is to practice being present in the moment. Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh describes being in the present as being at peace. Unfortunately, there’s nothing like chronic illness to take us outside of our present. Those of us living with migraines can spend a great deal of our time analyzing, resenting, and reminiscing about our pasts, as well as hoping for and fearing our futures. Practicing the art of being present helps us find and create happiness in our lives by enabling us to focus on what we have, need, and appreciate right now. If it is a good day, this enables us to enjoy our precious moments of peace without fearing the pain, sorrow, and difficulties tomorrow may bring. If it is a “bad” day – one in which a migraine has left us completely knocked out and riddled with pain – it provides us guidance.

To read more of “Finding Happiness with Migraines: A Do-It-Yourself Guide,” visit Amazon, B&N, or the Absolute Love Publishing store. Sarah Hackley is the author of "Finding Happiness with Migraines: A Do-It-Yourself Guide" and the online blog The Migraine Chronicles. She is a regular contributor to Migraine.com and was a featured writer in the women’s studies bestseller, “Women Will Save the World.” She also is a ghostwriter, a poet, a writing coach, and the editor for Absolute Love Publishing and its imprint, Spirited Press.

Practicing the Art of Being Present

Practicing the art of being present helps us find and create happiness in our lives by enabling us to focus on what we have, need, and appreciate right now. If it is a good day, this enables us to enjoy our precious moments of peace without fearing the pain, sorrow, and difficulties tomorrow may bring. If it is a “bad” day – one in which a migraine has left us completely knocked out and riddled with pain – it provides us guidance. Practicing mindfulness, or being present, empowers us to ask ourselves: What do I need right now? Often, the answer is nothing, which is a potent but gentle reminder to be grateful for the abundance and joy in our lives. When the answer is more complex, this simple question enables us to take charge of our present by either meeting our needs (with a warm bath, a heating pad for an aching neck, an ice pack for a painful head, or a nap to break the migraine cycle, for example) or accepting that there are things we cannot change. Practicing mindfulness also has been shown to reduce stress (a common migraine trigger), psychological distress, and feelings of chronic pain – all of which can have a tremendous impact on our quality of life.

Happiness Tip

Make it a point to ask yourself, “What do I need right now?” at least once a day for a period of 10 weeks. This will give you the benefits discussed above and make returning to the present moment a habit. Research from Phillippa Lally and colleagues at the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre has shown that it takes 66 days on average to form a habit. Once a habit is formed, our brains change in a way that enables us to spend less cognitive effort preforming the action. Once checking in with your present becomes as easy as taking your regular route home from work, it will be significantly easier to practice additional forms of mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness is both simple and difficult at the same time. Getting into a state of mindfulness in the present can be as easy as focusing on our breathing for 20 seconds. Staying in that mind frame, however, can be more of a challenge. The key is to return to the present any time we notice our attention shifting backward into the past or forward into the future. There are several activities that can help with this:

Concentration Meditation

Traditional meditation, like mindfulness, is both extraordinarily simple and amazingly difficult. It is an exercise that teaches the mind to be present in the moment, and just like any other exercise, it takes work to build up the strength to do it effectively. Also like other exercises, there are many different techniques to accomplish the same task. Concentration meditation is a form of traditional meditation that is good for beginners and experienced meditators alike. The technique involves focusing on one point, thought, or object for a period of time and repeatedly bringing the focus back to the chosen object of attention any time it wanders. Regular practice brings a remarkable improvement in concentration and mindfulness. It also has been proven to reduce stress and anxiety, and some studies indicate that it can reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks.

Yoga

Yoga is a more ordered form of meditation in movement that can be either guided or unguided, depending on your level of expertise and your desires. I typically like to attend a regular yoga class at a studio because I find I am more mindful and present with guided instruction. However, you can practice at home on your own or with a DVD or the Internet. As with walking meditation, the physical effects of yoga are a kind of natural high. In addition to being a wonderful practice in mindfulness, regular yoga practice has been shown to reduce the frequency of migraine attacks. Be careful, however, not to enter into any poses that bring your head below your heart during a migraine attack. This can exacerbate the attack and make the pain worse. For this reason, most yoga poses are best undertaken as part of a daily, preventative routine.