When pain gets in the way of a garden project you are working on it’s frustrating.  You feel upset as a result.  You feel powerless and not in control.  Pain is an abusive partner in this relationship when viewed this way.

Blaming pain gives it power over us

When the actions of pain control your emotions, you have given it all the power.  The flare-up of pain stopped your activity.  That is a neutral circumstance.  Pain is responsible for the action of stopping your activity, but pain did not make you sad, frustrated, angry, depressed…those are emotions you chose.

Try finding some alternate sentences to think when pain is responsible for changing your plans. 

• I am not able to accomplish as much as I would like today because of pain. 

• I accept that pain is an intruder on my plans sometimes and I will find alternative activities to fill that time. 

• I will not let pain dictate my emotions. 

• The emotion I want to feel right now is (fill in the blank) and I will not let pain change my feeling to (fill in the blank).

• I am not in control of pain’s actions, but I am in control of my emotions. 

• Pain can insert itself into my life where I do not want it, but it does not get to be in charge of my feelings.

Obviously, pain is not a person and will not suffer any consequences for its behavior. But that doesn’t mean we should give it power.

We try to manage pain’s behavior with self-care, but we will never have complete control over when it will show up and how much of a bully it wants to be.

The Disabled Gardener is all about finding alternative ways to achieve your gardening goals.  Seeking solace in emotions that keep us from doing that is not useful.  Adopt your alternative sentence as your mantra. 

Devote time to strengthening your mind around pain.  It is just as important as devotion to your physical health to prevent pain.

I have recently read and listened to some great material on this subject.  One is a book, “Healing Back Pain” by Dr. John Sarno.  The other is a website https://backincontrol.com/ by Dr. David Hanscom.  Both deal with the topic of the mind-body connection with chronic pain.  Paraphrasing Dr. Sarno, we can’t treat our bodies as though they are machines totally separated from the mind that is operating the machine.

Be careful of the thoughts you allow to grow in your mind – some of them might be weeds.