While today’s subject is not a conventional choice for Healthscape, there are a good deal of lessons that can be learned from this discussion by those who have chronic diseases and chronic pain as they know better than most, all about feeling stuck.

What would it be like if one brought one’s full consciousness and awareness to the table when making decisions.? Do we perhaps sometimes have to break a fixed pattern of behavior or thinking in order to solve a challenging problem and what does it mean to be stuck and arrested in a particular conundrum?

Well, the jury is already out on these subjects with regard to chronic pain and disease as we constantly are required to do things that are counter-intuitive to us such as exercise a body part that is painful and socialize when we least feel like doing it. We also know that we can totally change unhelpful thinking patters by reframing situations and questions that in itself can lighten the stress load if not actually help resolve the issue. We call this kind of psychotherapy, CBT.

The lesson is that a seemingly intractable problem may more easily be resolved by the ways we present it to others but even more importantly by the way we approach it ourselves.

The disclaimer here is, that none of the discussion today should be viewed as therapy, much less as replacement therapy by any particular listener. You have your family physician who best knows your medical history. However, the insights presented remain important as it shows us that we can change certain things when we feel stuck, and this in itself can increase motivation by kindling hope.