I've discovered a new site that I like. It's called Dancing with Pain, and it's by Loolwa Khazzoom, a young gifted woman, a writer and a dancer, who is writing about the healing of chronic pain from the vantage point of a person experiencing it and healing from it, day to day. She writes, among other things, about how dance plays a role in her healing---physically, emotionally and spiritually.
An excellent introduction to her site is this post: Fundamentals of Dancing with Pain.
I liked that post so much that I wrote Loolwa, and she in turn invited me to write a piece about how I use imagery and writing with patients with chronic pain.
And now that piece, Imagery and Writing for Natural Pain Relief, is up at her site.
I reviewed some patient charts to write the piece and I learned 5 things from writing it.
This list could be called 5 things I learned from Pain:
- Pain needs to be heard.
- Pain needs a place in which to be soothed.
- In a healing place, sometimes it’s possible to discover a new medicine for pain.
- The healing process takes time.
- Pain appreciates compassion.
Perhaps this list could serve as a springboard to an idea for writing.
What does Pain need? What does your pain need? Or the pain of someone whom who you care about? And how does one go about discovering just what it is that pain needs?
Or what does X (for instance Illness, Fatigue, Grief) need?
And what might these kinds of questions have to do with dancing with pain?
