#1 Way to break Your Chronic Pain Cycle

I wanted to talk to you today about the #1 way to break your chronic pain cycle.

So I’m coming to you today from my office. I do not have the AC completely figured out yet, because I don’t have all the doors on So I might look a little glistening because it’s about 100 degrees outside. So here we go.

So to break your chronic pain cycle, you have to change your focus.

Listen to that again, …

To break your chronic pain cycle, you have to change your focus.

Now, if you’re experiencing chronic pain right now and you’re listening to this, you’re like mark. You’re full of it. I had, I shattered my leg five years ago or I had back surgery two years ago and I’m still having a lot of pain or I have fibromyalgia. What do you mean change your focus?

Let me explain.

So for some of you who know me, you know, I’m a physical therapist, but also that years ago I was involved in a life threatening car accident where a car T-boned us, right where I was sitting and the car folded up on top of me.

The fire department had to cut me out and they flew me by helicopter to the local trauma hospital because they weren’t sure if I was going to make it,  because of my head wounds.

I had a emergency surgery where I had two blood transfusions, for my head wound, shattered my right leg in eight places where they put two long rods, six screws, four cables in a plate to put my leg back together.

I didn’t walk for about five and a half months and I was out of work for a year. I had a second surgery a year later to take out some of the hardware, but the long rods and some of the hardware was going to stay in there for “the duration.”

So that’s where I was a year later, but it would result in seven years of chronic pain and significant major pain that affected every aspect of my life.

I had a lot of trouble breaking that chronic pain cycle because the only thing I could focus on was the pain. And I didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel.

All I could see was the pain, the problems, the stress, and the overwhelm that I had at that time, in that aspect of my life.

You see, there’s a tendency in life to default to the negative and to look at everything that’s wrong that’s going on in you life. It’s actually a protective mechanism of the brain.

George Lucas said,…

“Always, remember your focus, determines your reality.”

Your brain and your mind is an amazing thing, but sometimes, unknowingly, it can work against you.

It’s kind of like social media, the algorithm and social media.

If you look at sports posts on social media all the time, guess what? You’ll get more of. You’ll get more sports posts.

If you listen to political rhetoric and Lord knows why you would want to do that, you’ll get more political rhetoric and see that in your social media algorithms.

Your brain is the same way you see if you focus on pain and your problems and your stress, your brain will give you more back of pain and problems.  See, it’s only giving you more of whatever you’re focusing on.

So if all you can can focus on is pain, then you’ll continue to get more pain and focus on more pain.

And that cycle becomes a negative mindset loop that’s hard to break.

So, when I was in chronic pain for seven years, I finally got to the point where I said,…

“Enough is Enough”

And I started researching everything from pain management, pain psychology, personal development and self growth.  Everything from the lao Tse Zung, to Buddha, to the Bible, to Norma Vincent peel, to Tony Robbins, to James Allen, to W. Clemon Stone.  Anything I could get my hands on.

And what I found out is…

…where I put my focus was where my mind would go.

So,  if I was focusing on pain and problems, that’s where I went and I could not break that cycle.

But what made all the difference was when I changed my focus, I went from focusing on my pain, to focusing on solutions to my challenges and focusing on what I wanted instead of what I didn’t want.

If you focus on what you want and what your goals are and what you want to accomplish, then your mind will go to work on the solutions that are needed to make those things happen.

I transitioned over a period of time to changing my focus away from my pain and giving myself permission to let go of the accident.

So for me, what I focused on was the trauma of that accident and all the pain that was resulting from it and the worry of the future of the pain that I might have in the future.

And when I focused on what I wanted to accomplish and what I wanted to do, then all of a sudden, the focus wasn’t on my pain and my chronic pain started to resolve itself.

Now, my pain is not gone. I have pain, I get pain just like the next person. But the difference is I get pain and response to something that I’ve done during my day. That’s a warranted pain level. 

I love to be in the garden, I love to hike. If I hike too many miles or if I in the garden for four to six hours during a day on a weekend, guess what? There’s a good chance that I’ll probably have pain the next day. And sometimes I flare myself up for a week or two, but it’s an acute pain flare up that I know I will get over.

And I don’t focus on the pain and the pain coming back or the pain staying.

I say to myself, …  “okay, I’ve got pain.  Now I’m going to get past it, back to normal function. Let’s move on.”

So when I sit here today and I talk to you, I can truly say to you, …

…The number #1 Tip I could say to you to break your chronic pain cycle is…

…to change your focus.  Change your focus from always focusing on the pain and the stress of the pain and the worry of the pain in the future, to what is it that you want to accomplish. 

What do you want to be, do and have in life? Maybe the pain has stopped you from doing a certain activity. Well, your goal is to do that activity for a certain amount, by this date.

Now, yes, you may have chronic pain right now.

Yes. You had a possibly a traumatic event or a surgery or a diagnosis or something that happened, that’s preventing you from doing what you want.

But if you focus on what you want to to do and what you will accomplish, then your mind will go to work on how you will accomplish despite the things that happened to you.

So instead of focusing on the negative aspects that traumatic event, use it for a source of strength.

It doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. It doesn’t mean forget it completely, but it means use it.

Now, you will reach your goals, despite what’s happened to you.   

Change your focus.

Tony Robbin said…

“Where your focus goes, your energy flows and where your energy flows, whatever you’re focusing on will grow.”

So in other words, your life is controlled by what you focus on. So do you want your life to be controlled by pain, stress and overwhelm?

I don’t think so. I know I didn’t. And when I was stuck there for seven years, it was challenging.

For me and what I want for you, is for your energy and your focus to go on what you want to accomplish.

So the next time you’re feeling yourself in a bad cycle of chronic pain… and it doesn’t have to be chronic pain; It can be stress, overwhelm, anxiety, try to shift your focus to what you want to accomplish and what you want rather than what you don’t want.

Roy Bennett said, …

“Whenever something bad happens, keep calm, take a few breaths and try to shift your focus to something positive.”

Now, it’s not always that easy, but if you try to maintain a positive, constructive, what I call a proactive mindset, and focus on the positive things in your life…

…and focus on what you want to be, do, and have, and focus on your goals and what you want to accomplish; then you’ll find you’ll stop focusing on the pain.

Now it’s not so easy and it doesn’t happen immediately.

But what I found with myself and other people that I’ve helped is that if you change or shift your focus to what you want accomplish and what you want to be, do, and have in relationship to your goals and where you want to be in your life, then you’ll start to see that your focus will shift away from the stress that you have about the chronic pain or anxiety or overwhelm.

And you’ll start to see that you’ll move forward with positive results in your life.

I want you to try to implement that shift in your focus this week.

I hope this informatiuon helped you out.

Be Positive, Be Motivated, Be Focused and Be Well,

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