Is there an antidote to chronic pain? I’m Annette Leonard of https://www.annetteleonard.com find me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theannetteleonard If you suffer daily from chronic pain, I know that you, like me wish that there were ways to resolve that pain. We've talked about novel ways to try and resolve pain. What if there were other solutions? This one takes a page out of lateral thinking. Hungarian born psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, coined the term "flow," to talk about the state of heightened engagement. Whether that's when you're engaged in a great book, lost in good conversation, or doing an activity you really love, if you've lost track of time, you've probably experienced flow. When we are in the state of flow, we can't feel as much pain. The same neurons that experience pain are engaged in that activity. It begs the question, how can we get into flow more often to get out of our pain? It is so strange that while we have a localized experience of pain (in our hip, arm, joints) the pain signal is in our brain. So if we can override the signal in our brain, we have a reduced experience of pain. So take yourself on a trip back to childhood, remember the things activities you used to loose yourself in and find ways to inject more of that in your life. This isn't foolproof -- it doesn't take my pain to zero. But there are ways that spending time with others can help distract me from my pain. I can also become engrossed with my creative outlets as a way to reduce my pain. I can also use creative outlets as a way to distract from my pain. What gets you in a state of flow? This is the Chronic Wellness Podcast. I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness. Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.