Now there's too much to talk about...

Didn't we know that would happen? Didn't I see that if I waited too long to write, there would be too much to talk about? Well, I suppose I knew it, but hey, it's been a tough month.

Today the weather is glorious - hot, humid, bright and it smells wonderful outside. The birds are singing their little beaked heads off. It's time to write.

I'd like to cover three things: pain (a discussion from a friend's blog that I'll just cut and paste here because I think it's interesting and you may or may not and I really don't care because this is my blog and I get to decide what's interesting here, not you), summer transportation, sleepovers and s'mores. Since I want you to be able to choose which of these three mundane topics you want to read, I'll post them seperately: Pain is here. Summer Transportation and Sleepovers and S'mores will be the next two.

On a friend's blog, a pregnant friend, she asked the question, "How do you deal with pain?" A comment was posted in response, "About five different answers for myself popped into my head at once, including but not limited to pharmacopeia, execration, and passive surrender to the television (don't you love her vocabulary?). On occasion I go the new-agey route and visualize my pain as a color, then fight it by visualizing a different color. So for (minor) example, the poison ivy itching on my left arm right now seems sort of an orangey-red or coral color, and I can make it quiet down by picturing my arm awash in swimming-pool blue. Unlike benzocaine, however, the pain relief-by-palette requires steady mental concentration." Then, when prodded further, she added, "It is not something I think about at all. I just think "What color is that pain?" and it will seem obvious to me. Most forms of pain are hot colors, predictably enough, although I think I have sometimes experienced certain forms of pain as chartreuse green or dark grey-purple-blue (bruise-colored, basically, though not necessarily associated with a physical bruise). It is also important to visualized the pain in the body--it's not just a color, it has a shape or appearance too. So the poison ivy the other night was like thin lines or ridges of the coral color, as if someone had drizzled lines of glossy nail polish INTO my skin. Other forms of pain are more cloud-like or like cartoon lightning bolts or whatever . . . again, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about what it should be like; I just request the visualization from my brain and I know right away." Then, the blog owner writes, "This is pretty much what I do when i have a migraine - I try to "be with the pain" and relax the rest of my body. That worked pretty well for me in the ice cube trial. It occured to me that I am one who uses the internalization methods more often than not." And then, blah, blah, blah, more than you need to know, and then, "The third time we talked about the "Theory of Equanimity," a buddhist theory that basically says no one thing is more interesting than any other thing. So, we were instructed to widen our field of vision - try to look at the ceiling and the floor and all of the walls, all of everything in the area, without focusing on one particular spot - and to do the same with our other senses. It was really interesting! There were candles burning in the room, art on the walls, patterned slipcovers on the sofas, other couples sitting together, the instructor's soft voice, music in the background, traffic on the street, the feeling of the ice in my hand, the feeling of the breeze from the window, the cushioned sofa, the air flowing in and out of my nostrils... I was so surprised by how well this worked for me! I was so completely relaxed by the end of this 60 seconds, and the pain had just been a part of all of the sensations I was taking in. I had doubts about this technique, since in trial #1 I had realized, acknowledged, and grasped onto the idea that I Cope With Pain Using Internalization...like, it was a new law in my life or something. I remembered learning that "be with the pain" technique about 10 years ago, and that it's something I have practiced since then...always a conscious choice to cope that way, rather than what I could call an instinct."

Bored yet? I find this very interesting. Read on.

So, after reading this back and forth, I added my own 250 cents, "I really like Kit's color-texture perception thing (obviously you've got me well beat on vocab). I like it because I can completely understand it, being very visual myself, and I think if I tried it might work for me too. I can definitely imagine my pain LOOKING like something.Critter's Mom - I have to tell you, while I can see how "being one with your pain" would work for you (you have that ability to dive deep and train your brain), I really don't want to be ONE WITH MY PAIN, I'd rather forget about it. What I've always done, since I was a little girl, is tell myself that pain is just another feeling, like any other, and I just FEEL it, acknowledge it and move on. I remember telling myself this when both of my babies were being born. I remember thinking, concentrating on the fact that the intense pain was just like being tickled (which I hate - but isn't pain exactly), or like a massage - just another use of the sense of touch or feeling. I don't use this technique unless it's really an intense pain, and seems as though it will be long lasting. It works VERY well for cramps. I can almost ENJOY cramps with this method. But, if I have a "stupid" pain, like stubbing my toe, running into a door, etc - then I just swear my head off and I find that works very well too. I did that during childbirth too - when the stupid nurse couldn't get the intervenus thing in my arm after 5 or 6 tries.I am thinking my technique is much like the Buddhist one that Critter's Mom described. I'm really just minimalizing it's importance and telling myself that it's just like every other feeling I experience. I like it. I can remember the first time I thought of it - I was probably about 7 years old. I was getting the mail and I banged my knee on the cement step. I didn't feel like crying, or feel angry, but it really hurt. I just told myself (in my own tomboy-ish way) to "buck up" and deal with it, it's just pain, no different than any other feeling. Bing!Like a lightbulb. And I've used it ever since.I have even told my kids to try it sometimes. They really always expect pain to go away quickly. When they have a hurt that is long lasting, like a burn, they complain that it still stings the next day and they're always surprised. I tell them that some pain just lasts a long time, and that if they just think of it as any other feeling, they won't notice it so much."

I was trying to think of the worst pain I've ever felt. Certainly childbirth without any painkillers is right up there on the pain scale. But, it's so mixed with excitement, fear, joy and the knowledge that something good will come out of it, that I'm not sure it's on the top. Besides, you forget it so quickly after it's over and even though it hurts like hell, you always remember it with a smile. Can that be the worst pain? I don't think so. I've had some bad cuts, some bruises, some small burns and stuff, but I've never had any broken bones or anything that's necessitated an emergency room visit. So, I'm not really the right person to judge. I can say though, that I had a sinus infection once, and that might be at the top of my list. I think the more annoying a pain is, the more unreasonable it seems, the higher it ranks. Not only does a sinus infection make you want to take a drill to your temple, but it also just seems so stupid. What, my nose couldn't run fast enough? Ponder that.