Thinking your pain away

Injuries suck! I hate being injured. It's so frustrating when I can't run. I feel jealous when I see my friends out running, or anyone else for that matter. It's depressing. I get moody. Life just isn't as fun.

These don't necessarily represent my own thoughts during an injury, but let's face it, it's just not fun being injured, and I'm sure most of us have had similar thoughts. It's easy to fall into that downward spiral of negativity. And that negativity can often have a negative impact on our recovery. So what can we do? Think positive!

Now, I'm not saying to just have a "good attitude" about your injury (although that will probably help). What I'm saying is don't dwell on your injury. Don't let it occupy all your thoughts. Don't let it bring you down. I'm a firm believer that your thoughts are powerful agents in determining your experiences. If you are constantly thinking about negative things, negative things are likely to happen. If you are constantly thinking positive thoughts, positive things are more likely to happen. This is often referred to as the law of attraction. Fascinating stuff. We need to make our desires to overcome injuries clear through our thoughts. Of course, when we're injured, we really want to get better-the desire is already there. However, these thoughts must not be convoluted with the negative thoughts we may be having. So the key is to not think about how awful it is to be injured or wishing you weren't injured, but to be passionate and enthusiastic about being healthy.

The next step is to believe you can overcome this injury. Take that passion and enthusiasm and apply it to your belief system. Think of yourself as already healed. Be grateful in advance for your healing and wholeness. Expect it to come, and take the steps to make it happen.

Last September I had an embarrassing accident during a cross-country practice. I was very sore for a while, and the soreness didn't ever seem to leave causing my hamstrings to feel really tight. It didn't keep me from running (in fact my training was going really well), but it was always there. I started down that spiral of negativity wondering if it would ever get better. I ended up taking most of January off because of it. Somewhere along the line my wife picked up the book Remembering Wholeness by Carol Tuttle, basically saying what I've written above, and I got to thinking (actually, she convinced me) that I can take charge of my healing rather than just waiting for it to happen. I had to catch myself every time I started thinking about my injury and change those thoughts to gratitude for my healing and wholeness. Instead of praying that I would get better, I started thanking God for my healing and wholeness. The result, the discomfort has all but disappeared. It doesn't even slow me down anymore. I am able to gain my confidence back, and the last few weeks I have been able to make some tremendous progress.

This didn't happen overnight, but I feel it happened a heck of a lot faster than if I had continued with my negative thoughts. If your injured, give this a try. You've got nothing to loose but negativity!