No matter how painful or pleasant it is: it is life experience and that makes you stronger.
Think about all the life lessons you’ve taken out living your own life. What did you learn? Simple facts with no emotional coloring to them. The more we go through life, the more we turn our wounds into a source of wisdom and power – the stronger and more resistant we become to life challenges and overcoming the agony of painful times.
All these life lessons played a big role in your evolutionary development.
There is a reason for you to be here. You learn and teach. You live and go through life lessons. And this world is so much better with your heart beating… You are capable of loving again. You are capable of opening up your heart. But first, you need to learn to love and appreciate yourself for all the strength and courage your heart possesses and for all the kindness your soul is filled with.
Chronic or severe pain can interfere with our ability to work, maintain relationships, and sleep properly. If pain meds and other treatments are unable to bring you full relief from migraines, rheumatoid arthritis, neuropathic pain, injury and/or other conditions, consider trying these mind-based techniques to reduce your pain.
Transforming Pain into Art!!!
Michelangelo is well known for his hypnotizing murals in the Sistine Chapel and classic Renaissance sculptures such as David and Peta. He created these masterpieces while living with osteoarthritis and also severe pain in his hands and joints. Another famous artist, Vincent Van Gogh lived with severe migraines, and French Impressionist Pierre – Auguste Renior suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. Through out time many artist lived with chronic pain and created inspiring and beautiful works.
Contemporary Artist Mark Coleen also understands the beauty of expressing pain through art. After he herniated a disc in his lower back, he then suffered from severe nerve pain. He struggled to communicate that pain with his doctor about his chronic pain. He then began to paint. . . as a way to visually share his pain with his doctor. After showing his art work to his doctor. His doctor then better understood his challenges and recommended a new treatment plan that helped improve Colleen’s pain symptoms.
Through this experience, Coleen reached out to other artist living with chronic pain to create a collection of paintings and artwork to capture their journey with pain. He started a non-profit in 2012 called Pain Exhibit painexhibit.org to educate health-care providers and the public about chronic pain through art and to give a voice to the many who suffer in silence.
Dawnique Savala, as a young girl from New Mexico always knew she wanted to be an artist. She played volleyball and was a cheerleader, however, it was drawing and painting that really inspired her, She was rarely ever sick. . . until at age 27. When she begin to feel she had the flu and within a month couldn’t do her own hair without her mothers help.
After visiting with her primary doctor, Dawnique was diagnosed with Raynaud’s syndrome. Within a few weeks she was referred to a rheumatologist who confirmed she had rheumatoid arthritis (RA). At the time of the diagnosis, Savala was studying art and finishing her last semester at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas. After taking time off to manage her symptoms, Savala finally finished her bachelor of fine arts degree and pursued her love of painting.
Her health challenges make it hard for her pursue her entrepreneurial dreams but her love for painting is an outlet for her frustration and stress which helps her deal with all that. Some people turn to Yoga Dawnique turns to painting.
In her favorite painting called ‘Struggles’ it depicts a pair of shoes that denotes to others — never judge unless you have walked in that person’s shoes!
Sterling Witt is an artist and a multi-instrumentalist accomplished bassist who tours the United States with only his guitar and his story. Although he is also a visual artist he has created myriads of sculptures and paintings which mostly consist of portraits, namely self-portraits. One of his signature elements. . . is having created slews of pictures entirely with his feet.
His childhood seems to be much of a mystery ensconthed in the foggy rural suburbs of Kansas City Missouri. His works are often personal because they attempt to explain the torment he lives as a result of chronic pain. Creating art helps him also to survive a life of constant pain. It’s through his artwork he gives a face to a faceless enemy. At 15 Witt was diagnosed with scoliosis, three years later he started to feel severe back pain that has only increased over the years.
Witt decided not to manage his back pain with medication because he doesn’t want to lose touch with his pain. My pain keeps me in tune with my body so I know when to take a break or rest. Instead of taking traditional painkillers, which shutdown your stomach he has discovered alternative options including a type of physical therapy for the spine called Schroth therapy.
He occasionally gets a deep tissue massage called Rolfing that effects the body’s posture and reduces spinal curvature and raindrop therapy which involves rubbing the muscles with essential oils. And the act of painting actually makes him feel better. Over the years, Witt has painted a series of paintings called “Distort” of the many faces of pain.
Tara Shuey of North Hampton Pennsylvania, an oil painting called “Dream Weaver” best describes her journey with pain. This abstract painting depicts her pain and how it radiates, also affecting both her body and mind. Tara has been living with Fibromyaglia and trigeminal neuralgia for over a decade. During 1 of her trigeminal nerve episodes Shuey drew a crying fairy that had burning, shooting pain mixed into her cheeks.
Shuey remembers a healthy childhood and a passion for painting and it wasn’t until her early 20s. When she had her wisdom teeth pulled in an emergency procedure that she started feeling her pain. It began in her jaw. . . . then radiated throughout her face. Shuey didn’t sleep for thirty straight days and left her in a depressed, suicidal state and desperate for help.
Focusing on her art that saved her life: she started off with simple pieces like drawing SpongeBob and SquarePants for her son. As she allowed raw emotion inspire her future paintings, including a magical version of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night. With her paint brush she feels free while not feeling the pain and only what she paints on the canvas.