Thinking about pain - ouch!

I read an article today from Health Day news that reported the role of pain in sleep problems as we age. "Up to 80 percent of people 65 and older experience some form of pain on a daily basis, according to the news release."  Phillip Yancy wrote in his insightful book, Where is God When it Hurts; Pleasure and pain use the same senses and often go together. Pain is part of life and we tend to do everything we can to not experience it. We may dull our senses with drugs or alcohol. We may turn up the volume on our music, retreat into a video game or TV. Pain warns us, heightens our senses, taste of bitter and sweet, sex involves areas sensitive to touch and pain, Ice and heat applied initially we react but feel better as our blood moves to heal and re leave inflammation.  But the pain that keeps us up is chronic pain and insomnia hurts our health. It is part of our life now  and we must learn to come to terms with it. 

Think about this a moment - “Modern culture saddens me because, while it seeks to turn down the volume on pain, it constantly turns up the volume from all other sources. We have ears: they are bombarded with decibels until the subtle tones are lost forever. Listen to music from any other century, twelfth, sixteenth, even nineteenth, and compare it to what most people listen to today. We have eyes: the world assaults them with neon lights and phosphorescent colors until a sunset or butterfly pales in comparison.” Yancey, Philip (2010-02-23). Where Is God When It Hurts? (pp. 48-49). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

I have found in my own dealing with pain that it takes several strategies to get a grip on pain. Dealing with chronic pain needs to be evaluated by your doctor. If you have been dealing with pain for awhile it is time to check in with your doctor. Several strategies can be acted upon. For me, finding what is right for me in pain support. The use of physical therapy to relieve pain and some strategies to take my focus off the pain. Moving relieves pain, resistant training builds tendons and muscle to give better support for joint pain. Drinking plenty of water lubricates old joints. Exercise for me has reduced my need for over medicating my self with meds. 
The pain of depression can be healed, pain in relationship can bring joy. It is normal to have pain and to learn from it and to seek to over come it. The older I get I realize I may never be free of it, but I can use pain to remind me I am alive. And when joy, happiness, pleasure, feelings of worth come from helping others soak it in to drown the pain out. 
Learn for people who give and serve. Their hardships are endured with joy. They may with others be glad inn their struggles.  Learn form people who do everything to escape pain and take a closer look at how they are not really living. The latest gimmick, tech, treatment, isolates them and their pain continues. Keep walking