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Overcoming Pain

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Mary Byrne Eigel

Tuesday, September 22, 4pm CST

Radio Show Interview: “Overcoming Pain” with Marti Mc Gibbon

Silent Courage, Mary Byrne Eigel

Silent Courage, Mary Byrne Eigel

Looking forward to being interviewed by  Marti McGibbon, an inspirational speaker who has overcome unimaginable odds. The topic of our conversation will be “Overcoming Pain.” The show airs Tuesday, September 22, 4pm CST. For more information, or to listen live, click the link below.

blogtalkradio.com/worldpositivethinkers

Show will also be archived. Or you can dial in (number of listeners is limited) 347 884 9999

World Positive Thinkers has hosted many inspiring speakers. Great programs are available on their website. Their mission……

“Founded in 1995, our purpose is to recognize and honor Positive Thinkers who overcome seemingly insurmountable difficulties to make a positive contribution to the world and who are willing to help others do the same.”

Love to have you join in.

marybyrneeigel.com

amazon.com/author/marybyrneeigel.com

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Posted in chronic pain, chronic pain management, chronic pain recovery, depression, health, hip dysplasia, mind/body, writing to heal and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Writing to Heal

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Mary Byrne Eigel

 

Silent Courage, Mary Byrne Eigel

Silent Courage, Mary Byrne Eigel

Doing a pre-release review of my book, Silent Courage, Dr Steve Grinstead said to me, “Mary, you know what you have done, don’t you?”

“No. What?”

“You did Narrative Therapy.

“What is that?”

“You need to read Narrative, Pain and Suffering, by Carr, Loeser and Morris. It will explain it.”

The book arrived. It looked like a medical textbook, full of research. I had paid for it. I ought to read it. I hesitantly began. The book documented studies revealing the healing effects of having people write what they knew their truth to be.

As I read, I felt an internal shift. My mind was now comprehending what my soul knew, which was…

After writing my book, I felt like a different person. I was challenging myself to things like biking the Golden Gate bridge when previously I had difficulty motivating myself to walk more than a mile.

I knew I was traveling lighter. The emotional heaviness I had carried for years after a 40 year journey with chronic pain was no longer defining who I was. My soul felt aligned with the person I wanted to be, not just the sum of past experiences.

The current issue of  “O” magazine has a captivating feature entitled, What’s Your Story. With input from several authors, it presents the benefits of picking up pen and paper and seeing what appears on the page.

Here is a simple way to begin:

  1. Quiet yourself in a comfortable place with your writing tools nearby.
  2. Tell yourself that you desire to know a bit of the story your soul carries.
  3. Begin writing and don’t stop. Do not judge what you are writing.
  4. When you are finished, read what you wrote. Any surprises?

For the last year I have been presenting “Mining your Soul Story” workshops. Based on my own experience and that of workshop participants, I guarantee you will uncover buried treasure.

“The unexamined life is not worth living”  Socrates

I will continue to explore ideas for connecting with the story your soul wants to tell in future posts.

Please follow or connect to continue this game changing conversation. Let’s keep our pens rolling!

I look forward to having you join me.

 

 

 

 

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Posted in chronic pain, health, mind/body, narrative therapy, soul writing, writing to heal and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Can You Miss Your Pain?

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Mary Byrne Eigel

My forty-year journey with chronic pain ended with the total replacement of both of my hip joints. I was free from the shackles of physical pain. This should have been a good thing, right?

Wrong. I now faced the biggest contradiction of my life. I was filled with gratitude. My pain was gone. Why was I conflicted about its absence? I felt like someone was trying to lure me out of the protective confines of my self-imposed cave, but I had no way of knowing if it was a smart move.

Screen Shot 2015-03-01 at 4.02.00 PM

I had never known my body without pain. Pain and I had been in a long-term relationship. We conversed every day, all day. And when the surgeons physically removed my pain, I missed my pain.

How was this even possible?

How could I miss something that had been so brutal, so cruel and so endlessly tormenting? I don’t know why I missed my pain, but I did. No one warned me, nor did I anticipate, that the removal of my pain would cause such mental turmoil.

I was thrilled to be without it. It allowed me to imagine myself doing things that had previously been unimaginable, like touring major cities in Europe. I longed to begin this new chapter of my life. But in the quiet of my thoughts, I was confused.

Was my pain really gone, or was this just another one of the mental games we played? I felt like I had been violated and knew that my perpetrator still lived somewhere in my neighborhood. I wanted a guarantee that I was safe from harm.

This dilemma prompted me to write my memoir Silent Courage.

Telling my story means I no longer carry it. I travel lighter in this world. Taking time to write allowed me to process my experience and properly say “good riddance” to my pain.

An unanticipated gift the book has brought to me has been the opportunity to travel and help others mine the story their souls long to tell.

I would love to have you join me. Powerful truths and self revelations have been uncovered.

“I write but want to go deeper. I am leaving here with tools that I can continue to work with.”

“I am surprised at the images and thoughts that have surfaced for me. I am anxious to explore where they might lead.”

My next workshop will be March 14th in Chicago at Equilibrium . This link will take you to my website and future events.

Contact me if you would like to host a workshop. I’d love to help you mine the gold of your own story.

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Posted in chronic pain management, chronic pain recovery, health, mind/body, narrative therapy, pediatric chronic pain, soul writing and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Narrative Therapy & The Message of My Pain

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Mary Byrne Eigel

On a recent visit to California I had the pleasure of meeting one of my heroes, Dr. Steve Grinstead. In my mind I had imagined him larger than life. He had been a treasure-of-a-find five years ago when I began blogging. As a psychotherapist, he understood that pain was more than just a physical phenomena. He was one of the first healers I found in all my Internet searching who was treating the “whole” person when it came to pain management. He “got it” like no other professional I had encountered. He understood that pain worked its way into your psyche and spirit and needed to be treated on those levels. Screen Shot 2014-07-17 at 9.39.17 AM

I should have guessed that the reason he had so much compassion was because he experienced his own physical pain. He had to step away from careers as both a master electrician and martial artist because of a game- changing injury. But the message he received drove him to become  a seasoned psychotherapist and the Director of Grinstead Treatment, Training & Coaching Services,  http://www.freedomfromsufferingnow.com.

My chronic pain gave me a reason to consider what I could do besides teach art, which required standing for long hours. It allowed me to open my own art studio and flourish as an artist.

With the release of Silent Courage, I now find myself traveling in another new direction. When Steve read my book, he told me that what I had done was “narrative therapy.” I did not even know what the term meant, but I did know that internal debris I had been carrying all my life was gone. Mental self-defeating chatter that had burdened my thoughts for years was now silent.

I am loving the fact that through my workshops I can connect with others who are interested in mining what their souls know. It is the new message my pain has delivered. A new journey has begun, and I have my pain to thank for this.

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Posted in chronic pain, chronic pain management, chronic pain recovery, depression, health, hip dysplasia, hip replacement and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.