Spiritual Fitness & Living With Chronic Pain

In the midst of suffering, do you really want to discover who Jesus Christ is? Take a minute and catch your breath. Pause for a second and contemplatively think hard about your circumstances. 
 
As much as pain might be pressing against your very being as you read this blog, I encourage you to press back even more so into your faith about Jesus. The more you endure your painful trials, and the more you debride your preconceived agendas about self-importance, the more you can enter into Jesus Christ’s feelings when He remained completely obedient to the voice of His Father.
 
Before His death on the cross, Jesus expressed very human moments of despair as blood droplets rolled from His sweat glands. This demonstration of humanism allows us to relate to Him very deeply when it comes to the subject of suffering. He truly knows what you’re going through and He gives you the opportunity to comprehend what He endured for you when He was savagely crucified on the cross.
 
To know Christ is to glean all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, even as it relates to compassionate understanding about suffering.
 
Listen to His voice in scripture. Try to eliminate the distractions of your pain and the noise of this world. His Holy Spirit lives within you and communicates the very thoughts of God. You can truly know Him because your suffering brings you to the end of yourself. This is the fringe benefit of suffering. “For the end of self is the beginning of God.”
 
If you sense that you want to know Christ more, it’s because He first wants to know and love you more. He’s already initiated the campaign for intimacy for everyone who calls upon His name. It’s unbelievable. At this very moment, Jesus is interceding for both you and me. He really knows our pains and losses as well as our hope in a glorious future.

Keep me on your favorites.  Please click onto www.gordonselley.com for more information about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing.

In my last article I touched on the importance of being a farmer when taking care of your body through dietary measures and appropriate exercise. Likewise when living with chronic pain and trying to endure some different forms of suffering, it’s equally important not to let your heart become like rocky soil in which the seed of the gospel does not root firmly.
 
If you have a belief in God, persecution and troubles and afflictions are a normal part of being tied in faith with Jesus Christ. Suffering is simply a refining tool so your faith is made manifest. In other words, through enduring painful afflictions your faith can be as real as what you sense about the realness of your reality at this very moment.  Sounds philosophical? But it really isn’t. 
 
Suffering helps you to grasp the realness of eternal living, as it relates to your every day existence while on this earth. Therefore, God becomes even more real in the present and in the active sense of who you are and what you do.
 
If you truly claim the Christian faith as your foundation of belief, then I encourage you not to avoid the construct of suffering. Be a farmer. Plant the seeds of faith and await the harvest of righteousness. Discern the good soil for the word of God to take firm root in your life, producing abundance in spiritual richness.

Keep me on your favorites.  Please click onto www.gordonselley.com for more information about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing.

Think about being a farmer about your diet and your weight. When preparing to plant a crop, the skillful farmer discriminates between one soil and another, keenly figuring out which soils are better to plow, to plant seed and to fertilize. Like the farmer when preparing the soil, you can prepare your body through close inspection, deciding what types of food to consume, how much to eat and when to dine. These initial dietary measures will improve your metabolism and will also prepare your body to be plowed, in the form of exercise.
 
Once you moderately discern what’s best for your body, then like the farmer, steadily fertilize your deliberate efforts about change through hard work and discipline. Notice how the farmer patiently waits for the fruitfulness of his faithful effort. I encourage you to do the same. Maintain regard for the nature of the seed of changed dietary habits and adapt your lifestyle through appropriate exercise and rest.
 
As you sow resources of aerobic exercise, proper sleep and healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean protein sources and water; you will then reap an abundant crop of weight loss, improved metabolism and an increased immune system. Being a farmer of your diet and maintaining your goal weight will translate into a crop of wholeness. Not only is the soil, in other words your body, better nourished, but also the roots of your soul will produce a richer harvest.

Even if you live with chronic pain or you’re feeling lonely, ultimately, you’re still responsible for how you respond to living. No one else can substitute themselves for whether or not you successfully navigate through the trials of life.
 
Because chronic pain takes a horrendous toll against the motivations for living, that’s why I’m doing what I do, which is to spread the character-producing news of the gospel and to help practically motivate others who are afflicted to better living.
 
Commonly, there are three key ingredients to acquiring the motivation to change. These entail desire, belief and vision. In other words, do you have enough desire to make long-term changes? Do you believe that you can accomplish these changes? And finally, do you truly have a clear mental picture of yourself finishing the race ahead of you?
 
When personally dealing with chronic pain, quite frankly, I answered “no” to each one of these questions. God changed all of that for me. When I leaned on Him in trust, this is when I developed desire from despair, fortified belief from painful doubt, and finally, I visually realized the outcomes of steadfast faith from a place of chronic stagnancy.
 
If I can make the change, so can most of you! You’re ultimately accountable for your lives. The motivational “rah-rah” speeches don’t work against insurmountable odds. It takes a higher power to motivate you from within. This is really the core where change begins to happen. Take the leap of faith. We can no longer consider time as a wasteful resource. There is no better time to start to make change than right now!
 
Keep me on your favorites. For more about living with chronic pain and spiritual healing, visit me atwww.gordonselley.com

 
To your health, Gordon Selley

When you’re down and out, isn’t it easy to wonder what God will do for you to relieve your despair? Rather than beat around the bush why don’t you come out and ask boldly, “Do you really love me God?”
 
We tend to place conditions on God before we accept our role in this world. When realizing that pain can be a teacher for our soul, which tears down conditions about everything, then we can refocus from what God would do for us to what are our expectations of being engaged in this life.
 
The process about pain is not so much about becoming pain-free, though that is desired by nearly everyone who experiences it. But rather, the process about pain is to discover who we are completely from the reference point of life and death. In the end, our lives are purely about relationship, having one with God as well as those around us.
 
You’ll find that much of your thinking is conditioned about comfort. We tend to look at everything from our point of view about what is good versus what is bad. And our point of view is usually narrowed to our own personal perspectives. Without even realizing it, we judge everything around us, accepting those things or situations into our value system contingent on whether or not they provide rightful comfort or benefit on our behalf.  And conversely, if we believe something doesn’t benefit us or might be harmful or painful, then we simply judge again, deeming the person or the action as something bad or unnecessary.
 
It’s so easy to ask God to take care of the things we perceive as bad, hoping these are purged from our existence. Whether we think of something as good or bad, why can’t we jump into an unconditional relationship with God through His Son and allow Him to discern what is good or bad for our lives, even if this means we experience some level of pain? Because when we truly believe that God is good and loves us tremendously, this is when we can really trust Him to judge everything around us. It’s really not up to us to play God, even about pain.
 
Today, I encourage you to seek God with full belief. It’s a great step forward, whether you have pain or not.
 
Keep me on your favorites. For more about living with chronic pain and spiritual healing, visit me atwww.gordonselley.com

 
To your health, Gordon Selley

 Belief is the cornerstone to making healthy changes. When we truly believe in something better for our lives, we’ll go to great lengths to make sure that we adopt this belief into our ways of living.
 
I’m reluctant to formulize an exact blueprint detailing the process of change. Mostly, because the second I try to create a definitive matrix is the second I narrow the scope of spontaneity and beautiful new growth in your own transformation. Brokenness in humanity spurs us to center our lives on things that are nutritious for our being. Creating healthy patterns of change might not necessarily satisfy our appetites or actually set us free from the bondage of feeling incomplete, but it does cause in us a yearning for healing.
 
Each person’s life narrative differs in terms of spiritual orientation and ways of pursuing happiness. Outlined below, I have simply sketched some of the creative ways God has implemented change in my life. The real lesson was learning how to get out of my own way in order to really absorb the call of His voice. 
 
Essentially it’s impossible to duplicate the exact stages of transformation and apply them neatly into the lives of those who earnestly desire change, but I will attempt to describe the milestones of complete transformation. Hopefully this schematic might help you to understand the possibilities associated with the process:
 

• Vision. Belief emboldens us to a new vision, helping us to view things differently from our old ways of thinking and acting. Usually, new vision enlightens our souls to the process of “being” instead of creating “to-do lists” regarding personal improvement.

• Commitment. Once we begin to see the potential outcomes from our new vision, then we’ll start applying various techniques of change to our present circumstances. The emphasis to actualize change begins after we make the commitment to change.

• Train Our Bodies. Belief and faith are intertwined in the fight against fear and failure. This is where the rubber meets the road. The more abstract concepts of belief and vision slowly turn into concrete reality, piece by piece. The temptation of reverting back to old lifestyle patterns can be strong, so we must train our mind, emotions, will and bodies, to deliberately move forward, regardless of the immediate challenge.

• Perseverance. Keeping with the intent of moving forward, focus and reinforcement will empower our efforts to shed old ways of thinking for newer intellectual vigor and innovation. It might feel like brute human effort is the only way to accomplish real change at this point but that’s only part of the equation. During this stage it’s beautiful to watch how perseverance through difficulties breaks down our preconceived notions about the human condition and then opens our souls to newer ways of thinking. As a result, completeness begins to unfold.

• Testing Faith. Being reshaped beckons repetitive testing of our belief system, especially our faith. Our ability to endure trials fortifies our character. In essence, we begin to really discover who we are and why we are created. It’s like stepping out of a pit of noise into a place of peace and serenity. Although calamity might still surround us; we can experience true freedom from any circumstances no matter the challenges. 

• Alternative Behaviors. Our belief in something better has produced something better within our souls. An alternative way of being, thinking and doing has transformed us. At first, we thought it occurred because of self-determination. Scientifically, it’s easy to justify this supposition as we retrained our neural pathways to respond to a new conditioning program. But from within, there has been a spirit that also worked on our behalf, shaping us intentionally for a higher purpose.

• Serve Others. Lastly, we’ll realize our transformation has really occurred when we recognize that our purpose for living has been formed beyond our own comfort zone. It’s at this juncture when we can look back at the process, as difficult as it might have seemed, recognizing how wonderfully we’ve been stretched and remolded into something better. As our new self bristles with life, our calling has also been changed, no longer being about self-preservation or self-actualization. It now includes serving and loving others around us as well. 

 
As mentioned earlier in this article, belief is the cornerstone to making healthy choices. For ultimate transformation, I encourage you to put your beliefs in Jesus Christ, who will take you from any place of darkness and brokenness into a place of faith, hope and unconditioned living. 

Keep me on your favorites. For more about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing, visit me at www.gordonselley.com

 
To your health, Gordon Selley

As Americans we’ve become very complacent about living. Too often we accept things without due diligence. Culturally, we avoid making the difficult decisions because we’re already overwhelmed by stress and busyness and chronic fatigue. Rarely do we question the motives behind what we’re doing and where we’re being led. This attitude translates into mindless decision-making, numbed emotions and the development of improper lifestyle habits – all of which complicates the lives of those who live with chronic pain and struggle with being overweight. Ultimately, this takes away from who we’re supposed to be and what we’re supposed to be doing.
 
To really live is to understand what the meaning of death is to the core of our being. For example, if there was a tiger in the room that you currently occupied, what would you do? Wouldn’t you instantaneously experience the fear of death? Imagine how quickly your heart might race due to this potentially blood curdling experience. Everything would seem very raw and real. There would be no room for complacent decision-making. Time would be fleeting. Your senses would probably be heightened maximally. Every passion about living would most likely spew from every pore in your body.
 
On the other hand, if you knew of someone who encountered a tiger head-on in another room and you were not there, you wouldn’t experience the realness of the situation. The fear of death would be distant to you in every way.  Not surprisingly, your approach to living might lack the qualities of passion and purpose. This is not a great place to be. It’s like being lulled into a slow, slumber about really trying to live life to the fullest, especially when trying to fight through painful adversities. Instead of living deliberately, you’d only react to things half-heartedly and on the basis of avoidance.
 
The lesson from this is this. When we get closer to death, we actually “see” the reason to live. This is when we’re thankful about living and we give all our passions to our cause. And for those who profess the Christian faith, that’s why we share in the death of Christ. From this reference point of suffering, by faith, we can “see” the value of living and who we must trust when we give our lives to Him.  In essence, suffering perfects the love in each one of us.  We no longer have to live in fearful anticipation of a tiger attack.
 
Keep me on your favorites. For more about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing, visit me at www.gordonselley.com

 
To your health, Gordon Selley

I’ve been writing about how to change against the current of chronic pain and being overweight. Some of my suggestions have included different perspectives about thinking and feeling, discovering newfound areas of spiritual healing, as well as breaking old, fixed patterns of unhealthy behavior. 
 
It’s not as easy as it seems when making changes. In order to move beyond short-term changes into long-term transformation, the entire body, including mind, emotions and will, must work cooperatively toward a singular vision.
 
Regarding short-term change, for instance, like breaking food, drug and alcohol addictions, many approaches rely on conditioning methods, such as imposing negative imagery upon old habits, and conversely, enjoining positive feelings toward the newer ways to do things. Typically with this style of change, well-thought-out lists of “dos and don’ts” and mental exercises to shape your views are incorporated religiously. This approach proves effective in the short term, but lacks sustaining power over time.  Because eventually we develop immunity to stressful reinforcement suggestions and like clock work, we revert back to our former habits when we tire of effort. The boomerang affect definitely comes into play.
 
Relative to long-term change, experts in the field of neuropsychology advocate the use of replacement therapy, in which an old addiction is replaced by a new alternative. To accomplish this type of change, people must find an alternative way to satisfy or improve upon their feelings. This method has proved to be one of the most effective approaches regarding transformation.
 
Personally, I take replacement therapy one step further. Because I believe that long-term transformation is not about satisfying one’s emotional base exclusively. The mind and will and spirit must work together in unison. That’s why I believe real, permanent change is about becoming who you’re supposed to be, and then real transformation actually occurs. Because when you become who you’re supposed to be, you’ll forfeit old habits and addictions in exchange for a new life with renewed ways of being, doing and living.  And for those who migrate to faith, becoming who you’re supposed to be and what you’re supposed to be doing is putting all of yourself into the hands of Your Creator.
 
Keep me on your favorites. For more about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing, visit me at www.gordonselley.com

 
To your health, Gordon Selley

When it feels like the walls of pain (all types) are closing in, you don’t have to self-medicate on “fantasy-thinking” to keep yourself under control.
 
Don’t get too familiar with this way of thinking because it relies heavily on unrealistic dreaming. The type of growth birthed from fantasy is unhealthy and fundamentally distractive. Chronic pain, whether physical or emotional, has its way to distract you from living.
 
Distraction is all about accomplishing less. Your thoughts, especially gigantic ones, may seem like they can lift you from the pit of noise. But really, they don’t. They’re like an addictive drug, spoon-feeding your feelings of blissfulness against the backdrop of tears; and when the “highs” spiral downward, depression digs its heels into the core of your thinking. Failure then comes to the forethought of your mind. And quickly, chronic pain partners with your emotions to reinforce limited vision and to sabotage any breath of hope for the future.
 
To get out of this funk, it takes tremendous concentration. In other words, it takes focus. Even employing focus on the smallest things, like getting out of bed when your joints ache and your body refuses to cooperate, is a very slow, but effective way to break pain-controlling habits. Learning how to focus on the simplest things and doing so successfully, you’ll then discover that more complex tasks get accomplished with less effort.
 
Even when you feel like you’re barely treading water with doing things that seem ridiculous and unproductive, do these things with focus and precision. It’s a good way to fight through pain and its accomplice of fantasy thinking. Taking smaller steps forward will get you further ahead in the race for life than being paralyzed with trying to figure out how to fly to the moon.
 
Keep me on your favorites. For more about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing, visit me at www.gordonselley.com

 
To your health, Gordon Selley

Getting your pain under control might mean that you now experience uncomfortable achiness or soreness instead of uncontrollable, excruciating anguish.  In other words, this manageable pain, somewhat equivalent to nagging discomfort, now proves to be bothersome, boldly reminding you that something isn’t quite right and may never be so.
 
Regardless of modality or medication use, this seems to be the typical scenario for someone who deals constantly with chronic pain. As with many others, this pretty much summarizes my condition.
 
In order to move forward, I’ve had to deal directly with fear and the anticipation of failure. I’ve had to overcome the fear of developing worsened pain when trying to reinvent my life against very real physical limitations. It seems as if fear reinforces your insecurities that you’re never ready to move forward and even if you try, what’s the use?
 
If you’re pain becomes somewhat manageable, what are you trying to accomplish by moving forward anyway? 
 
The answer to this question takes a keen understanding about your purpose for living. For me, it’s about stretching the limited boundaries further, experiencing the real gift of living. The human soul is not designed to stop, and to wait, and to remain in the stop position permanently. It’s about being free. It’s about breaking the boredom and distress about living with chronic pain. You see, moving forward is about having mobility for your soul to express itself productively. You can do this if your chronic pain becomes manageable. You can change that silent acceptance that something will always be wrong into something that can be right. By confronting fear head on, you can work directly through the difficulties of chronic pain, and you can come out on the other side better off than before.
 
Keep me on your favorites. For more about living with chronic pain, as well as spiritual healing, visit me at www.gordonselley.com

 
To your health, Gordon Selley