Choices, choices, choices.
All of our lives we make choices. More than we would like to make. So many!
Some of our choices have been excellent, and some, well...maybe not so good. But we keep on going.
Jerry L. Old MD is a geriatric physician. I figure, with a name like that, how could he be anything else? But, he didn't intend to be a doctor with an elderly patient practice. It just worked out that way.
I loved reading his really cool book called Vintage People. Vintage People are elderly people who have aged well. Dr. Old calls them vintage because they are like fine wine. They are people who have become better over time.
Do they have aches and pains? Lots of them do. It's kind of hard to get older without something twinging somewhere at least occasionally.
Have they made choices? You bet. Were they all good choices? Not necessarily, but they kept on going, correcting the course as they went.
Dr. Old interviewed his vintage patients. Every one of them responded! In many areas, there was no common agreement. For instance, eating habits. They were all over the place! Some people ate very healthy, some not, some ate a very specific diet. But, they had all made choices and they all had opinions about why their eating habits were the best for them.
I found that I kept smiling as I read. Dr. Old told lots of interesting stories, good stories. He shared his own opinions and sometimes tells a joke on himself, too. His chapters cover such things as attitude, humor, religion, marriage. Often these are the words of his wise, vintage patients. You can imagine them talking directly to you.
Choosing to read a good book like this, or any good book that engages your mind, and that makes you smile or laugh is good medicine!
Laughing is like having a massage from the inside out. It creates feel-good hormones. It boosts our immune system!
Compare that to watching the evening news. Do you suppose that boosts your immune system? Did you realize that you can choose to watch the evening news...or not? Even when I had a television, I did not watch the news. I read the Sunday paper selectively, starting with the funnies. I prefer the local newspaper to the big city paper because the local news has good news, not just argumentive, depressing stuff.
Back to the Vintage People. Vintage people are active, as much as they are able. They are young for their age. They have friends of all ages, and even regard acquaintances as friends. They enjoy little pleasures, like the sunset or a flower brushed with dew, sparkling like diamonds. They find ways to help themselves feel better.
When we become absorbed with something beautiful or interesting, we forget about the aches and pain. Sometimes we forget about a great deal of pain. And, often, when we forget to focus on pain, it actually goes away.
My father lived in Missouri. We hadn't seen him in a few years. So, when we were traveling through Missouri, we decided to surprise him. His wife knew we were coming, but he had a migraine. When we walked in the door, my dad was laying in a recliner with a cold cloth over his eyes.
He was so surprised and pleased that we were there, that in about ten minutes he realized that his migraine headache was gone! We altered his vascular system.
Will your migraine or pain go complete away if you have a pleasant surprise? Maybe, or maybe not. But, when we focus on something other than the pain, often the pain does lessen or go completely away.
And sometimes pain goes away when we focus on it. Does that seem to be a contradiction?
Let's use head pain as an example. Sometimes it feels as if our whole head hurts. It's killing us. Where is the pain? Everywhere! It hurts all over.
But what if we pay attention to the pain? What if we direct all of our attention to the pain? Is it here? There? Where is it, really? You may even find that there are very specific areas where it hurts the most. When you pay attention to them, you may even find that the specific areas move. They are not constant. There is some ebb and flow. The most painful area changes location.
So, it's not your whole head, after all.
What if you breath into the pain? Does that change anything? What if you tilt your chin up, or down? What if you take deep breaths, moving your whole chest?
Paying attention is a choice. Breathing into the pain is a choice. Changing position to see if that helps is another choice. Focusing on something other than our pain is also a choice.
In my mind, there is nothing like a migraine headache. Not only does it hurt really bad, it reduces your ability to think. It reduces your ability to interact with others. It can strip away days of your life.
If migraines or bad headaches are a problem for you, there are choices you can make. No one but you can help you. Try the little suggestions above.
Pay attention to your posture. Not only does poor posture cause head pain, it causes us to be old before our time and to look old.
Watch your diet. Do certain foods cause your head to hurt? Do you still eat them? Why?
The more you understand about why you hurt, the more choices you can make to feel better.
We can choose to be Vintage People. Active, happy, healthy.
We can choose well.
