A while ago, in one of our sessions, I pointed out that no matter what, we all have good days and bad.  Some days the pain is so bad that getting out of bed is the biggest challenge you may want to face. No matter what you do, take extra medications or meditate, nothing seems to help.

Does this mean that everything you’ve learned to help you with your pain and your medications are useless?  If they’ve helped you in the past then the answer is of course not.

It might help to think of it this way: no matter how skilled one becomes at something, be it boxing or solving an equation, there is always an opponent you can’t beat or a problem that you can’t solve, especially if you are having a bad day. It doesn’t mean your skill is all for nothing. It means that today’s opponent is too strong or problem too hard for your present level of skill.

Remember that pain is very, very tough to deal with and that any success you’ve had is an accomplishment you wouldn’t have achieved without your practice or other treatments you use. Just because you are having a bad day is no reason to give up your practice or your treatment. A good boxer keeps training to get better and a good mathematician keeps on solving problems even after a defeat.

If you understand that you and your pain are subject to change by things that are beyond your control, you will weather the bad times and not get smug about the good times. You will learn to hunker down when the pain is bad and make the most of the times when it is good.