Oh, how we wish we could just throw it away! Pains great and small, banish them to outer space and never take them back again. Yes, how we wish…but then, there’s how we feel and how we live. Pain still is. Not something we can jettison, but something we live with, whether it increases or decreases. Chronic pain means it’s with us for a long duration. So, I’ve decided, for my life, two things: It’s here, it’s not going away, so I’ll own it. But, I’ll also put it in a broader perspective. I have my pain, but I also have my life, of which pain is only a part. Sometimes a big part. Sometimes a small part. Of late, it’s been a greater part. But it’s not everything. If this seems simplistic, or naive, or even silly, well, I don’t think so. Some of the most important things we can do for the wellbeing of our spirits and emotional health are very simple (not simplistic). And one of them is to keep a good, balanced view of the totality of living. If we allow ourselves to be consumed by pain and crowd out the other things that we are and do, we become like a garden choked by weeds. But if we prune and tend, we can have a garden that can blossom and bloom, despite the weeds that will perpetually visit, but not overwhelm the good growth within. Blessings for the day, Maureen