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Mindfulness for migraines
Mindfulness is the number one, overarching tool that has helped me reduce my migraine triggers (stress, fatigue, posture) and increase my resilience to the triggers I can not avoid (genes, hormones, climate etc.). As a result, I have managed to reduce my migraines from 3+ days a week (every week for…
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My migraine story
I have experienced migraines since I was 11 years old. In my younger years, they only appeared occasionally and did not have a major impact on my life. As such, I’ll be brutally honest and admit that I never attempted to understand the migraine diagnosis, my symptoms, triggers, or treatment options.…
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My shadow self (a short story)
Stories about humans who have a shadow version of themselves are not new. Gothic literature is filled with painted Dorian Grays and hideous Mr Hydes, whose names contain the very obfuscation of fog and smoke their stories attempt to portray. So why would I choose to tell another such story?…
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(Subconscious) Visualization for healing
Visualization is a means of imagining yourself into another place or time… or imagining anyone anywhere for that matter. At the start of this year, I gifted myself a New Year’s Revelation which included manifesting a peaceful-yet-powerful version of myself, and since then, I have been using visualization to help…
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“Bending” – a faceless (anti)monument
My news feed is currently filled with images of a giant Triumphal Arch proposed for the United States of America. As a result, my mind has been bouncing around about the human need to build monuments to ourselves. In my PhD dissertation (I graduated late last year after PhD’ing with…
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When migraines give you a foreign accent
OK, so… be honest; have you ever tried to imitate a foreign accent? Perhaps you think it makes you sound more la-de-da, but more often than not, people’s motives for putting on an accent that’s not our own, tends towards the not-so-noble end of the motivation spectrum. Which is why,…
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DIY healing wand
Everyone, everywhere, who suffers from chronic pain would love to have a magic wand that they could abracadabra their pain away. At least, I assume so, which is possibly overreach… but I doubt it. Anyway – the idea of making myself a magic wand has been simmering in the backburners…
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Death by papercut
Today’s post is about the impact of microaggressions. Theoretical and personal examples are listed, so feel free to look after your mental health and give today a miss if you think the content might be upsetting. Carry my support and understanding with you today and always. * * * Before…
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“The Art of Healing”
Hello lovely people, today is a (long-ish) book review (with a personal craft project detour) for Doctor Bernie S. Siegel’s “The Art of Healing: Uncovering your inner wisdom and potential for self-healing” (2013) (He also has a blog here). [Image source: Berniesiegelmd.com] Straight up I want to clarify something; I…
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Messing with my mind
My email server is flooded with ads, generally spammy ads for things I don’t need and didn’t ask for… nothing new there. What has changed, however, is that they are now almost exclusively illustrated with AI art. Instead of a photograph of real people celebrating their new purchase or someone…
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Ugly art therapy
I’m a big believer in ‘the art of distraction‘ and know from firsthand experience that when we slip into ‘the flow’ of creating something (be it sewing, kiddy craft or a short story) we can forget about time, our surroundings, and most importantly, our pain. I’ve also written in the…
The Mindful Migraine 