# Welcome, Goal & Caveat ##### Untangling Pain --- ![](https://youtu.be/a0AiOkusUc8) --- ## tl;dr - Part four is about using what we have learned to calm shit down and build shit up in real life. - We will notice and reduce DIMs, add more SIMs, and gradually build movement and activity. - I do not want you focused only on reducing pain; pain is a protective alarm, and constant attention can turn it up. - The goal is a life that is not controlled by pain, with more room for joy and what matters to you. - Start where you are and make small changes that build capacity over time. > [!abstract]- Transcript > > Hello and welcome to this training on Women and pain. So this is part four in the series. Part one was on pain science. Part two was all about the bio-psycho-social-spiritual model. And part three was all about the psycho-neuro-immuno-endocrinology. This part four is all about taking everything you've learned so far and applying it to your life. > > So the goal of this training and not only again when it comes to pain, but also with life in general, is to calm shit down and build shit up. > > We want to calm shit down by reducing threat and stresses in our lives. So we're looking at reducing the DIMs and increasing the SIMs, and we'll go in. > > To them a little bit more and build shit up. We want to gradually increase movement. We want to gradually increase activity and basically just all the things that actually bring us joy and that actually make life worth living. So that's what we want to do, and that is the aim of this part of the training. > > So a caveat. The caveat is our focus isn't on reducing pain. Now, this is a strange thing to say, right? In a course for women and pain, it is a strange thing to say that we are not focusing on reducing the pain. But this is not trying to get rid of pain because we need pain. It is vital for our survival, for our life. > > Pain is a fire alarm. It responds to threat, and it's all about protection. > > What I've learned over the years is that when we focus on pain and the more we focus on pain, the more our brain prioritizes it and amplifies it further. > > So when we think back to the fire alarms when we're focusing on pain, when we're focusing on that area, that issue, our brain starts to think that we need protecting more, and that's where the brain can then adapt. And the body can adapt and we add more fire alarms and we add more sensors and we just become more sensitive. > > I've learned from clients over so many years that the more we focus on pain, the worse things become. And I've learned this when people come to me and say they've been keeping a pain journal and they know what increases it and all the rest of it. > > I personally do not like it. I like to focus on the good stuff. I like to manifest the positive. > > That's what we are looking at. So again, our goal is not to focus on reducing pain. We're not trying to get rid of pain, but we're trying to build a life that isn't controlled by it. We're trying to learn how to live with pain and live our life despite pain. > > And the ironic thing is that when we start living, despite the pain, when we focus on the things that matter in our life, rather than wasting our energy, trying to rid the pain first before we then go and do other stuff, or we run from the pain or whatever it is, when we focus on the good stuff. And we focus on what we can do and we focus on the joy and the just the important stuff in life. > > The pain becomes less important. It becomes more of a sidebar. It's not the main focus. It may not go completely, and that's okay because we're gonna focus on where you are. We're gonna start where you are. We're gonna make small changes and increase things, and our capacity over time. > > So we are looking at focusing on the good stuff and not on the pain. So this is just a caveat for this. Next lesson → [[Untangling Pain – Module 4 Lesson 02 – Step 1 Calm Shit Down|Step 1 Calm Shit Down]] %% ## Extra ## Version 1: Full Part Four: Applying Everything to Your Life Hello and welcome to this training on Women and Pain This is part four in the series Part one was on pain science Part two was all about the bio-psycho-social-spiritual model Part three was all about the psycho-neuro-immuno-endocrinology This part four is all about taking everything you’ve learned so far and applying it to your life The Goal: Calm Shit Down and Build Shit Up The goal of this training, and not only again when it comes to pain but also with life in general, is to calm shit down and build shit up We want to calm shit down by reducing threat and stresses in our lives We’re looking at reducing the DIMs and increasing the SIMs We’ll go into them a little bit more Build shit up — we want to gradually increase movement We want to gradually increase activity Basically just all the things that actually bring us joy and that actually make life worth living That’s what we want to do, and that is the aim of this part of the training A Caveat: We’re Not Trying to Reduce Pain Our focus isn’t on reducing pain This is a strange thing to say, right? In a course for women and pain, it is a strange thing to say that we are not focusing on reducing the pain But this is not trying to get rid of pain because we need pain It is vital for our survival, for our life Pain is a fire alarm It responds to threat, and it’s all about protection The More We Focus on Pain, the More It Amplifies What I’ve learned over the years is that when we focus on pain, and the more we focus on pain, the more our brain prioritizes it and amplifies it further So when we think back to the fire alarms, when we’re focusing on pain, when we’re focusing on that area, that issue, our brain starts to think that we need protecting more That’s where the brain can then adapt And the body can adapt and we add more fire alarms and we add more sensors and we just become more sensitive I’ve learned from clients over so many years that the more we focus on pain, the worse things become I’ve learned this when people come to me and say they’ve been keeping a pain journal and they know what increases it and all the rest of it I personally do not like it I like to focus on the good stuff I like to manifest the positive Living With Pain, Not Controlled By It That’s what we are looking at Again, our goal is not to focus on reducing pain We’re not trying to get rid of pain We’re trying to build a life that isn’t controlled by it We’re trying to learn how to live with pain and live our life despite pain The ironic thing is that when we start living despite the pain When we focus on the things that matter in our life Rather than wasting our energy trying to rid the pain first before we then go and do other stuff, or we run from the pain or whatever it is When we focus on the good stuff And we focus on what we can do And we focus on the joy and just the important stuff in life The pain becomes less important It becomes more of a sidebar It’s not the main focus It may not go completely, and that’s okay We’re gonna focus on where you are We’re gonna start where you are We’re gonna make small changes and increase things, and our capacity over time So we are looking at focusing on the good stuff and not on the pain This is just a caveat for this ⸻ ## ![[Meta/01 Attachments/Untangling Pain Attachments/Image (22).png|Image.png]] ![[Meta/01 Attachments/Untangling Pain Attachments/Image (23).png|Image.png]] --- ## Watch the lesson %%