Author: Angelos

Categories
chronic pain

Are you Hiding your Back Pain?

Are you hiding your back pain?

I used to.

“I see you’re limping today. Are you okay?”

“What’s wrong with your foot?”

I despised those questions.

I never wanted my colleagues to see me weak or incapacitated.

“I must have hurt my back but not sure how”, I’d say and put on a chilled smile.

I was also hiding my emotions—which, to be honest was harder than hiding my back pain!

A few years later, I realised that I was in pain because I was hiding from my true self.

The self who wanted to explore what else life had to offer—other than investment banking, Canary Wharf and the DLR train.

The self who wanted to say no to money no matter how scary that felt.

The self who wanted to surprise his family and friends by quitting the “perfect” career.

The self who was longing for an uncertain but rewarding journey.

If you too are hiding from your true self, I understand.

Others perceive you as successful and accomplished and you do, too.

But think for a second…

What if you didn’t hide from your true self?

Would you still be in pain?

What would be possible?

What would life look like then?

Loving you, Angelos

Categories
chronic pain

Intuition and Healing

My Client: The NHS says that there is no cure for my disease.

Me: OK, so what brought you here then?

My Client: I read your articles and what you say about pain makes sense.

One of my biggest realisations is that we often know things that we don’t know.

All human beings have access to some universal infinite intelligence.

Some call it God, others call it intuition, insight, instinct—it doesn’t matter.

A part of you doesn’t accept that there is no solution, even when everyone else says otherwise.

A part of you is curious to explore a route that no one has explored before.

A part of you may not have the answers now but knows that answers exist.

Listen to that inner voice.

This is when miracles happen.

At the end of the day, all problems were considered insoluble until someone found a solution.

They did because they listened to that rebellious and infinitely intelligent inner voice.

The same applies to healing.

With love, Angelos

Categories
chronic pain

Repressed Emotions Live in the Unconscious Mind

What’s the logical error in the next two sentences?

— Your chronic pain is caused by REPRESSED emotions.
— But I don’t have any repressed emotions.

If these emotions are repressed, it means that they exist OUTSIDE your conscious awareness.

They were so uncomfortable that you dumped them in the depths of your psyche without processing them.

I did this for years. That’s why it took me more than 10 years to get rid of my back pain.

I had read all the books, medical research, and even posts like this but I was in denial.

I believed I had a bad back, a heart condition, and many other things.

We all have blind spots.

That’s why it’s important to work with a therapist or coach who can guide you on uncovering all these blinds spots.

Loving you, Angelos.

Categories
chronic pain

Pain and High-Status Environments

Are you in pain and also working in a high-stress high-status environment?

Here’s something that you might not have thought about…

There is less of a stigma attached to seeking help for physical rather than psychological problems in this sort of world.

That’s why you may deny your emotional pain and instead express it through amplified physical symptoms—a process called somatisation.

Think about it.

Would you rather complain to your colleagues about your depression or your back pain?

A large body of empirical research links somatisation with suppression of emotions, stress, and trauma.

For instance, two weeks before they invaded Iraq, soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division, experienced their distress differently.

Compared with combat-naïve soldiers, combat veterans denied emotional symptoms—such as anxiety, irritability, depression—and instead reported more physical symptoms—such as back or neck pain, hiatus hernia, headaches, digestive issues, insomnia or sexual difficulties.

When you stop denying the emotional pain and decide to work with it, physical symptoms disappear, often in seconds!

—Angelos

Categories
Personal Development

It’s OK to Be Angry

There is NOTHING wrong with anger.

Repressed anger is what keeps you in pain.

The fear of others picking up on the heat that you have inside.

The fear of others thinking that you can’t control your emotions.

The fear of others calling you unprofessional.

You’ve been trained to hide your anger:

  • Breath.
  • Meditate .
  • Go for a walk.
  • Lock yourself in a conference room.

This is the stuff you usually read in a Forbes article.

I’m not encouraging you to turn desks upside down at work.

However, all these “anger management” techniques make you even more afraid and ashamed of your anger—a feeling that is natural to feel.

When you run away from something, you miss the opportunity to learn from it.

What should you do?

  1. Acknowledge your anger. Say, “I’m angry right now”.This will elevate your level of consciousness.
  2. Don’t do anything to “manage” your anger. This sends the subliminal message to your unconscious mind that you’re afraid or ashamed of anger.
  3. Don’t use your intellect or logical arguments why you shouldn’t be feeling angry. You make things worse. Your survival brain simply ignores or fights back all your logical arguments.
  4. Let me repeat it: It’s OK to feel angry.
  5. Once you’re more grounded look for the wisdom behind your anger. Is it a belief that aroused your anger? Something you care about a lot? Something you’re afraid of?

Anger offers unique opportunities to grow and become more self-aware.

Please don’t listen to those who teach you to behave like a Buddist monk when you’re angry.

That leads to more repression and … yes, more physical pain.

—Angelos

PS: Learn more about how repressed anger causes physical pain. Read this.

Categories
chronic pain

Chronic Pain is a Blessing

Chronic pain is a blessing that pushes you towards growth.

When you go pain-free, you’ll notice that you’ll be a different person.

Confident, resilient, grounded, mindful, self-aware.

A master at handling stressful situations and negative emotions.

You will be able to reframe situations and enter a blissful state in seconds.

Limiting beliefs such as “I’m not good enough” or “I’ll never be able to achieve x” vanish.

You flow gracefully and effortlessly towards those goals that once seemed impossible.

Your relationship or marriage thrives because you’re more mindful and emotionally intelligent.

Your consciousness is elevated and others are attracted to you.

The inner work of exploring and learning from your emotions is transformational.

This is NOT a journey from [Being in Excruciating Pain] to [Being Pain-Free].

This is NOT a journey from where you are to where you used to be.

This is NOT a journey from -10 to 0.

This is a journey from -10 to infinity.

One day you will thank your pain.

All I want from you is to be open and curious.

Let’s explore the deeper reasons for your discomfort.

With love, Angelos

Categories
Anxiety chronic pain

Being Like a Palm Tree

When I am asked how I help my clients … I use this simple analogy:

I help them become more like a palm tree than an oak tree.

When the storm comes the palm bends but then comes back up whereas …

The oak tries to resist the storm and ends up breaking.

My clients have always strived to become the strongest oak.

And they are indeed incredibly strong and hard to break.

That’s how they got to where they are.

After our work together, they become flexible, agile, and unbreakable.

No storm can bring them down.

Just like a palm tree.

With love, Angelos

Categories
chronic pain

All Sitting Postures Allowed

Back pain is NOT caused by your “bad posture”.

I’m not talking about that stiffness in your back after a stressful day at work.

I’m talking about the back pain that can last for months.

The pain that makes it impossible to get out of bed in the morning.

The pain that doesn’t allow you to exercise, play with your kids, go on a long bike ride.

The excruciating, debilitating, horrendous back pain that won’t go away.

Do you think this guy has that kind of back pain?

No, he doesn’t.

If he did, he wouldn’t be sitting like that, would he?

He’d be super mindful about his posture 24/7

Seriously…

What makes you think that this guy’s spine is stronger than yours?

Why can he sit like that without experiencing any pain?

Why is not everyone else on your floor in pain?

Do you sit for longer than they do?

Is their sitting posture is better than yours?

Your conditioning is the problem.

  • I have a bad back.
  • My MRI showed x and y.
  • I have to sleep on the side.
  • I have to do this particular stretch daily.
  • I have to stand up every 38 minutes and 20 seconds.

What should you do then?

Be like that guy in the picture.

Surprise your pain and break your conditioning. 

Do the things that bring you to life—walk, cycle, jump, run, whatever you love doing that you’re currently doing because of your pain.

Because what keeps you in pain is Not Living the Active and Fearless Life that you’re meant to live.

With love, Angelos

Categories
Personal Development

Osteopaths Don’t Fix the Root of your Pain

Osteopathy helps but doesn’t fix the root of your chronic pain.

That’s why you keep visiting your osteopath.

To be fair, I love osteopaths because they don’t fillet you.

Lance, my osteopath, used to say: “Medication and surgery treat the symptoms—not the cause. The cause of your back pain is the stiff joints and muscles that create inflammation which in turn causes the pain”.

He was 100% right and saved me from surgery a few times.

“But what causes the stiffness in the first place, Lance?”, I would ask.

“Sitting”, he replied. “We’re not made to sit—we’re made to move”.

“OK, I get that, but why isn’t everyone on my floor in pain then? Some sit for longer than I do”.

“Not everyone’s joints and muscles are the same”, he’d reply.

I lived with that explanation for years.

One day I freaked out, “What if Lance dies? Who will treat me then? He’s the only one who’s managed to relieve my back pain”.

Back pain haunted me.

It was a circuit that could randomly switch on and put my life on pause.

It took me over ten years to understand pain but I finally solved the mystery.

To learn more about Pain-Free and Thriving, click here.

With love, Angelos

Categories
Personal Development

John F. Kennedy’s Chronic Back Pain Explained

JFK suffered from back pain from his undergraduate years at Harvard until the day of his assassination.

He underwent four spine surgeries, received hundreds of injections, and relied on a daily therapy regimen which often included massage, exercise, crutches, orthotics, and narcotics.

While running for presidency in 1960, he had to wear an augmented back corset which may have played a role in his death.

The corset which was bound tightly around his lower back and hips forced him to stay upright.

Had he not been wearing the corset, he might have crumpled forward and avoided the second fatal shot to the head on the 22nd of November 1963.

Continue reading “John F. Kennedy’s Chronic Back Pain Explained”