How Live Well with Chronic Pain or Illness w/ Toni Bernhard

INSPIRE #213: How to Live Well with Chronic Pain or Illness!

Toni Bernhard Former UC Davis Law Professor & Dean Shares How to Overcome Suffering, Chronic, Pain, and Illness Through Mindfulness, Self-Compassion & Love

Listen to the podcast below!

BOOKS BY TONI BERNHARD:

SHOW INTRODUCTION:

If you’ve ever struggled with chronic pain, chronic illness, or know someone who does, or simply want to eliminate suffering in your life, then do we have the liberating show for you!
Today I’ll be talking with Toni Bernhard the award winning author of How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregiversand How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow. Her latest book is called How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide. But I’d argue these books aren’t just for those with pain or illness, their handbooks or guides to living life free of suffering, and I think we all can learn a lot from them.

Today we’ll be talking about to How to Live Well with chronic illness and pain, what this means, what this looks like, how to alleviate our own suffering, feel better (at least in our minds and even use the experience for inner growth and lots and lots of self-love and compassion.

That plus we’ll talk about a not to do list, the tyranny of positive thinking, what to do when the blues comes calling, why Tylenol is not the answer, and why you can’t have a horse when you’re living in the middle of Los Angeles.

MORE ON TONI BERNHARD:

Toni Bernhard is the author of the award-winning How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers and How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow. Her newest book is called How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide. Before becoming ill, she was a law professor at the University of California—Davis. Her blog, “Turning Straw Into Gold” is hosted by Psychology Today online. Visit her website at www.tonibernhard.com.

SHOW NOTES:

“Turning Straw into Gold” Blog: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/turning-straw-gold

Key Topics:

What was Toni’s life before chronic illness
What is life like with a chronic illness
What is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – and what’s wrong with the name
Why it’s as hard on her husband as it on her
What was a pivotal moment in her life
What the anger is that comes up when you have a chronic illness
Why self-compassion is her go to practice
What is mindfulness attention and caring attention
How mindfulness acts as a soothing balm for the heart and the mind
What the Buddha called “the second arrow”
What are the 3 elements of pain?
What it means to “get real” about your condition or what’s going on in your life
What’s it mean to alleviate mental suffering
What is a “not to do” list?
Why you don’t want to put your pre-illness life on a pedestal
Why it’s so important to please yourself before pleasing others
Why it’s so important to learn to say no (a true act of self-compassion)
What’s the ‘tyranny of positive thinking’?
The Byron Katie “four Questions and a Turnaround”
Where she finds the energy to write these books
What does she want to share with people who have a chronic illness
Why it’s so important not to blame yourself
What special vow she takes when heading out the front door

Related Podcasts:

How to Move Past Pain & Illness without Harmful Drugs (Lou Paradise, Topical BioMedics)

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