Chronic Pain. A Jealous Narcissist.

Acute pain consumes all. When we can listen and align, Penney Cowan’s Amer Chronic Pain Assoc helps the whole team: the person with pain, family, and clinician.

Proem

A word for 2020: narcissist. Not the way you think. Pain is the ultimate narcissist. When below the pain threshold, I can think and function. Above threshold, pain rules all, jealous. Perhaps podcasting about chronic pain helps me keep pain below threshold. Perhaps examining pain intimately helps me stay mindful and grateful that my body speaks to me. Can you imagine if it didn’t speak — no sensation? We are in control together — spirit and body. Perhaps exploring other people’s experiences helps me stay connected to friends and strangers and the wonder of their tools to manage pain that could be in my toolbox or yours. What a gift!

Introducing Penney Cowan

My guest, Penney Cowan, knows and shares more pain management tools than anyone I know. Penney Cowan is the founder and chief executive officer of the American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA). She is a person with chronic pain and established the ACPA in 1980 to help others living with the condition. The ACPA provides peer support and education in pain management skills to people with pain and their families. The ACPA also builds awareness about chronic pain among…