A Few Christmas Thoughts

Christmas has a different meaning for each of us. To some, it's a time to think of others, and recognize our many interdependencies, by visiting and the giving of gifts. To many, it's all about Christ's birthday. To still others, it's a timeless cultural ritual that has meaning so subtle it can't be put into words, but must be practiced in order to pass on the many traditions on which family, friendship, peace, and love is based. It's a time of fun and frolic, of remembering and sharing, of giving and caring.

The PN community is a circle of new friends who suddenly have many things in common: the need to find out more about their condition, to find out how to manage their own case, and to get emotional support. All this leads to better diagnosis and treatment.

One side of treatment that's often overlooked is that most illness has a large psychological component. This is especally true of conditions involving pain. As Doctor Bensignor says, "No brain, no pain." How our subconscious interprets nerve pain impulses determines how the consciousness reacts. This is subtle, and no one understands fully what's going on. However, it is now agreed that different people respond very differently to the same amount of pain. Even the same person will respond very differently to the same pain when they first encounter it, after it's been around for a long time (chronic pain), after they have learned how to deal with it, and when something else bad happens at the same time. Pain multiplies other misfortunes. Other misfortunes multiply pain.

Much of this appears to be highly related to how happy a person basically is. Science doen't know what happiness really is, but a few patterns are consistent. A happy person in the fullest sense of the word is content, unstressed, mellow, accepting of all that life brings their way. They tend not to blame things outside themselves for misfortune. They do not let the mind get hung up on one thing, but instead can focus on what they prefer. This reduces the potential for pain to dominante one's life. They are thus less buffeted by the pain of PN.

Christmas is a time when all of us, in some small way, can alter the happiness of others. It is your chance to give, give, give from your heart. It is also your chance to receive the whispers of happiness that others may send your way. . . .

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A very Merry Christmas and an even Happier New Year to you, family, and friends!

Here's the Christmas card Jack and Martha sent out in 2002, written especially for PN sufferers everywhere. It throws a ray of humor and hope on this rather unpleasant condition.

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Christmas images graciously provided by Robesus, Inc.