Pain

Pain takes some of the fun out of arthritis.

The first time I said that, people laughed. I didn't think it was all that funny. Let me explain. Part of growing older is resigning oneself to the realization that there is pain involved when trying to achieve the goal of growing older and avoiding the alternative. Even bending over is painful enough that I find myself postponing act until I can find something else to do while I'm down there. You know, make the trip worthwhile.

Well, I decided that if I'm going to suffer pain like this, I might as well enjoy it. So I set about making up my mind to do just that. Enjoy pain. Over time, and with a good deal of practice, I've achieved a modicum of success in mind control. So, by combining my new Intention with the universal truth that we're about as happy as we make up our minds to be, and then combining these two things with another aphorism - What your mind can conceive, you can achieve - I set about growing older in style. Have a glass of wine on the porch with my lovely wife, watch a lovely sunset, pet the dogs, and look forward to another sunrise.

But arthritis can be like Chinese water torture - drip, drip, drip. Pain, pain, pain. It keeps coming up, and its constancy is maddening, causing another dilemma and forcing me to draw another conclusion:

Arthritis takes some of the pleasure out of pain.

This was not acceptable.

So I had another glass of wine.

And that's when I learned this:

Pleasure takes some of the pain out of arthritis.