I think about this whenever my attention’s brought back to my faltering body, usually “when it’s screaming,” as the upper cervical chiropractor put it this morning: I wonder to what degree what I know as my “self” is just a pinched nerve or a blocked flow or a chemical out of place. Can a personality really be (mis)shaped by spinal health?
Did you know that chronic pain from spinal issues triggers the body’s stress responses, increasing cortisol and reducing motivation, often leading to a “short fuse” or high anxiety? Or that persistent discomfort and reduced mobility can lead to social isolation, feelings of hopelessness, and withdrawal from enjoyable activities? Or that research indicates that individuals with chronic low back pain may score lower in “openness to experience” and higher in cautious, neurotic tendencies?
I took this photo as I urged myself to hold out a couple more hours and actually go to that mixer I had planned to go to. But I bailed. I convinced myself I didn’t really feel like going after all, but you know what? Better posture and reduced pain are associated with higher energy levels, increased confidence, and a more optimistic, resilient, and outgoing personality. Maybe we’re not as complex as we think we are.
I’ve often been asked if I’ve been in a major car accident, and my answer has always been “not really,” because I’ve only been in a minor car accident many years ago, but the 360-degree scan doesn’t lie, I guess. Something’s evidently injured in my neck and has been for a long time.
“I guess I just didn’t think of it as an injury,” I said. That’s the power of the human spirit. What we think has just as much effect on how we feel as the other way around. We are meninx and leptomeninges and cerebrospinal fluid, but we are also consensus reality and tacit assumption and observer-expectancy, and everything that makes these nervous systems of ours so spooky and alien.
“Nothing is, by itself, either reducible or irreducible to anything else.”
Amen.
Lonely city Lonely city I go all around the world First thing I do When I get back to you Walk around and see what’s new What’s new with you Lonely city?
(Bill Calahan – Lonely City)