"Get up, make your bed, and walk!"

As I was on the treadmill today, feeling 100%, with no pain for a change, I realized Jesus' command to the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda wasn't just for him. It was for every sick person that can move. It was telling us all how to cure ourselves, or at least, how to relieve our pain.

"Get up, make your bed, and walk!" (John 5:8, my own translation)

One of the key problems with chronic pain is that you initially feel more pain when you move, so you stop. This is a big mistake. Clearly our bodies are made to fix themselves - so that when you move, endorphins are produced that actually kill the pain.

Another of the most believed fallacies about pain is that you will feel BETTER if you lie around in bed all day long. Well? Do you? I thought not.

The effects of walking are immeasurable. I won't go into the details here, you can read on your own. But if the greatest Healer of all time said to get up out of that bed, and walk, I would imagine it makes sense to listen. You don't have to understand all the whys. According to my favorite Nike slogan that has lost me more pounds than I can count over the years, and reduced my pain considerably, "Just do it."

Want to lower that pain? Get rid of the depression? Stop those obsessive thoughts? Remove those suicidal feelings? Walk. It works for me, every time.