Ciara Chapman 'My Chronic Pain Diary'

 'Entry #54 I've recently started meditation' 

Ciara Chapman

Apologies for not turning up on my blog yesterday, (am recovering from small surgery, which turned out to be much bigger than the surgeons had expected...). 

However two wonderfully creative ladies, and Little Wings blog readers had brilliantly timed thoughts about living with illness. I shared Therese Doherty's thoughts on acceptance on my Facebook page yesterday, and the following came from Ciara Chapman, the latest entry of her Chronic Pain Diary

I wish you well for today, and I hand over the reigns to Ciara,  my guest blogger for today:

'Entry #54 I've recently started meditation'
© Ciara Chapman 2017

"My name is Ciara Chapman and I am an illustrator based in Cork city, Ireland. 
I studied Fine Art Printmaking (1999-2002) and Graphic Design (2004-2005) in college so art has always been a big part of my life. 
Things changed for me in a major way in April 2015 when my chronic pain began in the form of long term sciatica and has continued ever since. I am as yet awaiting diagnosis for my medical issues which affect my left side from the neck down. I don't have a clear cut diagnosis so I'm going through a process of elimination to determine the problem. 

I was finding the constant waiting as well as the physiotherapy and the general isolation difficult to cope with so in January 2016 I began illustrating my experiences in the form of a diary titled 'My Chronic Pain Diary '. 
This diary is a combination of the positive and negative aspects of my new way of living. 

I have been following Corinas blog for some time now and have found it such a wonderful resource that has helped me to accept, manage and appreciate my new normal. It was through reading Corina's blog that I began to understand the befits of meditation and so I was recently inspired to include it in my daily routine. This illustration sums up my own experience of starting to meditate. 
Thank you so much Corina for allowing me to contribute to your amazing blog, please keep writing so that we can keep reading. "

Links and further reading

• Ciara Chapman's Chronic Pain Diary on Facebook