David Roberts shares his personal story of dealing with chronic pain in this article from The New York Times.

After spending years of pretending to be pain-free while keeping up appearances at work, Roberts finally sought help. Doctors were unable to find a physical cause of the pain, so he had to consider another approach: meditation.

Despite his skepticism, Roberts tried the technique of focusing on breathing and maintaining a distant awareness of his pain. He writes, “And gradually, I could feel my relationship with pain change. As I sat and concentrated on my breath, flickers of awareness began to emerge like a picture through the snow of an old TV set. . . . Then, after several months, I noticed that these sensations rose and fell; the constancy of the aggression had been a fantasy.”

Read Roberts’ full story on The New York Times website.