Editor’s Note: Zulekha Ali, a regular contributor to ABeautifulVoice.org, writes about Sanjay Gupta’s wisdom in a voice reflecting the perspective of the ranchers. We three (my parents and I) engaged in all kinds of journaling – in addition to my own reflective writing at the end of the day. Dr. Gupta recommends “pain journaling” for the 50 million people who experience chronic pain.
When Dr. Sanjay Gupta—a practicing neurosurgeon—was asked the single most important step someone with chronic pain should take, many expected a high-tech solution. His answer was simpler and far more radical: “It is very empowering to start to journal about your pain. … Lean into the pain.”
For many of the 50 million Americans living with daily, persistent pain—a condition now growing faster than diabetes or cancer—that advice might sound counterintuitive. But the “why” behind it reveals journaling as a neurologically sound first step, not a soft wellness suggestion. It’s the same practice that long-ago notebooks and 3-inch binders once held for some of us, long before science caught up.
Pain Lives in the Brain—That’s Good News
Gupta doesn’t dismiss pain as imaginary. He insists, as a neuroscientist, that all pain is constructed in the brain. That means the brain weighs physical signals against sleep, stress, memories, and emotions before deciding how much you hurt. Over time, that response can become a stuck loop—neurons that fire together wire together, replaying pain even after tissues have healed.
This is where journaling enters as a direct interruption. When you simply endure pain, you reinforce the same neural circuits. When you lean in and describe it, you fire up the prefrontal cortex—the seat of awareness and regulation. You shift from passive sufferer to active narrator. Gupta puts it plainly: patients become “an active partner, not just a passive participant.”
He couples this with deceptively simple guidance that is easy to overlook: accept a little pain, don’t medicate too soon, and avoid the trap of thinking more medication is always better.
With the U.S. consuming 90% of the world’s pain medication, something in our approach desperately needs to change.
What It Really Means to Lean In
Leaning into pain isn’t about wallowing. It’s about getting precise. Instead of “I hurt everywhere,” you ask while writing: Where exactly is the sensation? Does it burn, throb, or pulse? Are there hot spots? What makes it better or worse? Some people sketch their pain or map it on a body outline. Others track it alongside meals, weather, and emotional state.
Patterns appear quickly. One person noticed that pain vanished on holiday—not simply from sunshine, but because she was relaxed, nourished, and not exhausted. Another kept a detailed daily log for a year and moved from fistfuls of barely helpful medication to near-zero pain on nothing. Journaling surfaces what Gupta calls the “baggage” of chronic pain: the untreated depression, anxiety, grief, and relational stress that amplify every physical signal.
A Practice Rooted in Experience
I began journaling in third grade, after finding my mother’s college diaries tucked inside her cedar chest. That childhood habit grew into binders with three-inch spines, filled through years of caregiving, uncertainty, and loss. People sometimes dismissed it as self-absorption. But the neuroscience that has emerged over the last two decades—the very research Gupta now stands on—has only confirmed what those notebooks always did: honest self-reflection rewires the brain and restores a sense of agency.
Gupta’s own household lives this truth. He meditates with his mother, the first female engineer hired by Ford Motor Company in the 1960s—a deeply science-minded woman who still embraced the practice. His wife, once in so much pain that he had to carry her up the stairs at the end of each day, found relief not through endless new medications but through movement, meditation, and really understanding her own mind-body patterns. She later completed a triathlon alongside him. As Gupta says, “Our greatest joys are from overcoming things.”
Start With One Page
You don’t need a perfect system. A notebook and five quiet minutes are enough. Try answering these prompts each evening:
- What did my pain feel like today, and where exactly?
- What eased it or made it worse?
- What emotions, stresses, or memories were present alongside it?
The goal isn’t to vent. It’s to become the most reliable narrator of your own experience. When you write it down, you are no longer just a body in pain—you are a person gathering data, spotting connections, and slowly teaching your nervous system that it’s safe. That shift, brain science now confirms, is the first real step toward healing.
Blog Author:
Zulekha Ali (“Zuley”) is a freelance writer with a commitment to delivering informative and impactful content to enrich readers’ understanding and empower them to make informed decisions.
Blog Co-Author:
Susan Troyer, MS, BA, is author and curator of ABeautifulVoice.org.
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