When you are accustomed to chronic pain, when bending a wrist, taking a step, or trying to get up hurts, you can become reluctant to move. With good reason.

However, it is important to become mindful of your default switch for movement. You may have conditioned yourself to automatically say, "No, I can't ..." before you've even imagined "Yes, I can ..." Become a scientist; get curious about how you do things. Recognize your limitations and, more importantly, savour, stretch and strengthen your abilities.

Athletes who work with sports psychologists have had great success in using the power of the mind to improve their skills.

Those of us who have rheumatoid arthritis may not be in the Olympics, but if there were medals being handed out for effort, for perseverance, for energy expended to do things that most people find ordinary, then we would certainly be on the podium.

So, along with those range of motion exercises you do, consider adding this to your daily practice: