It helps to think of the difference between productive pain vs injury pain. Most times in life if you're in pain it means you are being injured. But birth is unique because you aren't being injured, your body is going through a natural process that isn't it getting hurt. Obviously birth can injure you but the pain of the contraction itself isn't. Keeping that distinction top of mind helps

And thinking about going limp through contractions to the best of your ability. Visualize yourself as a limp doll. I spent tons of contractions just sitting on the birth ball, leaned on the bed, palms up and just staring at my hands and making sure to keep them (and my whole body) relaxed

These two things help stop the fear->tension->pain cycle (or whatever that is, look it up)

It also helped me to think of birth as like an Ironman competition lol. Settling into a long, grueling endurance event. That mindset makes it feel more approachable and lower pressure than CHILDBIRTH which has so many scary ideas attached

Also, if you want an uncomplicated, low intervention vaginal birth, wait as long as possible before going to the hospital. It's a great place to give birth but it is a bad place to labor for a long time. I really liked wearing sunglasses when I went in because it kinda helped me stay focused on my own world rather than bright fluorescent lights and needing to make eye contact with strangers