The recovery process is a massive undertaking in which we’re tested mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. We’re healing wounds that have been with us for much of our lives. We’re facing deeply rooted fears many of which have been with us since childhood. We’re learning how to retrain our minds and forming new thought patterns,Read More
For many of us living with addiction, the source of pain we’re most trying to avoid and escape with our drugs of choice is the pain around not knowing our purpose and not feeling fulfilled in our lives. Our lack of purpose, direction and fulfillment can be extremely depressing for us. It can make usRead More
We might think of pessimism as a harmless attribute. We all know crotchety people who complain, catastrophize and expect the worst, who predict people’s downfall, who don’t feel hopeful about the future, and who are generally negative. We might not think of pessimism as being all that serious, and we don’t usually associate it withRead More
For many of us who struggle with addiction, we are often challenged to think about things differently in order to heal ourselves, to develop a new mindset around both our illness and our recovery, and to approach our journey with a new perspective. We are often filled with so much fear and resistance around ourRead More
For many of us living with addiction and mental illness, it is not our thoughts and feelings causing us the most pain but rather our relationship to them that ultimately hurts us the most. We have a relationship with our inner selves that is built on fear and resistance. We’re afraid of feeling our sadnessRead More
We have a cultural tendency to stigmatize addiction and to shame individual addicts for the illnesses they’re struggling with. We perpetuate stereotypes that addicts are criminals, that they’re immoral people who use their addictions as an excuse to do bad things. We associate all addicts with being people we look down upon, people that getRead More
If you’re struggling with thoughts of suicide, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Many of us who struggle with addiction and mental health issues find ourselves facing what is often described as an existential crisis. More than just an ordinary crisis where we’re dealing with difficult life circumstances, complex situations and toughRead More
When we begin to explore our life stories in more depth, we start to discover the cycles and patterns we’ve been perpetuating over the years, many of them unconsciously. Our mental health issues tend to affect us in cycles. For example, our depressions can be recurring and can follow certain patterns that we begin toRead More
When we’re doing the inner work to heal ourselves and recover from our addictions and mental health issues, one of the most important elements of our healing is working with our wounded inner child. We often don’t realize consciously how our inner child became wounded in the first place. We know we have unresolved issuesRead More
Our experiences with addiction and mental illness often bring with them tumultuous relationships full of toxicity, conflict and turmoil. We have unhealthy and abusive relationships, often with other addicts. The ways in which we’ve been hurt can cause us to totally lose our ability to trust people. We’re wary of confiding in people. We don’tRead More