The work we do in recovery is all about learning more about ourselves and developing the mindfulness and self-awareness to really be able to heal from our mental health issues and addictive patterns. For much of our lives, we’ve been compounding our own pain, exacerbating our own unwellness and hurting ourselves. We’ve been acting out of subconscious impulses toward self-destructiveness and self-sabotage. We’ve been manifesting from the energy of self-hate and insecurity. A lot of this can be attributed to our lack of self-awareness. We aren’t able to see what a crucial role we play in our own unhappiness and unwellness. We aren’t conscious of the ways in which we’re undermining our well-being. How can we develop more self-awareness?
Confront Fears
Many of us are resistant to learning more about ourselves because we’re afraid of what we’ll find. There are parts of ourselves we don’t want to see. There are elements of ourselves we’ve buried, suppressed and tried to forget for much of our lives. We’ve been using addictive substances and behaviors as a means of distracting ourselves from our true selves, and of escaping the truth of who we are. What are we so afraid of? Why are we holding ourselves back and keeping ourselves small in these various ways? Recovery requires that we transcend our fear. It doesn’t mean we’ll never feel fear. The things we’re afraid of have been the sources of pain fueling our addictions and mental health issues. It’s understandable, normal and natural for us to be afraid, but we want to summon the courage to move through the fear. Accept that the fear is there, don’t resist it, and allow it to fuel your motivation to get to know yourself more and love yourself more deeply.
Healing Tools & Practices
To help ourselves develop self-awareness, we can incorporate healing tools that let us practice mindfulness. Meditation, journaling, energy healing, and therapy all help us to confront our thoughts and emotions rather than avoiding and resisting them. We want to start thinking about our pain rather than trying to escape it. We want to be able to talk about our issues mindfully rather than using silence, avoidance and other unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Another thing we can try is enlisting the support of a friend in recovery, a sponsor, recovery coach or therapist to help ourselves take a deeper look at ourselves. They can act as a mirror for us, reflecting back to us what issues we need to work on and what parts of us still need healing. We can ask them to help us question ourselves, to help us determine what our goals are, what our needs are, what our challenges are. Sometimes having someone outside of ourselves to help us learn more about ourselves can open us up to growth and expansion we might have been closed off to otherwise.
Are you ready to take the first step on your journey to recovery? Call The Guest House today! 855-483-7800.