Rumination is when you get stuck in a mental rut and keep thinking the same negative thoughts over and over. Typically, people ruminate over unhappy memories or things they’re afraid might happen in the future. Rumination is a common feature of major depression, anxiety disorders – especially obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD – and other mentalRead More
When in recovery, we know that our greatest challenge will be to keep ourselves sober, but we don’t always recognize all of the emotional components that our recovery work will entail. We don’t always understand just how much our emotional challenges can impact our happiness, our peace of mind, our self-control, and our willpower. WeRead More
When we’re recovering from our addictions, our tendency is often to want to put our pasts behind us so that we can plan for the future and focus on our sobriety. We want to move forward and leave our pain in the past where it belongs. We feel inclined to suppress the emotions and experiencesRead More
Addicted people tend to ignore stress and even deny it altogether, particularly when stress levels have become heightened, excessive, and overwhelming. We don’t want to admit that our anxiety has gotten out of control and that it feels unmanageable. If we can’t handle everything in our lives, then we’re not invincible and infallible. Instead, weRead More
Perhaps one of the scariest elements of our addictions is the fact that they can rob us of our ability to trust our instincts. When we’re under the influence, our judgment is impaired, and we’re not thinking clearly. The addictive substances and behaviors we’re dependent upon have lasting effects on our thinking and our abilityRead More
Our addictions are characterized by a strong dependence on an addictive substance or behavior. We become reliant on our drug of choice, and we form a strong emotional attachment to it. We feel as though we need it to function, to cope, even to survive. There are many different ways in which we actually exacerbateRead More
As we’re making our way through our healing journeys, we might come across the term “emotional intelligence.” What does this mean? How do we know if we’re emotionally intelligent or not? Are there ways we can develop and strengthen our emotional intelligence? Seeking Emotional Awareness, Clarity, and Understanding Emotional intelligence is the ability to haveRead More
Our tendency to avoid emotions is one of the most significant contributing factors to our addictive patterns over the years. We’re using our drug of choice to avoid the feelings that are hardest for us to handle. Our emotional resistance and suppression create all kinds of energetic blockages. These impediments impair us and cause usRead More
When it comes to conscious manifestation, two of the most powerful words in the universe are “I am.” When we speak these words, we’re not only speaking what we want into existence, we’re embodying and becoming what we want to be, and we’re creating the lives we want for ourselves. We are always manifesting, everyRead More
We consider our addictions to be illnesses, and we focus on the impacts and effects of them, but sometimes we forget that our illnesses are often symptoms of even deeper problems. The addiction itself isn’t necessarily the cause of our mental and emotional challenges but instead a manifestation of them. When we think of ourRead More