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 sadness and fear. We become resistant to feeling them. We avoid them at all costs. We run from them. We use drugs and addictive behaviors to numb the pain of them, to escape, to distract ourselves, and help ourselves cope. What we often don’t realize is that this relationship we’ve built with our thoughts and feelings is causing us more pain in the long run. It is adding to our self-destructiveness and self-harm, exacerbating our mental health issues and increasing the likeliness that we will turn to drugs of choice for mental and emotional relief. How can we transform this internal relationship so that we can be more at peace with our thoughts and emotions?
The first step in transforming this relationship is to stop allowing our fear to make us run from our difficulty and pain. We want to start telling ourselves that we’re strong enough to face our complex thoughts and feelings, that we’re not powerless over them, that they’re not stronger than we are, that they no longer have to control us. We want to get into the mental and emotional habit of standing up to our pain rather than backing down from it. We want to stop avoiding and suppressing it, denying it, distracting ourselves from it, and trying to escape it. We want to affirm to ourselves that we’re strong enough to forge a healthier relationship with our difficult thoughts and feelings, a relationship based on healthy examination, self-reflection and processing so that we can actually heal.
Another important part of changing this internal relationship is becoming more mindful of all the ways in which we’re currently handling our thoughts and feelings. When difficult things come up for you, how do you usually respond? What thought patterns have you developed? What emotional responses do you have? What choices do you make? What behaviors do you instinctively default to? For many of us, these patterns are toxic and unhealthy, but we often don’t even realize that we’ve been perpetuating them. With mindfulness, we can start to become more conscious of our patterns and increase our self-awareness, so that we can move forward and help ourselves create a healthier connection with our inner selves.
At The Guest House Ocala, you will be treated with dignity, respect and compassion. Call 855-483-7800 today for more information on our treatment programs.