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The Benefits of a Spiritual Practice

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There are numerous benefits of having a regular spiritual practice. Starting anything new can be challenging, as can being consistent, but the more we practice, the more we will see the powerful effects. The transformation lies in the practice, rather than perfection, and as we do the work, we see huge changes in our mental and emotional health. Here are some of the many benefits of creating and following a spiritual practice for yourself.

Connecting with spirit has a calming effect that is hard to put into words. It is comforting, nurturing and soothing. It reminds us we aren’t alone, as we are one with our higher power and all the other life it created. When we genuinely feel this connection, it can help us to transcend the temporary, human, fleeting circumstances we often find ourselves troubled by.

When we allow ourselves to be guided by our spirits, we are connected to the universal flow of our higher power. This connection can help us to uncover powerful healing solutions for ourselves that we might not have been open to by simply using our thinking minds. Having a spiritual practice enables us to connect with our spirits more easily and more regularly. Some of us tend to pray or meditate only when we’re in distress, but if we can implement these things on a regular basis, we might find ourselves reaching that point of distress much less frequently, if at all.

Our spirits can help us to remember who we are. Our ego minds tend to dwell on our fears and our woundedness. They often bombard us with meaningless illusions that distract us from our life mission and purpose. Our spirit, on the other hand, is our higher power manifested within us. When we are able to tap into that power, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Our healing becomes tangible and lies within our reach. We can reclaim ourselves as the people we were destined to be, rather than what our fears have created. The limiting beliefs we have imposed upon ourselves start to fade, and we have renewed faith in ourselves and our abilities.

As we practice, we grow in resilience. The emotional challenges and triggers we once suffered over become the platforms from which we launch ourselves. We are better able to manage our complex moods and emotions. We have increasing control over our thoughts and can direct them in more positive ways. With a spiritual practice, we come to learn that we have the power to choose inner peace, and as we continue to practice, the more we can return to that state easily and naturally.

Holistic healing is a large part of treatment at Enlightened Recovery. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Suggestions for Beginning a Spiritual Practice

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The idea of beginning a spiritual practice can be intimidating for many people, especially those who don’t consider themselves to be spiritual people. A spiritual practice can provide tremendous benefits and can help you heal through your most difficult life challenges.

As we know, our addictions and mental health issues can be so powerful they take over our lives. They can make functioning on a daily basis feel unbearable, and they can make our lives feel unmanageable. We can feel so overwhelmed that starting something new feels too daunting to even try. When we are deeply unhappy and unwell, anything pertaining to self-care can feel insurmountable.

A spiritual practice can help us to navigate our complex emotions. It can help us to prevent falling into a deep depression, and if we’re already in one, it can help us to pull ourselves out. When we are in the depths of our pain, we may only be able to do a very small bit at a time. Even one minute can make a huge difference and can have a lasting, transformative impact.

A spiritual practice can include anything that makes you feel connected to God, the Universe, your angels, your higher power, collective consciousness- however you choose to refer to the power that is bigger than us as individuals but that we carry within us as creations of this higher power. If you’ve never considered yourself a spiritual person, give some thought to how you might connect with that higher power.

Look to your past experiences for guidance. Maybe you went to church with your family as a child. Maybe you have felt comforted when you said a prayer. Perhaps you’ve heard the expression “count your blessings.” Maybe you’ve taken a deep breath when you felt overwhelmed. Maybe you feel calmed and soothed when you’re in nature. Maybe you’ve found writing out your problems to be cathartic.

Ask other people what they do to feel connected to their spirits. Look for suggestions online. Anything can be a part of your spiritual practice so long as it is personally effective for you and helps you connect to your spirit. Prayer, meditation, breathing exercises, spending time in nature, a gratitude practice and journaling are all wonderful healing tools. You can create an altar and collect sacred pieces for it. You can learn about the healing power of crystals and start a crystal collection. You can learn about the moon cycles and follow rituals to harness their power and/or create new rituals for yourself. You can read spiritual texts, walk meditatively, light candles, create art, or form personal spiritual ceremonies. Anything you do to connect with your spirit will help you to grow, heal, learn and transcend difficulties.

The community at Enlightened Recovery believes in the power of holistic healing, and we have years of experience helping people heal themselves. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

The Importance of Spiritual Practice

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When we address addictions and mental health issues, we often tend to focus solely on our minds, namely the chemical imbalances of our minds. We sometimes forget that these issues often have spiritual causes and manifestations. Because we are much more than just our minds, we have to address healing in a holistic way.

Our spirit is our connection to our higher power and to the divine power within us. It is connected to every part of ourselves and extends to every facet of our beings. Trauma, therefore, affects not only our minds but also our spirits. We store our fears and emotional memories in both our subconscious minds and our spirits because it is our spirit that connects our divine power to every element of ourselves- mental, emotional and physical. In short, everything we experience has a spiritual cause, effect and manifestation, because our spirit lives in every part of us.

When we become too focused on the thoughts produced by our minds, we sometimes neglect the health of our spirits. Our ego, or sense of self, is often wounded from the trauma we experience, and therefore our thoughts are often negative, limiting and self-destructive. Our thought patterns and behaviors are often so pervasive and damaging that they become our addictions, depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. In order to heal these deeply rooted patterns, we can look to spiritual solutions that go deeper than the ego mind.

Sometimes our minds are limited to the information they have already been exposed to. We tend to think in shortsighted ways because our minds have a hard time being open to unknown possibilities. Sometimes we can’t see past our current circumstances and find it difficult to be open-minded, especially when we are struggling with such difficult challenges as depression and addictive behaviors. Sometimes it’s our minds causing our problems; they process and store emotional information for us and are very powerful, so any imbalances and unwellness in our minds can easily turn into full-fledged mental health issues.

Our spirits, however, are connected to the infinite wisdom and guidance of our higher power. We can also call this power collective consciousness, which includes all living creatures. Imagine all the information we can access when we tap into this higher power. The possibilities for our healing are limitless.

When we are open to the idea of creating and following a spiritual practice, we open ourselves to a world of healing that goes deeper than the mind can go.

Holistic healing is a major focus at Enlightened Recovery. We can help you find healing solutions that work for you. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

A man struggling with substance dependence seeking addiction treatment in New Jersey.

Working With Your Inner Child

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Many of us struggling with addictions and mental health issues experienced trauma during childhood. Our emotional responses to our trauma get stored within us, and sometimes we continue to feel their effects years later. As we are working to heal our pain and fears, one healing technique we can use is communicating with our inner child.

Focus your attention on bringing forth memories of yourself as a child. It can help to look at any photos you might have. Ask yourself questions and begin to try to answer them. What pain did you experience? What losses did you sustain? What grief were you carrying? How did the people around you hurt you? How did this trauma make you feel? What are the effects you’re feeling now, as a result of this trauma?

As we’re asking ourselves these difficult questions, we might struggle with revisiting our childhood. Some of us bury our pain so deep and suppress our memories so much we have a hard time remembering. Some even block things out and retain no memory of their trauma. For some of us, it can feel too painful and too frightening to face. Some of us feel confusion around our memories and struggle to know the truth about our experiences. With the help of a therapist, mentor or spiritual guide, we can work to recall memories we may have suppressed and try to sort them out.

Whether or not you can remember details of your childhood trauma, you can work with your inner child to help heal your pain. Take your childhood photo if you have one, or hold an image of yourself in your mind. Talk to this child, your inner child, and say things like “I’m so sorry for your suffering. You didn’t deserve the pain you experienced, and it wasn’t your fault. You are perfect. You are safe.”

Offer the compassion to your inner child that you may not have received when you were younger. Offer yourself comforting and soothing words. If you are still struggling with residual shame from the mistakes and wrongs you committed as a child, tell your inner child, “You can forgive yourself. You are forgiven.”

Much of what we struggle with as adults comes from what we experienced as children. When we can connect and communicate with our inner child, we can provide ourselves with a powerful source of healing.

Healing from addictions and mental health challenges means healing mind, body and spirit. The community at Enlightened Recovery is here to help. Call (833) 801-LIVE

Investigating Our Fears

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The healing process of working through our fears includes investigating and taking a closer look at them. As we identify our fears and become conscious of how they show up in our lives, it’s also helpful to think about where they came from, where we learned or acquired them, and how they make us feel, in order to work through them and move forward.

Sometimes we’re not sure where our fears originated and why. It takes some work to look at them more in depth. We can ask ourselves, where did these fears come from? What did I experience, especially early in life, that contributed to my developing this fear? Traumatic experiences, such as losing a loved one or being abused, can cause us to develop all kinds of fears- fears of loss, abandonment, pain, rejection.

Sometimes we absorb our fears from family members or other people we grew up with. We can inherit fears and other emotional memories and then find ourselves being afraid of certain things we might not have been otherwise, simply because our families experienced them. We can also pick fears up from people over time. Our fearful thoughts, feelings and behaviors can affect the people around us.

It is common for us to be influenced by the cultures we live in and are surrounded by. We are impacted by the things we see on TV and in movies, music, video games, social media, etc. We can develop fears based on the things we see. Everything we witness becomes part of our psyche. Seeing extreme violence in a movie, for example, can cause you to develop a specific fear, even if you didn’t experience it yourself.

The work of investigating fears can be very challenging emotionally. Our fears are scary! It’s important to approach this work with self-love and patience. Many of our fears have been with us for most of our lives, and healing takes time. Don’t beat yourself up for being afraid. Fears are normal and human, and something we all have in common. They are one of the ties that bind us together in the vastness of the human experience. Have compassion for yourself. Remember yourself as a child and have compassion for the pain you experienced.

As we become more conscious of our fears, it can be overwhelming to look at them with honesty, openness and vulnerability. We can find ourselves feeling even more sad and afraid, because we are gaining consciousness rather than burying our fears under our addictions. When fearful thoughts pop up as they inevitably will, send yourself love and affirm that you are growing stronger. Have faith that you will heal. Be brave.

Working through addictions and mental health issues requires that we address our fears. The experienced community at Enlightened Recovery can help. Call (833) 801-LIVE for more information.

The Emotions of Addiction

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When we are dealing with addictions, we often experience layers of emotions. Sometimes we are conscious of these emotions, and sometimes we bury them underneath our addictive behaviors and thought patterns. We often avoid dealing with our emotions because of how difficult and painful they can be. This avoidance has a way of exacerbating our addictions and compounding our pain. Here are some of the emotions we commonly feel when living with addictions.

Shame

When struggling with addictions, we often feel a deep sense of shame, for letting the people we care about down and for disappointing them, not to mention ourselves, for failing to reach our goals of sobriety, for not living up to our potential. We are caught in cycles of behaviors that we know we need to stop, that we want to stop. When we can’t stop, we feel weak, pathetic, ashamed and embarrassed. We are often consumed with regret and remorse. We feel unable to forgive ourselves. This painful buildup of shame often compels us to want to escape via our drugs of choice, which, as we know, only increases our shame.

Sadness

Because addiction is often judged and stigmatized, sometimes we forget that at the root of people’s addictions there often lies a deep sadness. We carry grief from our traumatic childhoods, past relationships and other difficult life experiences. As we self-destruct with our addictive behaviors, we accumulate more sadness- about our feelings of unworthiness, about the pain we’ve caused other people and ourselves. We see the effects our addictions have on us and the people we care about, and it can be very sad, for everyone involved. Sometimes trying to escape our sadness was what initially prompted us to engage in our addictive behaviors in the first place.

Hopelessness

Addiction and depression often go hand in hand. As we try to quit and can’t, we often become more and more depressed. Feelings of despair and hopelessness are common in both addiction and depression. Sometimes we don’t know where to turn or who to ask for help. Sometimes we feel so convinced that there’s no hope that we feel it’s useless to seek help. We feel deeply alone, scared, lost, overwhelmed and confused. Maybe we’ve already sought help, even received treatment, but our relapses cause us to believe we’ll never fully recover. We’ve been in darkness so long that we not only can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, we believe there is no light at all. We seek comfort in our drugs of choice, thus perpetuating the cycle. The painful hopelessness we feel drives many of us to consider taking our own lives.

We can learn how to work through our painful emotions. It is far from easy but so necessary for our healing.

There is hope. Recovering from our addictions means facing our emotions, and the community at Enlightened Recovery is here to help. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Healing From Our Fears

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When we are struggling with addictions and mental health issues, we can find ourselves consumed by fear. We often use our addictive behaviors and thought patterns to bury our fears, whether consciously or subconsciously. We distract ourselves from our fears and try to run from them. We self-medicate to numb ourselves and to avoid having to really look at our fears. For some of us, it’s our relationship to fear that is a major contributor to our mental health problems and addictions in the first place.

How do we heal from our fears? This is a fundamental, very real, very challenging part of the healing process. When we’re working to recover from our addictions and mental health issues, we can’t ignore the underlying fears that we may or not be conscious of. When we look at the fears head on, we can address them and allow ourselves to experience real healing.

Instead of only focusing on the surface symptoms such as anxiety, nervousness, and restlessness, let’s dig deeper at what fears those feelings represent. This can take time, patience and soul searching. Sometimes we become so mired in our repetitive thought patterns and addictive behaviors that we need the help of an outside person such as a therapist, mentor, spiritual guide or trusted friend.

Meditate, still your thoughts, and get quiet. Give your inner voice the space to communicate with you. Allow the guidance of your higher power to come through. Sometimes we consume ourselves so much with our recurring thoughts, worries, problems and issues that we disconnect ourselves from our higher truths.

Give yourself time and space. Relationships of any kind can make it more difficult to connect with our inner selves.

Ask yourself, “what am I afraid of? What are my fears?” Some common ones many of us share are fear of failure and fear of success, fear of being judged by other people, fear of inadequacy, fear of being abandoned or replaced, fear of being alone. Name your fears.

Imagine the fear is already healed, and you’re no longer suffering from it. How would you feel? List these things for yourself. Examples include feeling at peace, grounded, secure, stable, confident, strong, powerful, brave, fearless.

Imagine you’ve conquered that fear. How would that feel? You’d be proud of yourself. You’d feel like you can transcend anything. You’d feel relieved, empowered and grateful to have healed your suffering.

What affirmations can you say to reflect those feelings? Write and repeat statements for yourself from the perspective of having freed yourself from your fears. “I am at peace within myself. I am healed. I am brave. I am confident. I am powerful.”

Fear is a part of life for all of us. Facing our fears and working through them, rather than running from them, is crucial to our healing.

Sometimes we need support to face our fears. Let the community at Enlightened Recovery help. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Prioritizing Our Mental Health

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When we are struggling with addictions and emotional difficulties, sometimes our mental health is the last thing on our list of priorities. We find ourselves caught up in our addictive behaviors and using our drugs of choice, and we have a hard time seeing our way out of the fog. When we are in the thick of it, sometimes we neglect our mental health and forget how critically important it is to take care of ourselves.

When we are in the midst of our addictive patterns, including unhealthy relationships, our emotions are often volatile and constantly changing. While we’re dealing with our own stuff, we also have to deal with other people’s addictions and emotional challenges, especially our partners and the people we live with. We have to deal with the everyday realities of life- taking care of our families, working, going to school, paying expenses, etc. When we don’t work to ensure our minds are getting the care and balance they need, we can experience relapses in our addictive behaviors, as well as worsened periods of depression and anxiety.

When we are consumed with scoring drugs, or dealing with intense sadness, we don’t always make sure to prioritize getting enough sleep, eating nutritious food or exercising. We tend to neglect our spiritual practice because we feel so generally overwhelmed that anything beyond the bare necessities of getting through the day feels insurmountable. We might be too anxious to try to will ourselves to meditate, or too depressed to encourage ourselves to exercise. We might be able to function enough to go to work, but then to relax we binge on junk food and TV.

Many of us struggling with addictions and mental health issues are subconsciously telling ourselves that we don’t deserve self-love. Sometimes we neglect the most basic elements of self-care, and it is often because we carry within us a feeling that we are unworthy, unlovable or undeserving. We put ourselves, our happiness and our peace of mind last, and we prioritize our addictive relationships, behaviors and drugs of choice. We struggle to maintain a sense of balance within ourselves and within our lives. We don’t feel grounded or centered. Over time, our mental health declines.

What can we do to start prioritizing caring for our mental health, especially when we are caught in cycles of addiction and emotional challenges? We can start by making the choice to prioritize ourselves, and by working to believe that we are worth taking care of ourselves. We can affirm that we deserve our own love and care. By doing this, we start the process of opening ourselves up to healing.

Holistic healing is a main focus at Enlightened Recovery. We can help you find ways to take better care of yourself. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Recognizing Anxiety

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Sometimes when we talk about mental health problems, we speak about them generally and don’t necessarily get specific on what those problems actually are. Many people experience depression and anxiety without realizing it, especially when struggling with addictions.

Anxiety is something many of us experience. Some of us feel anxious every day, some of us sporadically. Some of us experience months of worsened anxiety, particularly when depressed. Some people will go years feeling fine to then have their anxiety symptoms reappear.

How do we recognize anxiety? Anxiety can be complex but has some symptoms and effects that are easily recognizable.

Some people wake up to a rush of negative thoughts that hit them immediately upon waking. Some people wake up worried about the upcoming day, or logistics they have to sort out. They might wake up ruminating about whatever they were upset about the night before. Sometimes we carry issues we’re anxious about and wake up worried about them every day. Sometimes we will wake up upset about a different issue every day.

Some of us experience anxiety accompanied by depression, and we wake up to an onslaught of suicidal thoughts, accompanied by feelings of despair and hopelessness. Our inner voice tells us how inadequate we are, or it replays vivid memories of our mistakes. Sometimes we’ll wake up immediately thinking about the things we’re most embarrassed about or ashamed of.

For a lot of us, these anxious thoughts and feelings stay with us for the rest of the day. Being consumed with these negative, worrisome, sometimes disturbing thoughts can be really distressing. Sometimes our minds race and we feel like we can’t slow them down. We might think or say the same things repeatedly. Sometimes we experience confusion and overwhelm and can’t get our thoughts straight. We might have a hard time speaking, struggle to get our words out, or not be able to speak at all. Conversely, we might talk more than usual and even feel our thoughts and words are out of control.

For many of us, we experience anxiety in physical ways. We have a hard time catching our breath, or we might breathe really fast, shallow breaths. Our hearts beat faster. We might feel a physical nervousness in our chest, stomach, hands and feet. Sometimes we might feel panic as a wave of heat or cold rising in our bodies, or as an intense panic attack, which can feel similar to a heart attack.

Many of us struggling with anxiety have insomnia and other sleep problems. Some of us have a hard time making ourselves eat or have no appetite, while some of us overeat when anxious.

Recognizing anxiety is an important step in the healing process. Being able to identify what we’re experiencing can help us to then seek out healing solutions.

The community at Enlightened Recovery can help you to identify anxiety and work with you to manage it. Call (833) 801-LIVE.

Positive Thinking

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When we talk about ways to manage depression and anxiety, one of the things we often hear recommended is positive thinking. When we are feeling like things are absolutely hopeless, it’s very hard to make ourselves think happy thoughts. How do we change our thinking to be more positive? We have the power to change the course of our thoughts, and therefore our energy. We have more control over our moods than we think we do.

Start to pay more attention to your thoughts. Practice observing them. Become more conscious of the thoughts that are bringing you down, causing you anxiety and making you sad. As we dwell on these thoughts, they become our default thought patterns. They are often self-destructive in nature and can have a serious impact on our mental health.

Start to imagine what it would feel like to be free from those thoughts. Take the issues at hand and come up with positive counterparts to them. “I am depressed” could be transformed to “I am healing. I am working through challenges. I am getting stronger every day.”

“I am an addict” can be transformed to “I can create a new life for myself. I am strong. I choose what’s best for me.”

As you create these transformational, affirmative statements, put your energy behind the words while repeating them, and try to feel them as though they are real. You are creating new positive thought patterns, and as you continue to focus on them, they begin to replace the old, negative ones. You are reprogramming your subconscious mind to default to these patterns instead.

Over time, with practice, these thoughts become second nature. When we have moments of fear, anxiety or sadness, our minds become more resilient and respond with self-loving, self-affirming thoughts. We start to believe in ourselves more and mentally build ourselves up more often.  

Positive thinking is often dismissed as being too simple to be effective, especially for serious depression. Working to transform our thoughts, by way of repeating affirmations, writing in a journal, creative writing, etc., is one part of the healing process. We can’t expect affirmations alone to completely heal our deep-rooted fears and traumas, but they are a powerful tool we can use to help ourselves. Healing is a lifelong process, and we can really help ourselves by working to have more control over the direction of our thoughts.

Treatment at Enlightened Recovery includes therapy, mentoring and recovery planning. Call (833) 801-LIVE for more information.