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Navigating Difficult People, Not Difficult Situations, In Recovery

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in Addiction, Addiction Recovery, Mental Health, Sober Living. No Comments on Navigating Difficult People, Not Difficult Situations, In Recovery

In recovery, we are taught to live life on life’s terms. Yet, we are rarely taught to live life on people’s terms. People are difficult. Life presents us difficult people. A good situation can turn into a difficult situation when we are dealing with difficult people. Recovery in our lives puts us at both an advantage and a disadvantage for dealing with difficult people.

The Recovery Advantage

Compassion and empathy have been shown to us since the beginning of our recovery. We have been shown the way for understanding that difficult people go through or have gone through difficult things. After all, not too long ago, and probably sometime soon, we have been difficult ourselves. Love and tolerance is our code, we are taught through the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous and other programs. Tolerating others while continuing to love them regardless of who they are is something we learn in recovery. However, it is often easier said than done.

The Recovery Disadvantage

Learning to love and tolerate others has been the result of learning to love and tolerate ourselves. We have a common saying in recovery, if you spot it, you’ve got it. Developing an attitude of gratitude, being kind toward others, and maintaining peace in our lives has taken great work. Our lives were in the worst place they had ever been. Through hard work we pulled ourselves out and made the changes. We can’t know what anyone else is going through. As a result we tend to make judgments. It couldn’t be worse than living with a life-threatening addiction or a mental health disorder! How worse or not worse the cause behind someone’s tendency toward being difficult is doesn’t matter. Cultivating empathy and practicing compassion continues to be key

Here are three suggestions for navigating a difficult person in another wise not difficult situation.

  1. Be Kind: Sometimes all a difficult person needs is the loving-kindness of an understanding stranger. Rather than be averse, show them the same kindness and patience which has been shown to you so many times.
  2. Bring Peace: We cannot resolve every situation by being a peacemaker. What we can be is peaceful, which tends to have a peaceful effect. Bring the peace by not creating conflict out of difficulty.
  3. Surrender Control: being right, proving a point, showing someone how difficult they are- these are all wasted efforts for the sake of trying to be in control. We cannot control every difficult person we encounter. We can’t control any of them. Radical acceptance is the practice of embracing the totality of what is, as it is.

Learning to live is the reason we get sober. At Enlightened Recovery, we are showing clients how to live a peaceful, holistic lifestyle. Our programs seek to heal mind, body, and spirit by bringing together the best of alternative healing, holistic therapy, and clinical treatment. For more information, call 833-801-5483.

Taking Time For Spiritual Healing Changes Your Brain, Changes Your Life

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in Addiction, Addiction Recovery, Alternative Therapy, Sober Living. No Comments on Taking Time For Spiritual Healing Changes Your Brain, Changes Your Life

Treatment for drug and alcohol addiction as well as co-occurring mental health issues are often criticized for being too much like a spa or a treat. Alternative treatment methods like acupuncture, massage, and reiki, with yoga classes, meditation, organic meals, and more, sound like a vacation more than work. Treatment programs offer all these healing therapies as supplement to the intense and often exhausting clinical therapy taking place. Recovering from drug and alcohol addiction takes time on a spiritual journey. Full service treatment programs which offer multiple forms of spiritual healing are successful because they provide a retreat for the spirit. After years of abuse, running from the past, and neglecting needs, each client is in need of a deep healing and spiritual transformation. What brings an addict or alcoholic to treatment is considerable compared to what might inspire people to attend a spiritual retreat or spa vacation. Restoration of the mind, body, and spirit, feels life changing. According to Bustle, it truly is life-changing because it can change the brain.

Published in Religion, Brain & Behavior the study is possible the first of its kind to examine the effects of taking a spiritual retreat on the structure of the brain. Studying the neurophysiological effects of spirituality is becoming a more popular field in science as people increasing lean toward the spiritual rather than the scientific.

Participants, aged 24 to 76, attended a 7 day spiritual retreat which had Christian ties. Using clinical scales and questionnaires, the participants were interviewed before the retreat as well as a week after. A brain scan was also conducted before and after.

The retreat included hours of meditation, personal reflection, prayer, mass, and working with a personal spiritual mentor. After the retreat, participants felt less tension and fatigue in their lives, while expressing feeling more spiritual beliefs than they did before. As for the neuroimaging, there was “a drop of between 5 to 8 percent in dopamine and serotonin binding, meaning that even more of these feel-good chemicals could be accessed by the brain.” Both serotonin and dopamine are associated with happiness, emotion, mood, and even spirituality.

Creating spiritual meaning in life is essential for addiction recovery. The twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are called a spiritual program of living, where one can grow along spiritual lines. Finding a spiritual healing in recovery creates purpose and meaning, while reducing the painful effects of addiction. Research has proven that physical pain is registered as more intense depending on the negative mood someone is in. Spirituality changes the way the brain regulates positive emotions, helping clients become more resilient to emotional pain, physical pain, and the pain life can sometimes cause. Spirituality in treatment isn’t about retreat, it’s about stepping fully into life, clean and sober.

 

Enlightened Recovery brings together traditional clinical treatment with holistic alternative therapy and 12 step philosophy. Healing mind, body, and spirit, we strive to show clients how to start their recovery as a new way of life. For more information, call us today at 833-801-5483.

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Fentanyl Is Deadly Beyond Manageability, Government Warns

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in Addiction, Addiction Recovery. No Comments on Fentanyl Is Deadly Beyond Manageability, Government Warns

Fentanyl has become synonymous with the experience of the opioid epidemic. The synthetic opioid has been available as a prescription for many years. Up to 100 times more potent than morphine, the synthetic opioid was created to serve the need of medical patients who did not get pain relief from traditional morphine based opioid painkillers. As the opioid epidemic took off, fentanyl slowly became a problem. In 2016, overseas manufacturers got access to formulae for fentanyl and started mass producing it. Selling it as its own pill or lacing other drugs like heroin, cocaine, and Xanax with it, fentanyl became a household name because it has been claiming dozens of lives at a time. Within the course of a year, illegal fentanyl has become an increasing problem with increasing potency. Fentanyl has become so dangerous that the federal government issued a warning to all local police recently to handle the drug with the utmost care, according to USA Today.

“Accidental contact with a quantity equivalent to five or six grains of table salt can be deadly if inhaled or absorbed through skin abrasions,” the article cites. Local officers are being encouraged to wear gloves, masks, protective glasses, and more for protection against fentanyl. Recently, a new fentanyl analog was discovered and aptly named “Gray Death”. Combining all of the last year’s most recent forms of synthetic opioid, Gray Death is completely lethal. Fentanyl, carfentanil, W-18 and other potent synthetic opioids are all combined into one powder. The drug caused overdose on contact and inhalation.

DANGERS OF FENTANYL

By the numbers, the increase in fentanyl is almost overwhelming, which is why many local police and first responders are being put at risk. The article reports that:

  • Of 52,000 deaths due to drug overdose in 2015, an approximated 33,000 involved opioids like fentanyl
  • Advanced calculations for the drug overdose death rate in 2016 is expected to rise by 8,000 to almost 60,000
  • Between 2013 and 2014, the amount of fentanyl-related seizures has more than tripled
  • Since 2013 the number of fentanyl-related submissions to the National Forensic Laboratory Information System has gone up by 942 submissions, for a reported 3,344 submissions relating to fentanyl.

 

There is hope in the opioid epidemic with providers like Enlightened Recovery Solutions who are bringing a whole person approach to addiction treatment. OUr compassionate environment is home to spirit healing therapies which treat mind, body, and spirit for effective dual diagnosis care. For information, call us today at 833-801-5483.

5 Tools For a Recovery Toolbox You Can Use Everyday

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in Addiction Recovery, Sober Living. No Comments on 5 Tools For a Recovery Toolbox You Can Use Everyday

Recovery is a choice, a commitment, a discovery, and a lifestyle. Each day you will learn more about yourself and your personal program of recovery. As you start to define how your life in recovery will look, here are five tools you can use in your toolbox every day.

  1. Name your daily essentials and use them, daily: What are the things you need as a human being everyday? What are the things you personally need every day? In the beginning of recovery, it can be difficult for addicts and alcoholics to define their needs. For many years, all they needed were more drugs and alcohol. Now that substances are no longer the picture, they can realize that lifestyle isn’t sustainable. It’s important to meet the daily needs of life like eating food, drinking water, and getting sleep. Those are the bare essentials every human being needs. After meeting essential needs, there are more personal needs to be met which you will have to define for yourself. As you continue to recover you will notice more and more what you need. We will discuss some more here.
  2. Spiritual Activities: Spirituality can become a major part of recovery and of life for many people. The twelve step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous run on spiritual principles and advocate a spiritual experience. Spiritually based, but scientifically backed practices like yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and breathing exercises can all become important as well. You might discover that a day without your spiritual practices doesn’t feel like a normal day. Getting into a daily routine of meditation or mindfulness can be a challenge. Breathing, however, is something you have to do every day to survive. By making focusing on your breathing a priority, you can bring in more attention to meditation, mindfulness, yoga or any other spiritual activity you discover.
  3. Getting Outside: Stepping into the sunshine and the fresh air is more essential than people realize to their wellness. Human beings were made to roam the earth, through all elements. Getting outside is part of our genetic makeup. Perhaps all you need for your recovery toolbox is a quick step out the door for a deep breath before burrowing back inside. Or, you might find that you need to spend at least an hour outside, walking, exercising, or gardening. Spending time outdoors is proven to enhance your feelings of wellness psychologically as well as physically.
  4. Connecting With Others: Making phone calls to friends, family, peers in recovery, a sponsor, or a newcomer in need of support is part of many people’s recovery toolbox. Connection is an antidote to addiction.
  5. Connecting With Yourself: Everything you do as part of your recovery toolbox will be helpful in connecting you with yourself. There are other ways to spend quality time with yourself that is just for you. You might find your best alone time while exercising, cooking, cleaning, taking a shower, doing something creative, or another activity. Making time for yourself is important because you’re the longest relationship you will ever have.

 

Enlightened Recovery Solutions offers partial care programs for addiction, alcoholism, and dual diagnosis issues to men and women seeking transformative healing. Our integrative approach to treatment brings together the best of clinical therapy, holistic treatment, and twelve step philosophy. For information, call us today at 833-801-5483.

The H.O.W. Of Recovery: Honest, Open Chakras, Willingness

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in Addiction, Addiction Recovery, Healthy Living, Mental Health. No Comments on The H.O.W. Of Recovery: Honest, Open Chakras, Willingness

We are repeatedly told that recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, as well as most co-occurring mental health disorders has to be holistic. Holistic healing, holistic wellness, and a holistic approach all mean the same thing. The word holistic means comprehending that everything is made of many parts and all of those parts are intimately interconnected. Addiction and alcoholism are not isolated to the mind or the body or even the spirit. When someone is overcome by addiction and alcoholism they have to recover in mind, body, and spirit. Trying to define mental illness by just one part of the equation does an injustice to the complexity of mental health disorders and often does an injustice to someone getting the treatment they need. A key to understanding the holistic approach is understanding that the only way to explain mental illness is by referring to the whole person- mind, body, and spirit.

Spiritual wellness, spirituality, and spiritual healing are an important part of the recovery process. Most treatment centers take the holistic approach and include some therapeutic components in their programs which reflect spiritual wellness. Massage, acupuncture, yoga, meditation, reiki, are common examples. One area many treatment centers don’t focus on is healing the chakras and opening them up. Opening the chakras allows the energy in the body to effortlessly flow from head to toe. Chakras which are closed and have been closed for many years stop the flow of energy which can cause emotional as well as physical health problems.

Chakras are seven energy centers in the body starting from our sacral region in our low back and center all the way to the top of our head. We work with our chakras through yoga, meditation, and reiki to release the energy. Breathing exercises focused on opening the chakras can help release the blockages there. Most often, our difficulties in treatment are reflected in which chakras are closed. There are correlations between what each chakra represents and regulates to what we go through on a daily basis. Keeping the chakras open helps us to be more open to live, recovery, and the freedom recovery promises.

At Enlightened Recovery we provide an integrative program of holistic healing, clinical therapy, and 12 step philosophy for total transformation. Our partial care programs are designed for dual diagnosis patients needing healing for substance use and mental health disorders. Recovery starts with you. Start your recovery with us. Call us today for more information at 833-801-5483.

Which Essential Oils Can Aid In The Therapeutic Process?

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Holistic science and psychological science are increasingly going hand in hand. Therapy is done in treatment for drug and alcohol addiction through traditional methods and new innovative methods. One of the most important parts of therapy during treatment is the special work a client does one on one with their individual therapist. Among the many group therapies, educational groups, and holistic healing activities, an individual therapist helps guide treatment. Through their work, a client can begin to see the path they are following and process specific issues which come up in other areas of treatment.

However, not everyone is open to traditional talk therapy. Sitting in a room in front of someone who is a relative stranger with a pen and paper can be intimidating. Therapists learn many different tools for helping clients open up and discover more about themselves. The best treatment programs use integrative methods for aiding in the therapeutic process. Essential oils can be used to promote relaxation, enhance energy, open chakras and encourage emotional release. Essential oils used through a diffuser or on the skin can help bring a client fully into the treatment process and help them through therapy.

Orange Oil

Orange zest always brings about feelings of being refreshed and rejuvenated. As an essential oil, orange is helpful in creating an energized and uplifted mood. For therapy, orange oil can be used to work through trauma, put a positive end on an otherwise difficult session, or help lift the symptoms of depression in order to examine it through a different light.

Eucalyptus Oil

There is little doubt that Eucalyptus oil is healing. Many ointments used to treat pain or sickness use eucalyptus oil. This powerful oil helps open the nasal passage and the lungs, inspiring deep breathing for relaxation. Used for purifying and balancing, eucalyptus can be an oil for strength and hope during times of doubt and sickness.

Rosemary Oil

Rosemary makes any dish delicious in the kitchen. In therapy, rosemary can be an empowering scent. When fears are being faced with uncertainty and doubt, rosemary oil can help settle nerves and bring clarity to mind.

Lavender Oil

Few scents in the world have the instantaneous relaxing effect that lavender does. Lavender has the ability to heal wounds, relieve stress, and reduce tension. During times of anger, rage, or extreme emotional distress, lavender can create a sense of calm, feeling of being grounded, and a soothing sensation of comfort.

Using essential oils are part of the life skills we teach our clients in our integrative programs. Bringing together holistic healing and clinically proven therapeutic modalities, our programs for treating addiction and dual diagnosis issues are designed for transformative healing in mind, body, and spirit. Call us today for more information at 833-801-5483.