How Spirituality Can Play a Role in Your Recovery

The idea of spirituality might make you envision New Age concepts like astrology, tarot cards, healing crystals or chakras. The reality, however, is that spirituality can be more accessible than you think. Essentially, it boils down to any practice that helps you find the meaning amid all the chaos of daily life.

Spirituality can be especially valuable for people in addiction recovery because of its ability to help you understand yourself, find greater meaning in life and make you feel a connection to the world at large.

What Is Spirituality?

Many people tend to conflate spirituality with religion. However, while spirituality is often a component of religious practices, it is not a belief system in and of itself. That means even skeptics and nonbelievers can find value in spirituality, and that there is no wrong way to incorporate spiritual practices into your life.

Another way in which your spirituality might differ from religion is that your definition of spirituality can and should be fluid and evolve throughout your life, whereas many people of faith do not deviate from or question their relationship with their god or higher power.

Anything that causes you to feel the interconnectedness of life and have a greater appreciation of your place in the universe can be a spiritual experience. For some, listening to a moving piece of music is profoundly spiritual, while others find solace in traditional worship services and prayer.

Benefits of Spirituality in Addiction Recovery

Substance misuse often makes people feel isolated from the people around them. In contrast, spiritual practices lead to feelings of connectedness. The result can be a sense of awe, gratitude and positivity. With regular spiritual reflection, you will gradually learn to become more compassionate, tolerant and generous toward other living beings.

Becoming a more spiritual person is also a worthy goal to work toward if you want to cultivate better overall mental wellness and peace of mind. You can respond more constructively to any anxiety and stress created by addiction and subsequent recovery.

Ways to Incorporate Spirituality in Addiction Recovery

Though spirituality takes many forms, here are some that can be particularly valuable for people trying to maintain their sobriety.

• Meditation: Meditation is a way to improve your mindfulness, equanimity and relaxation. While there are a vast array of meditation techniques, the most straightforward involves sitting still in a quiet place and focusing on your breath and any sensations you might be experiencing.
• Yoga: There is a close connection between yoga and meditation, because yoga also involves specific breathing techniques as you move through a fluid series of poses. The spiritual goal of yoga is to teach you how to quiet your mind and become more aware of your place in the world around you.
• Gratitude: The practice of gratitude helps you feel more positive and learn to live in the moment. You don’t have to add anything complicated to your routine. Merely taking a few moments out of each day to jot down notes about things you are thankful for can help you feel more connected to others and increase your sense of positivity.

Finding Serenity in Sobriety

It’s possible for you to go through addiction recovery and learn how to become more resilient along the way with tools learned through spirituality. At Complete Harmony, we can help you reclaim your physical, mental and emotional health with our non-12-step, holistic approach to rehab. Connect with us today to learn more.

5 Emotions to Expect During Recovery

Recovery can be a roller coaster of emotions, especially during the early stages when you’re likely wrestling with feelings that have been kept away for years during active addiction. While a bit of emotional turbulence is perfectly normal, it can also be very dangerous to your lasting sobriety as well as to your physical, emotional and spiritual health. This is especially true if you don’t learn to find healthy coping mechanisms to manage these pesky feelings.

But before you take control, you need to know what you’re feeling and why. Here, we take a look at some of the most common emotions experienced by those in recovery. 

• Anger: This is one of the most powerful and potentially self-destructive emotions of recovery. Some experts define depression as anger turned inward. This is because anytime we’re angry or feeling anger, there’s typically hurt behind that anger. 
• Fear: Recovery and getting sober is scary. There’s likely a lot of unknowns and a lack of self-confidence that can cause a fear of failure. If left unchecked, fear can easily prevent you from your well-intentioned recovery plans. 
• Shame and Guilt: Feeling guilty or shameful for a past behavior or action during active addiction is pretty natural and healthy. Excessive guilt, however, or constantly beating yourself up can lead to negative self-talk and low self-esteem and hold you back from recovery. 
• Loneliness: Loneliness may have triggered your drug or alcohol use and it’s an emotion that can stick with you long after recovery. Most people describe the loneliness experienced during recovery as feeling alone, misunderstood, and uncared for – and this can even happen while loved ones are there to support you. 
• Stress and Anxiety: It’s all too common to experience what feels like insurmountable anxiety or stress during early recovery. Your life is about to drastically change (for the good) and that can cause a very real sense of loss and worry. If your anxiety doesn’t eventually pass, however, you may be struggling with an anxiety disorder.

Rehab & Dual Diagnosis Treatment

Many individuals in recovery from addiction also deal with a co-occurring mental health condition. Using traditional and holistic therapies, we have a proven history of successfully addressing the secondary health challenges that complicate substance abuse. To learn more about our dual diagnosis treatment, call today: 866-930-4673.